SUMMARY KEYWORDS

charlottesville, teachers, virginia, candidates, vote, democratic primary, race, state, attorney general, running, ballot, lieutenant governor, gubernatorial primary, support, soundboard, students, people, teaching, election, walker

SPEAKERS

Charlotte Rene Woods, Mary Garner McGehee, Johnnie Fullerwinder, Ali Sullivan, Derrick Aldridge, Danielle Wingfield-Smith

Mary Garner McGehee  00:03

Thanks for tuning into Charlottesville Soundboard. I'm your host Mary Garner McGehee. Soundboard airs every other Saturday at 6AM on WTJU 91.1. FM, and also comes to you as a podcast that belongs to the Virginia Audio Collective. The June primary elections are only 11 days away, so I sat down with Charlotte Renee Woods and Ali Sullivan at Charlottesville Tomorrow for a rundown on all the races, the candidates, and what you need to know about how to vote this cycle. And stay tuned in the second half of the show for stories from educators who were teaching during the Civil Rights Movement.

Charlotte Rene Woods  00:43

Also, it's weird being back in here.

Mary Garner McGehee  00:44

I know. This is our first time recording back at WTJU since March, I think. 
Charlotte Rene Woods  00:51

Yeah. 

Mary Garner McGehee  00:52

Okay. So it is May, it's not November. But it's still a very important election season. We have a lot of competitive primary races from Governor to City Council. And we're going to spend a little time talking about each of them with Ali Sullivan and Charlotte Woods who have been compiling a very thorough voter guide over at Charlottesville Tomorrow. But first, Charlotte, you know, we had a very unusual election in November. So how is this primary physically going to work? How are people able to vote? What are our options?

Charlotte Rene Woods  01:27

It'll actually be the same as it was last summer and last November. Early voting is running through June 4th, during the hours operations at your local register offices. The last day to have applied for absentee ballot, which is mail in ballot was May 28th. Yeah, and then you can also still vote on June 8th, which is the primary election day. Not a lot has changed in that regard, and I know that the General Assembly actually worked on passing some legislation that will keep voting more accessible like it has been where you can have ballot drop boxes and not necessarily always needing a reason to apply for an absentee ballot.

Mary Garner McGehee  02:03

Yeah, that was gonna be my next question. So um, can you just show up and vote early without a reason in this election?
Charlotte Rene Woods  02:11

Yes. 

Mary Garner McGehee  02:12

So how do you check if you're registered in your polling location for this June 8th primary?

Charlotte Rene Woods  02:18

Virginia Department of elections has its, you know, hold your personal portal, which you can look up your entire voting history, which I'm sure you remember your own voting history, but it's there. That's also where you can look up where your polling location is.

Mary Garner McGehee  02:32

So because Charlottesville and Albemarle tend to lean pretty strongly democratic, and the Republicans had a convention to decide their statewide offices, there's only a Democratic primary for Charlottesville and Albemarle residents. So do you have to register your party affiliation, like who is eligible to vote in that Democratic primary?

Charlotte Rene Woods  02:52

So Virginia is one of the states that you don't... you're not required to have registered with a particular party to participate in primary elections. So if you're someone who isn't affiliated with the party, or you're thinking about switching parties, or maybe you're a longtime Republican, and you just you're like, you know what, I'm gonna vote democratic this race or the flip side. You can participate.

Mary Garner McGehee  03:12

Yeah. And I feel like that's especially important to note in the Charlottesville City Council races, for example, because there aren't any republicans running. We have two Independents and you know, there's competition in the Democratic primary. So if you want to have a say in the candidates, you might want to consider voting in that race. 

Charlotte Rene Woods  03:30

Yes. 

Mary Garner McGehee  03:31

So let's talk a little bit more about the Charlottesville City Council race. Can you kind of remind us how City Council elections work?

Charlotte Rene Woods  03:40

So Charlottesville city doesn't have districts. It's not district based, like Richmond is. So your representatives, your council members just represent the entire city at large. And the seats are staggered. So you know, in 2019, we've got to vote for three seats, and this time, we get to vote for two. And then also, our setup here is a little different too because the mayor is not someone who is elected separately from Council. They are elected by Council to be Mayor, and it's more of like a Chairman of a Board position. Like currently Ned Galloway in the county. He's the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, because we have a City Manager slash City Council government. So our City Manager is really more of the executive position.

Mary Garner McGehee  04:25

Alright, so can you talk a little bit about how many candidates you can vote for in the primary and in the general election in November? There's a bunch of people running, there's two open seats. What are our ballots going to look like?

Charlotte Rene Woods  04:37

So for the June primaries, again, as Mary Garner mentioned, we just have Democrats right now. So you have three Democrats running, you get to choose two. So that's Juandiego Wade, Carl Brown, Brian Pinkston. And then whoever emerges from that those... the two that, you know, emerge victorious from the primary will appear on the ballot again in November but then the ballot in November will be joined by Yas Washington and Nikuyah Walker who are running as Independents. And then voting-wise, you can choose two candidates for the primary and the general election. You can also do something called single shotting, where you say, "I absolutely want to support this particular candidate, I'm only going to vote for them so it doesn't factor in and vote for anyone else." So downside to that is maybe you have less say on who the... maybe your backup option is, or the second person that you might have liked. So a lot of choices to consider in the next few days and then again in the next few months.

Mary Garner McGehee  05:31

Okay, so let's talk about the candidates. Which counselors terms are up this year?

Charlotte Rene Woods  05:37

Councillor Heather Hill and Councillor... Council slash Mayor Nikuyah Walker, both of their seats end at the end of this year. So this, Heather Hill expressed that she is not seeking re-election. Meanwhile, Nikuyah Walker recently announced that she does intend to seek re-election. So it's those two seats, and then there are five people vying for them. So we'll see how this shakes out in the next few months.

Mary Garner McGehee  05:58

And as you said earlier, Mayor Nikuyah Walker is going to run again as an independent. So she'll... she won't be on the Democratic primary tickets.

Charlotte Rene Woods  06:05

Yes, you will see her name, you'll have the choice to vote for her in November.

Mary Garner McGehee  06:09

So what would you say are the big issues in the City Council election cycle? You know, what's changed since Helen Walker were elected in 2017?

Charlotte Rene Woods  06:20

So this cycle, I think addressing affordable housing in the city is resonating more loudly than it ever has before. And part of that is because there are plans in motion at this point to draft a Future Land Use Map, do zoning rewrites, adopt affordable housing strategy into the reworked comprehensive plan which the state requires localities have updated every few years. And so this election, that's going to be one of the top issues because these two council seats, whoever ends up on them, by the end of the year will be able to vote and have... participate in this ongoing process, which is... it has its own timeline laid out. Another huge thing is that in the past few years, Charlottesville City Hall has had so much turnover, lack of leadership. We've had multiple interim not interim City Managers, and a lot of key vacancies in City Hall. So with City Hall and City Manager being the Executive Branch and City Council being the Legislative Branch, I think that's going to be on a lot of people's minds on how can the legislative branch support the executive and just help stabilize local government.

Mary Garner McGehee  07:27

So, you know, Charlotte, it's interesting to me that two progressive candidates, including the incumbent Mayor Nikuyah Walker, will not be on a ballot in the primary. Why do you think this is? Why did Mayor Walker and Yas Washington decide to run as independents?

Charlotte Rene Woods  07:43

So Mayor Walker ran as an independent last time that she got elected, and her goal in doing so was, to quote her campaign slogan, "Unmask the Illusion," which was her way of saying that Charlottesville is maybe not as inclusive and equitable as it appears, and that the Democratic Party was complacent and not really serving all of its residents the way that it could have. I've spoken with her in the time since her announcement to run as an Independent again, and it seems that her goals will be very similar this time around. There will be some nuances. She'll have more updates coming soon. And when I first spoke with Yas Washington she was actually planning to run as a Democrat. She's now running as an Independent because she did not get enough required signatures in time for the deadline to be on the ballot as a Democrat. So while you know Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade, got their campaigns kicked off earlier this year, and Carl Brown, Washington, and Walker jumped in a little bit later, obviously. So we'll continue to start seeing their signs, their websites, events, more rollout of their policy ideas and goals.

Mary Garner McGehee  08:39

Alright, let's talk about the three Democratic candidates who will appear on the ballot on June 8th. What can you tell us about Juandiego Wade?

Charlotte Rene Woods  08:47

He is currently a School Board Member who's not seeking re-election to the School Board. Obviously, he has worked in County government with economic development and planning and transit. Supporting the local economy and businesses impacted by the pandemic is one of his big goals. He knows about Comprehensive Plans and other facets of local government. So he says that he'll be able to understand those things as a Counselor and he'll understand the School Board's needs from his perspective as a Counselor having been on the School Board previously.

Mary Garner McGehee  09:13

Alright, what about Brian Pinkston?

Charlotte Rene Woods  09:16

He has been involved with the local Democratic Party as an organizer and then presently as a Vice Chair. He previously ran for City Council in 2019 and lost. He has a project manager background and he's worked for UVA. He says that these are assets that he can bring to council with a focus on efficiency of the overall body. And his campaign theme is, "quote to the common good," which really stems from his studies and philosophy. 

Mary Garner McGehee  09:40

All right, and the third Democratic primary candidate is Carl Brown. What should we know about his experience and his platform?

Charlotte Rene Woods  09:48

He has been involved in a bunch of businesses and organizations in the area. So Counsel for him, he told me is just another way to try and have impact in the community. He plans to bring fiscal management skills, knowledge of areas nonprofits and really just a team player attitude to Counsel. I think both he and Juandiego Wade and talked about like, I will listen to the experts who are experts on what they're experts on sort of situation.

Mary Garner McGehee  10:11

Okay, so those three will be on the primary ballot and then the two with the most votes will compete with an incumbent Nikuyah Walker and Yas Washington for the two open seats in November. There's another important race in the city. Ray Szwabowski is challenging incumbent Joe Platania for Charlottesville Commonwealth attorney. Can you tell us a little bit about what the Commonwealth's Attorney does?

Charlotte Rene Woods  10:35

So the city's Commonwealth's Attorney is basically like the city's prosecutor. I'm actually speaking with both Joe and Ray right after this. And I'll be writing their voter guide profiles over the weekend. So I'll actually have a lot of nuances and details about them. But as far as a quick recap, is they both have served as public defenders, they have legal backgrounds. Joe is the incumbent and Ray is challenging him and they are both Democrats.

Mary Garner McGehee  11:00

So check the voter guide very soon for more information on that race. So turning to state races, I want to bring in Ali Sullivan. How are you doing today, Ali? 

Ali Sullivan  11:13

I’m doing well. Thank you. 

Mary Garner McGehee  11:15

So the other races on the primary ballot are Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, and the gubernatorial primary has gotten a lot of coverage. So I want to focus on the very crowded Lieutenant Governor's race, and also the Attorney General race. But if you do want more information about the gubernatorial primary, our sister podcast that focuses on state news and politics, called Bold Dominon, has talked to a lot of the gubernatorial primary candidates and all link their feed and those episodes in the show notes. So let's talk about the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor. Ali, what does the Lieutenant Governor do?

Ali Sullivan  11:56

So the main responsibilities of Lieutenant Governor is to break ties in the state senate and preside over the state senate. They also are first in line of succession to the Governor, if anything were to happen to the Governor. And you know, they serve on a few boards within state government.

Mary Garner McGehee  12:13

So what would you say are the big issues in this election for Lieutenant Governor?

Ali Sullivan  12:18

So the issues obviously differ between parties. But what I found in common with almost every candidate, either Republican or Democrat, is that they want to elevate the Lieutenant Governor's office to be more than just a stepping stone to becoming Governor. The candidates I have talked to want to do more than just, you know, doing that breaking ties and presiding over the Senate. They've talked about traveling throughout Virginia to speak with constituents and working with political colleagues in the house and state senate to get their agendas across. On both sides of the aisle too there's also a lot of talk about expanding broadband throughout Virginia.

Mary Garner McGehee  12:53

So the republicans have already nominated their candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Who is that Republican nominee and what are her background and policy goals?

Ali Sullivan  13:02

Sure. So the former delegate Winsome Sears is the Republican nominee. She represented the 90th district in Virginia, which is like Virginia Beach in the Norfolk area in the house of delegates from 2002 to 2004. So that's one term. She later lost a bid for US Congress in 2004 in the third congressional district, and for the most part, stayed out of politics, after losing that race. Electoral politics to be specific. And then in 2018, she launched an unsuccessful writing campaign against US Senate Republican nominee, Cory Stewart. And so she's she's stepping back into politics right now. She secured the nomination for the GOP for the Lieutenant Governor's race. And she's running on some pretty popular conservative issues that you'll find in a lot of other races across the country. You know, restricting abortion access, defending gun rights, and protecting what Sears calls and other republicans call ballot box integrity. So that involves, you know, voter ID laws regularly updating and purging voter rolls, restricting vote by mail, just kind of policies like that. She also supports parental school choice. That's a model whereby students... or parents can choose the school their child attends, rather than, you know, just being assigned to a certain public school. I unfortunately didn't get the chance to interview Sears yet. Hopefully, Charlotte will do that before the November election. So this is all just coming from her her platform website, which you can find just by googling her name.

Mary Garner McGehee  14:33

Okay, so turning to the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor, how many candidates are going to be on the ballot for the Democratic primary?

Ali Sullivan  14:41

There will be six Democratic candidates on the ballot. There's Sean Perryman, Sam Rasoul, Andria McClellan, Mark Levine, Hala Ayala and Xavier Warren. 

Mary Garner McGehee  14:51

And when it comes to policy, how different would you say these six candidates are from each other?

Ali Sullivan  14:57

So they are talking a lot about the same, you know, progressive key issues. A lot of candidates are talking about reforming health care and public safety, expanding broadband access, fighting climate change, you know, supporting Virginians and Virginia and workers through pandemic recovery. They just kind of differ in where they prioritize their issues. So for example, I just talked with delegate Mark Levine and his big issue is guns. After talking with Xavier Warren, he was saying that his biggest issue is jobs and jobs training. So they're they're talking a lot about the same issues. But you know, their top priority might be a little bit different. But they also differ kind of in their levels of political experience and involvement. So a few candidates, Sean Perryman and Xavier Warren are first time candidates. While others you know, like Mark Levine, Sam Rasoul, Ayala and McClellan currently hold elected office,

Charlotte Rene Woods  15:51

Unlike, you know, national elections where the presidential nominee chooses their, you know, Vice President. Here in Virginia, we get to choose who's essentially vice president of the state.

Mary Garner McGehee  16:01

I always love a good pitch for why people should care about a thing.

Charlotte Rene Woods  16:04

Absolutely, especially this race that could easily be slept on and people could forget. And it's actually just as important as all the others.

Mary Garner McGehee  16:11

It's so daunting too to like, roll up to the polling place and see like six names that you know nothing about and you're like, "Ah, I don't know what to do!"

Charlotte Rene Woods  16:19

Hopefully, everyone has a lot of fun doing homework over the next week studying.

Mary Garner McGehee  16:22

Yeah, go read the voter guide. Ali's talked to a lot of these candidates. Okay, so the last race on the agenda today is Attorney General. What does the Attorney General of Virginia do?

Charlotte Rene Woods  16:36

The Attorney General is the state's top lawyer, so they're also the state's watchdog. So like consumer protection issues like the recent gas shortages. Any price gouging can be reported to the Attorney General's Office for investigation. And the Attorney General can also challenge federal things on behalf of the State, like we saw a lot of Attorney Generals do and former President Trump had the travel ban in January 2017. A lot of attorney generals in several states fought for injunctions on that.

Mary Garner McGehee  17:00

So this race has an incumbent, Mark Herring, running for re-election. What is his tenure been like? You know, what does he accomplish?

Charlotte Rene Woods  17:08

He has been touted as one of the most progressive Attorney Generals that the state has had, and he very well might be, but his challenger Jay Jones, Delegate Jay Jones, is saying he can be even more progressive or take up that mantle. So far, Herring has taken on cases to protect LGBT community, women's rights. He challenged Trump on the travel ban, he defended the Affordable Care Act multiple times. He's championed a lot of the gun safety and criminal justice reform legislation that the General Assembly has passed. Going back to what I said earlier, when your... your top three elected officials have a priority, it's more likely to get through. And I think it's also just an interesting race because he's got a two term track record, along with time spent in the General Assembly himself as a legislator and experience in local government that he can point to. Meanwhile, his opponent has tenure in the General Assembly as well. He was part of the 2017 blue wave of younger, more diverse candidates getting into state politics.

Mary Garner McGehee  18:01

Yeah, so what else can you tell us about his Democratic challenger Jay Jones?

Charlotte Rene Woods  18:06

He's a fellow progressive Democrat, so there's going to be a lot of overlapping support on key issues between him and Herring. That said, Jones has some ideas that he wants to bring into the Attorney General office. So he wants to set up satellite offices around the state to make the office more accessible and visible to constituents. And while a lot of focus for some voters on Governor or local... ends up being on Governor or local races, Jones worries that some people are less aware that they can actually contact their Attorney General with concerns. So he also plans to establish an election integrity unit that can investigate any complaints ranging from potential voter fraud to inappropriate polling place actions or harassments. He's also a younger candidate. So he wants to bring that perspective as well as his perspective as being a Black man to the statewide office. And he hopes that they can also help signal in more diverse and younger candidates in other races as well.

Mary Garner McGehee  18:57

And then the Republicans have already nominated Jason Miyares...

Charlotte Rene Woods  19:02

Jason Miyares is the Republican nominee for Attorney General. I was unable to speak with him before the convention. Multiple messages and emails were sent, and I will continue to try.

Mary Garner McGehee  19:12

Alright, so looking at the big picture, you know, what, what might we as citizens and like the greater national political landscape learn from these primary races happening in Virginia? Like what are y'all and what are other people really looking out for?

Charlotte Rene Woods  19:31

Virginia's a bellwether following every presidential election, it's always just this like, fight for a red or blue wave. And this year is certainly no exception. We have... that's why we had so many candidates running. I would just say like, this is the time of year where political action committees are gonna be sending attack ads and mailers, and it's gonna be really sparring in the next few weeks. And then certainly, again, heading towards the general just cut through partisan drama really focus on policy proposals from the candidates spend time on their websites. Read Candidate profiles and interviews with them and various outlets as long as ours. Because at the local and state level these people, they represent us so we get to basically hire who we want to be in charge of our state.

Mary Garner McGehee  20:12

All right. Thank you all so much. We really appreciate it. This has been a huge help.

Charlotte Rene Woods  20:17

Thanks for having us. 

Mary Garner McGehee  20:20

Charlotte Rene Woods is reporter for Charlottesville Tomorrow. Ali Sullivan is their intern. You're listening to Charlottesville Soundboard here on WTJU 91.1. FM and the Virginia Audio Collective. Both are a service of the University of Virginia. However, opinions expressed on this show are not the positions of the University. WTJU is supported by the Southern Environmental Law Center, protecting Virginia's air, water and natural treasures and leading the way towards a healthy environment for all. Learn more at southernenvironment.org. In our next segment, I'm going to play a few minutes of a new podcast. It's called Teachers in the Movement, and it explores the lives, activism, and pedagogy of teachers who navigated and lead students through the process of school desegregation in the south and a time of immense social change.

Johnnie Fullerwinder  21:16

That was the first African American teacher to integrate the faculty of their school, making me become the first African American teacher to integrate the Danville Public School System. And the interesting thing is, I didn't know that I was going to be the one to integrate. So the first day that that is a big factor. I mean, I walked in and sat down. And then I looked up, and I just decided to see what other black teachers went along with me. And to my amazement, there were none.

Derrick Aldridge  21:46

Mrs. Johnnie Fullerwinder started teaching in Danville, Virginia in 1966. You just heard about her first day on the job at George Washington High School. Welcome to the Teachers in the Movement podcast. Teachers in the Movement is an oral history project that is full of teachers' ideas and pedagogy, inside and outside the classroom during the US Civil Rights Movement. The Teachers in the Movement podcast is a member of the Virginia Audio Collective. Tune in and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. To watch the full interviews, go to teachersinthemovement.com. I'm your host, Dr. Derrick Aldridge, and I'm a professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. And now I'm the director of the Teachers in the Movement project.

Danielle Wingfield-Smith  22:31

And I'm Dr. Danielle Wingfield-Smith, and I'm a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia, and the Associate Director of the Teachers in the Movement Project.

Johnnie Fullerwinder  22:42

I was the only one. It was like, "Am I dreaming? I mean, is this really happening? Where are all the other Black teachers that was supposed to be here? It was shocking. We were seeded by departments. So the people in my department were sort of cordial to me, but the others had nothing to do with me whatsoever. I don't know if they were ignoring me or they too, were in shock, because I'm not sure that they had been warned of my color. When the meeting ended, most of the teachers got up and just sort of went in their own direction, nobody came to me to say anything to me. So I just kind of felt like with this stress, I need to get away at somewhere to myself and just kind of unwind, so I went in the restroom. So when I went in the restroom, when there were two teachers in there ahead of me. I spoke, they did not. When they looked and saw me, they heard, they washed their hands, and left the restroom. I kind of walked around the building for a while, then I was sure I was the only Black person I saw in that entire building for that day. Before I left, however, my department chairperson was out because of a death in the family. So he was not there. There was another teacher who stood in for him and he did come up to me before I left and made some canned remarks to me. So I felt a little bit better about that. But other teachers would walk by me in the halls and act as though they didn't see. So it was... it was a shocking situation. It was a sad situation. But it was a situation that made me decide that I was not going to be outdone, that I would show that Black teachers were capable of being able to do an effective job of teaching students regardless of what color they were. And despite the fact I may not have been accepted by them, I was going to stay there and do my job and show that I could do it. I would reach out to them and accept that there was a way that they reciprocated. But in time I found changes begin to come. 

Danielle Wingfield-Smith  24:43

Mrs. Fullerwinder's story is so intriguing. She shows up on her first day, not even realizing she was going to integrate the school. What are your thoughts about how she addresses race on her first day at the high school in Danville?

Derrick Aldridge  25:02

I can only imagine what it must have been like to go to your first meeting with your colleagues, with other teachers and feeling that they were not paying you any attention, or that they may not have even wanted you to be there. And I can remember this as a first year teacher myself, I remember being accepted. And being part of the guild of teachers. She had to be a very strong person to overcome that. And to eventually become a very successful teacher at that school, and to convince those teachers that she was just as good as they were.

Danielle Wingfield-Smith  25:37

So tell us why you're interviewing former "Teachers in the Movement" like Mrs. Fullerwinder.

Derrick Aldridge  25:43

I'm a former middle school and high school teacher, myself. And growing up, I was inspired by many teachers, particularly teachers who attended my little country church in Qatada, South Carolina. My mother was a teacher, and my Aunties were teachers. So I grew up in a family of teachers. I was inspired by them. The Teachers in the Movement project started in 2014. And our purpose is to learn and to discern what teachers were doing in the Civil Rights Movement. To what extent were they involved in the civil rights movement? Were they activists, were they not activists? How did they view their participation in the civil rights movement. And one of the arguments that we are making based on our preliminary research is that these teachers were activists, by way of their pedagogy. Teachers who taught about issues of democracy, equality, and freedom in the classroom, and promulgated ideas of civil rights and social justice, were activists in our opinion.  Now, I understand you taught three years prior to coming to Danville?

Johnnie Fullerwinder  26:48

I did. I had done extremely well in college, and I was offered a job at my high school alma matter inside programming. So I went back there and I taught, and the interesting thing was that we had a lot of very good instructors. The only drawback was that we were limited in instruction supplies. I was teaching Sunday school classes. I only had two microscopes for six classes of students, but determined that my students would get the education that they needed to be successful scientists, I would set up two microscopes at the teacher's desk and have students to come up in groups of twos to observe what I wanted them to observe. When I left, that is a striking contrast to what I had seen there. I always heard of the doctrine of separate but equal. I found that was the farthest thing from the truth because when I went to Virginia, came to Virginia, and accounted in our kind of segregation, or white classrooms. When I got there I found that the supplies were astronomical. I'd always been led to believe that Blacks were intellectually inferior. I found it was the farthest from the truth. Farthest from the truth. There was no difference between the Black students and the white students I had experienced because I had an opportunity to do both. And less than four years after graduating from college, there was no difference. 

Danielle Wingfield-Smith  28:11

Why should people listen to this podcast?

Derrick Aldridge  28:14

I think it's very important to listen to this podcast, if you really want to know what teachers were teaching during perhaps one of the most important social movements in the 20th century. So our discussion of teachers and their pedagogy in the classroom between 1950 and 1980 will be the foundation of the Teachers in the Movement podcast. However, we will also talk about related issues. We will discuss the teaching of African American History. We will talk about why we need more teachers of color. And we will also discuss the role that teachers can play in contemporary social movements.

Johnnie Fullerwinder  28:53

I thought of myself as being somewhat of a pioneer, a trailblazer. Someone that will make it easier for others to follow. I felt that if I had not been successful, with everyone watching me, that it would have delayed significantly the merging of all the schools together. So I felt I had to do an exceptional job.

Mary Garner McGehee  29:16

You can find Teachers in the Movement wherever you get your podcasts or at virginiaaudio.org. Well, that does it for this week's edition of Charlottesville Soundboard, your source for news, culture and community issues in Central Virginia. My name is Mary Garner McGehee. Our theme song is Chioggia Beat by Morwenna Lasko and Jay Pun. This is Charlottesville Soundboard.