He is Virginia’s own!
Edward Richard Dudley accomplished many historical “firsts” during his lifetime: he was the first African American to run for office in New York on the ticket of a major party, the first Black person to serve as an administrative judge in New York State, and the first African American United States ambassador.
Dudley’s legacy of service and diplomacy will soon be memorialized on a historical marker near his childhood home in Roanoke, Virginia’s Gainsboro neighborhood. Nelson Harris, former Roanoke mayor, pastor of Heights Community Church, and amateur historian led the campaign to commemorate Dudley’s memory.
“We often forget a lot of local history because it’s not taught in school,” Harris said to Cardinal News. “The more we can know about our locality and the events and the individuals and the institutions that have been part of our history, the better we’ll be.”
Dudley was born in South Boston, Virginia, in 1911. He studied dentistry at Howard University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Johnson C. Smith College, where he became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Dudley went on to study law at St. John’s University School of Law in New York City and worked odd jobs at Pepsi Cola and even as a stage manager for famed director Orson Welles before Thurgood Marshall, who was then chief counsel of the Legal Defense and Education Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), recruited Dudley to become a special assistant counsel at the fund in 1943. Dudley worked on cases for equal pay for Black teachers, non-discriminatory public transportation, and voting rights.
From 1945 to 1947, Dudley served as executive assistant to the governor of the Virgin Islands. In 1949, President Harry Truman appointed Dudley ambassador to Liberia, making him the first African American to serve as a U.S. Ambassador. Dudley served in Liberia until 1953, when he returned to the United States and directed the NAACP Freedom Fund. In 1964, Dudley won election to the New York State Supreme Court, where he served until retirement in 1985. He died in 2005, just before his 94th birthday.
Harris learned of Dudley’s life in Roanoke and petitioned the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to commemorate his memory. He partnered with the Roanoke branch of the NAACP to raise funds for the marker that will be erected near Dudley’s childhood home so that future generations can learn about this slice of American history.
“The story of Edward Dudley is inspirational and aspirational, and I think we need to be reminded through this marker that we had tremendous individuals who grew up in Gainsboro and went on to national prominence.”
“He was a civil rights leader and a special guy in that when he was in a position of power, he wanted to bring in more Blacks,” added Dudley’s son, Edward Dudley Jr. “People should really know what an exceptional person he was. I’d like them to know about him and be proud that he was a Virginian.”
Cover Photo: Edward Dudley, First Black U.S. Ambassador, Set To Be Honored With Historical Marker In Hometown / Photo credit: Amistad Research Center