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Written by Lia Beck
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Tuesday, 29 March 2011 10:22 |
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The Irene Morgan Story
(Continued from the March/April 2011 print edition)
Irene Morgan would later move to New York City where she lived with her husband. He owned a dry cleaning business and Morgan worked as a maid and provided childcare services. In 1985, at the age of sixty-eight, she graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in communications and in 1990 received a master’s degree from Queens College in urban studies.
Irene Morgan isn’t one of the most well known civil rights activists, but she did receive some recognition later on in life. According to Virginia’s own Southside Sentinel, she was honored by the National Congress of Black Women in Saluda, Virginia. Said a spokesperson from Lebanon Worship Center, where the ceremony was held, “As we re-read and investigate history, we often discover that so many named have been left off the list of out heroes. Irene Morgan is just that person.” Morgan was featured in the 1995 public television documentary “You Don’t Have to Ride Jim Crow!” about the Journey of Reconciliation and other early progress in civil rights. In 2000, she was honored at Gloucester County’s 350th anniversary celebration and in 2001 was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Clinton.
Morgan died in 2007 at age ninety in Gloucester County where she spent her last few years. She lived her life not as a civil rights activist, but as a normal woman who stood up for what she believed in, and this is how she would like to be remembered. To quote Morgan once more, “I just want to be remembered as somebody who did the right thing.”
To read the full story, pick up our March/April 2011 print edition
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