Scrabble School Preservation Fund Martin Luther King Jr. celebration
The 33rd annual Scrabble School Preservation Fund Martin Luther King Jr. celebration was screened in the Little Washington Theatre on Sunday.
Faye Jordan Nicholas and William L. Jackson ‘are both very near and dear to our hearts’
The Scrabble School Preservation Foundation named Faye Jordan Nicholas and William L. Jackson the Rappahannock recipients of the “DreamKeeper” Award at the 33rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration Sunday–the first time co-recipients have been honored.
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The prerecorded program, which was filmed in the historic Scrabble School, was screened in the Little Washington Theatre and was available to stream online on the Culpeper Media Network website. The program featured performances by musicians and storytellers from across Virginia, including music by the Rappahannock County High School band, a sign language performance by Wakefield Country Day School students, and storytelling by renowned Sheila Arnold.
Donations collected at the in-person screening and online benefit the Julia E. Boddie Scholarship Fund, which was set up by former students to honor its namesake who taught at the segregated Washington Graded School and Rappahannock County Elementary School. To date, over $40,000 has been raised to help students in Rappahannock County.
Julia E. Boddie Scholarship Fund
Donations collected at the event go toward the Julia E. Boddie Scholarship Fund, which benefits students in Rappahannock County.
“We have contributed to many students in furthering their education…at this point, close to one hundred, maybe more, students,” said Nan Roberts, president of the Scrabble School foundation.
The screening was made possible by a grant from the Claudia Mitchell Fund of the Rappahannock Association for Arts and Community (RAAC). A recording will be available on the Culpeper Media Network website on demand page along with recordings of previous years’ events.
This year, Roberts said the organization had a hard time narrowing down nominations for the “DreamKeeper” Award, which has been presented biennially since 2004. Recent recipients include Lilian F. Aylor, Charles Jameson and Carroll A. Baltimore, Sr. Honorees are selected based on their faith, justice, equality, community service and activism–ideals inspired by those of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, the board decided to honor Nicholas and Jackson as co-recipients.
“It was hard to select one over the other,” Roberts said. “They are both very near and dear to our hearts.”
Nicholas grew up in Amissville, and attended the Rosenwald school there. Upon receiving a degree in early childhood education, she returned to Rappahannock to teach in the Amissville and Washington Rosenwald schools. After retirement Nicholas stayed active in community and civic service, and along with her husband, Freddy, endowed several scholarships at Virginia State University and the University of Virginia.
“Faye has been a wealth of information during the refurbishing of the Scrabble School, providing photographs and historical insight into the Rosenwald experience in Rappahannock,” Roberts said in the presentation.
Co-recipient Jackson was born in Sperryville and attended the Sperryville School. Jackson was drafted into the U. S. Army, and served for three years before furthering his education at the Blackwell Business College. He spent most of his career with the U. S. government, primarily the Government Printing Office. Jackson is an active member of his church and community in Silver Spring, Md., where he now resides.
Roberts said Jackson continues to share information and his experiences as an African American in Rappahannock, and recently co-hosted a Zoom presentation through the Scrabble School Preservation Foundation and Rapp at Home about his grandfather, James Arther Engham, and his accomplishments as an African American entrepreneur and landowner in the early 1900s.
