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Blacks weren’t allowed to read in 1863, when John J. Wright was born. But the man who eventually got a college education—and became a teacher at the Spotsylvania County school later named for him—became a bookworm in the worst way.
He often churned butter with one hand and turned pages of a book with another.
He stressed self-reliance and self-discipline, principles that helped him get a higher education, even though he was in his 30s before he graduated. He paid for his tuition by waiting tables in Atlantic City and growing cucumbers in Spotsylvania.
Wright became a successful businessman who owned hundreds of acres in Spotsylvania and Caroline counties. He raised horses for the government during World War I and sold milk and eggs to his neighbors.
By the time of his death in 1931, Wright had helped local blacks get homes and property, voting rights and an education.
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Sources: "A Different Story" by Ruth Coder Fitzgerald; HistoryPoint.org of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library; The Free Lance-Star archives; State of Michigan Web site; African Within; The Kennedy Center; We Were Always Free By T.O. Madden Jr.; The Richmond Times-Dispatch; Life Magazine; Westmoreland County, Virginia.
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by clicking on the names below. |
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• Gabriel Prosser, inspired by the Bible |
• John J. Wright devoted leader, reader |
• Urbane Bass, city doctor |
• Sadie Combs, first teacher at Snell
• Philip Wyatt,
• Palmer Hayden,
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• Venus Jones, First black graduate of MWC |
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petitioning for change |
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