Jennifer McClellan joined Wytheville historian John Johnson on Wednesday to tour the Wytheville Training School Cultural Center, an historic site commemorating the Freedmen’s School established by the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1883 to educate African-Americans in the Wytheville area.
There, McClellan, a state senator and candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for governor, recalled how her own great grandparents operated the Bibb County Training School in Centreville, Ala.
McClellan and Johnson then visited the site of the Lynching of Raymond Byrd. In 2019, McClellan introduced the first resolution acknowledging with profound regret the existence and acceptance of lynching within the Commonwealth as chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission.
Virginia is the first state to pass such a resolution.
McClellan also brought her Community Conversation Tour to Wythevillle-area residents and discussed her plans to address issues important for Southwest Virginia such as school infrastructure, good-paying jobs and support for small businesses, and accessible and affordable health care.
McClellan held community conversations in Roanoke and Radford on Tuesday.
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