The Edwin Washington Project

05/21/2026

Monday May 18th, the Governor signed into law HB182, allowing African American studies to be accepted as credits towards a High School Diploma. Perhaps working with LCPS as a partner we can develop such studies of our own for volunteers.

03/04/2026

Neil Steinberg and Dave Prebich photodocumenting the Training Cetner on Union Street for the first time. March 2022. We have many more.

03/04/2026

We need more young volunteers. Here are some from 2019.

02/23/2026

For friends of the Edwin Washington Project/Society, there will be a meeting on 14 March at Douglass to honor some of the volunteers who supported the effort over the last decade. Also to be discussed will be an initiative to remember the people who signed petitions during segregation. Feel free to join. 2pm-4pm at Douglass.

02/15/2026

Why are the authorities advertising a signal sniffer technology to detect Guffrie's pacemaker technology. Do they not think the kidnappers see the same news, and now might move the victim? I dont get it.

02/13/2026

Patricia Dean today with Larry Roeder at Lundsford Middle School discussing Conklin village.

02/06/2026

8 Feb 2026

Although the possibility of snow Friday evening and Saturday morning might not be as bad some predicted, we want to be sensitive to safety and comfort. especially due to the cold. Some of you are also driving from distance. For example, Chris Brown is driving from Alexandria.

So, in an abundance of caution, we are DELAYING the awards gathering until warmer weather in early March. I'll consult with Robin on a better date and coordinate with you on that next week.

Its a rarity for the Edwin Washington Society to delay a meeting, but the cold will be brutal and we plan to assemble in front of the statue as part of the event, which might be a pretty harsh task. I don't want anyone to get the flu.

I particularly want to thank Nathan Bailey for his help on preparations. Nathan has also been coordinating our new effort on petitions, which will be an important element of the event in March.

Neil Steinberg has been coordinating the award certificates, and doing a great job.

Robin Leonard at Parks and Recs has been terrific, as always. She did plan to have staff in the morning to address ice spots around the facility that occur overnight but no plow trucks are scheduled.

I also want to thank Mayor Kelly Burk for agreeing to help officiate.

The good news is warmer weather means more people attending.

Thanks for your understanding.

Larry Roeder
CEO
Edwin Washington Society

12/31/2025

I'd like to wish all of you a happy New Years' holiday. Be sure to shake someone's hand today, especially that of a stranger. When I was a child, one of my experiences was surviving a war in the Middle East, being shot at, etc. It actually happened twice. On one occasion, we were evacuated under fire and then transported to Naples by the US Navy, and later Dad showed up. He remained behind in Cairo to help American interests.

I wanted to know why people were trying to kill Mom and I, plus the other evacuees. To make a very long story short, my parents felt that war and internal conflict were often the result of not being willing to learn about strangers. If we learned about people who are different, we could gain empathy. Give a stranger a smile or a shaken hand today. Perhaps if we all did that, we might need fewer ambulances.

A lecture I am leading on volunteer ambulance drivers of WW2 will be on Jan 11 at 2pm at the former home of General George Marshall in Leesburg, Va. Because so many of you live abroad or in other states, the Loudoun County Library system has agreed to film the meeting and then broadcast the recording on YouTube at a later date. Once I have a link for you, I'll share.
If you are in the Leesburg area, please join us. See https://www.georgecmarshall.org/events/2026-volunteer-ambulance-drivers for details.
Larry Roeder

Volunteer Ambulance Drivers in World War II and the Influence of Revolutionary War General Lafayette

11/03/2025

Larry is headed to Chicago today for a week to research, amongst other topics, the great migration, by examining original records in the Chicago Defender Archives. Should be really interesting.

09/28/2025

I spent a wonderful Saturday at the Balch Library in Leesburg, attending a small festival on book writing. Novelists and authors of non-fiction sat on panels and discussed their art form with a modest audience of about 39. It was delightful for me and I suspect for everyone, judging by the questions posed, and I encourage the Balch to do the festival again. I was able to speak about my own book Dirt Don't Burn, the first study on segregated schools in Loudoun; but also about a textbook I've written on diplomacy, and about a forthcoming book on an African-American wanting to be a hero in France in 1939. While there, I also had the opportunity to meet Linda Sittig, who wrote Opening Closed Doors, the story of Josie C. Murray and the desegregation of the Purcellville Library. Such an important story, well told; and it showed an example of a President supporting civil rights. I encourage everyone of our followers to buy Sittig book. It only costs about $15, is beautifully illustrated by Whitney Truitt and is appropriate for both adults and children. Please enjoy her book. Larry Roeder, CEO, the Edwin Washington Society.

Not long ago, public libraries in Virginia were not so public. It would take the courage of a young African-American woman, Josie C. Murray, to challenge that. From a young age, Josie felt the supreme injustice of the Jim Crow South- ordering ice cream inside a restaurant and continuing her educ...