Virginia Marie Cabell Randolph (c.1872–1962) & Lugie Carter Buck Ferguson (1890–1988)
Coordinates of Adjacent Plots: (37.4143793, -79.1554283)
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which extended suffrage to women, was ratified on August 18, 1920. On September 1, 1920, the women of Lynchburg were officially allowed to register to vote in that year’s elections. It was not an easy process, but on that first day, 12 Lynchburg women registered. Three of those women were African American; two of them were Lugie Ferguson and Virginia Randolph. These two women were educators and best friends who lived next door to each other and are buried side by side here at Old City Cemetery.
Virginia Marie Cabell Randolph (c.1872–1962)
Virginia Randolph was born in Lynchburg around 1872. She was a teacher in several Lynchburg elementary schools for 30 years. She founded
the Women’s Community Club (WCC) in 1922, a platform from which she launched educational, cultural, and welfare activities as well as a program for Black youth. In 1933 Randolph and the WCC opened a “Community House” on Eighth Street, which provided after-school activities for neighborhood children and classes for adults in knitting, cooking, and “domestic efficiency.” Randolph sponsored Boy and Girl Scout Troops for African American youth in Lynchburg and has been celebrated for her support of Black suffragists. She is buried with her family and beside Lugie Buck Ferguson.
Lugie Carter Buck Ferguson (1890–1988)
Lugie Carter Buck Ferguson
Lugie Ferguson was adopted by Mariah and Charles Buck, an interracial couple living on Eighth Street. She had dual careers as a public school teacher and hairdresser. Entrepreneurship and education were qualities valued by the African American community because they afforded economic opportunity and status long denied to Blacks of that time. Lugie died in her 98th year in 1988.
References
Delaney, Ted, XIX: The untold story of women’s suffrage in Lynchburg, Virginia, on file at OCC, 2019.
Randolph, Virginia Cabell, Personal recollections, on file at the OCC, 1932.
Retired Teachers still find plenty to keep them busy, The Daily Advance, Lynchburg, Va. 1/25/1951.
Langhorne, Ruth M., The Multifarious Virginia Marie Cabell Randolph 1876–1962, 1985, on file at the OCC.
Harris, Dale Hutter, Letter to Jane White regarding Lugie Ferguson, 3/28/2001, on file at OCC
Jenkins, Molly Roper, The Silver Thread: Woman dedicates herself, her talents to helping others, The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va., 3/21/1999.
Obituary of Lugie Buck Ferguson, The News & Daily Advance, 3/15/1988
