Nellie Pratt Russell  - A Pearl in the Heart of Tobacco Country.

Nellie Pratt Russell from the 1952 "Tiger" Yearbook
St. Pauls Normal and Industrial School

Black Greek Letter organizations have had a rich history of supporting the educational and civic interests of the African American community since 1906 when Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate black fraternity, was founded on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca NY. The individual members of the "Divine 9" as the collective organizations are called, represent a virtual who's who amongst African-American influencers and achievers across all industries and endeavors.   

Civil Rights Movement leaders
Hosea Williams, Jessie Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr, Ralph Abernathy

         "Divine 9"

Alpha Phi Alpha - 1906

Alpha Kappa Alpha - 1908

Kappa Alpha Psi - 1911

Omega Psi Phi - 1911

Delta Sigma Theta - 1913

Phi Beta Sigma - 1914

Zeta Phi Beta - 1920

Sigma Gamma Rho - 1922

Iota Phi Theta - 1963

I have been exposed to fraternity and sororities my entire life.  My mother was one of the charter members of the Delta Omicron Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville VA.  My father like my mother was a graduate of St. Paul's College and was initiated into the Epsilon Omicron Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in Lawrenceville Va, in 1952.    I am a second generation Alpha, initiated into Psi Chapter at the University of Pennsylvania in 1986.

My father and me.

Delta Omicron Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Inc 1952

My parents and I like many of the early members of the fraternities and especially the sororities became educators.  It so happened that during their time at St. Paul's both of my parents were taught english by a woman named Nellie Pratt Russell, the wife of the college president Dr. J. Alvin Russell.  During her undergraduate career at Howard University, Nellie Pratt became one of the first initiates into the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.  She was one of six sorors who were instrumental in incorporating the sorority and as such, she along with the founders is revered as one of the "20 Pearls" of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

This is a picture of the recently added historical road marker honoring Mrs. Russell.   It's located near Lawrenceville at the intersection of US 1 and Va 46 which runs through the heart of town past the now deserted campus of St. Paul's College which closed it's doors five years ago.

The marker reads:

Nellie Pratt Russell, educator, attended Howard University and was one of six incorporators of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Greek letter organization founded by African American women. The sorority, established in 1908, was incorporated in Jan. 1913, preserving its traditions and securing its right to charter new chapters. In 1931 Russell earned a Master of Arts degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. For about 50 years, she taught English at the Saint Paul Normal and Industrial School (later Saint Paul’s College), where she helped found Gamma Lambda Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Russell led women’s organizations in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia.

Here is a link to her full bio 

Smoky Ordinary - Penn Quakers and Queen Sugar in Brunswick County Virginia

I came across this marker about a year ago after taking a detour off of my normal route to get to my father's hometown of Lawrenceville VA.  On this particular trip I was going to meet a forester to sell about 30 acres of timber from the land that my father left me when he passed.   My aunt Nell used to talk about Smoky Ordinary from time to time, especially to mention that the police were pretty strict along the stretch of US 58 between Emporia and Lawrenceville, but I had never seen any roadsigns for the place.

The ordinary that stood on this site catered to travelers on the north-south stage road as early as 1750. During the American Revolution local warehouses were burned by British Colonel Tarleton, and legend says that it was from that occurrence that the ordinary derived its name. During the Civil War the post office (1832-1964) and inn were spared when a Union officer recognized the inn's owner, Dr. George M. Raney, as being a former classmate at the University of Pennsylvania

After a few miles I was surprised to see that there was a historical road marker.  It explained the origin of why the place was called Smoky - having absorbed the odor from nearby warehouses when they were burned down during the Revolutionary War.   (I had to look up the definition of an Ordinary - which was simply an "ordinary" house licensed to operate as a tavern and/or inn). I was more surprised to find that during the Civil War the, post office and inn were spared from being burned down because a Union officer recognized the owner "as being a former classmate at the University of Pennsylvania," which happens to be the same school I graduated from almost 30 years ago.   Imagine two Penn Quakers meeting up this far away from West Philadelphia.

Charlie Hope 2016

Continuing on my way, I didn't know the exact location of the land and  I needed help finding it.  I had been there only once before - about 35 years prior.  When I got there I was struck by its simple beauty.  Standing on the ground looking upwards, the trees looked like outstretched arms reaching for the heavens.  

From time to time my father would say that he heard that there was a lot more than 30 acres but figured it was sold or lost or simply taken away over the years.  He didn't know much about the origin of the land other than it came from his paternal grandmother Sarah Morris Jones.  She died in 1901 shortly after her first and only child, my grandfather Thomas Jones Sr., was born.  He in turn died in 1931 when my father was only 7, leaving my father with very little connection to that side of his family. But now having been there and having walked in their footsteps, I was determined to find out more about it.

After digging through numerous online records and making a couple of visits to the Brunswick County Courthouse, I came to learn that a man named Benjamin Green owned a tobacco plantation of about 650 acres that he passed on to his son Thomas A. Green.

1860 Census for Thomas A. Green - Post Office Smoky Ordinary

Thomas had several children by a woman named Elizabeth Ann Gordon. Based upon census records and the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules, she and her children appear to have been slaves on the same plantation.   It's not unusual to see mixed race children borne of master-slave relationships, but what does not appear to be as common is that in his will, Thomas Green left all of his land to those children.  One of them was Victoria Green Morris, Sarah's Morris Jones' mother. So it appears that like the family depicted in the T.V. series Queen Sugar, that I own some of the same land on which my ancestors were once owned.

I came across one other document that piqued my interest.  It is an 1864 map of Brunswick County which shows the names of property owners on or near their land.   Seeing the name TA Green right where my land is today seemed to validate all that I had found.  The full name of the road labeled Boydton was and is Boydton Plank Road which is now US-1.  The road running NW to SE from Boydton Plan Road through Pleasant Grove is now named Grandy Road which is the location of the plot. 

1864 Map of Brunswick Co Va from CSA Army of No VA Dept of Engineering

So it turns out my father was right.  There was a lot more land than the 30 acres.   It also turns out that my aunt was right about the police in Smoky Ordinary.  She was in the car with me heading to the church on the day of my father's funeral, and as always she warned me to slow down. But it was to no avail, I was pulled over by a county policeman and given a speeding ticket. To add insult to injury, the officers last name was Jones..... I could only wonder if he was a distant cousin.