cpreporter@lcs.net
Civil rights pioneer Dorothy Hamm, who successfully led the integration of Arlington County schools and theaters during the 1950s and early 60s, had deep roots in Caroline going back to a Cherokee chief and a slave girl named Roxie.
According to family history recorded by Hamm's daughter, Carmela, the chief was John James Wright, who lived in Caroline in the early 1800s. His son James F. Wright sold a portion of his lands to buy Roxie's freedom and marry her in 1850.
Dorothy, their great granddaughter, was born in 1919 and lived on Bull Church Road in a house now demolished. In later years, after moving to Bailey's Crossroads in Fairfax when she was seven, where more advanced schooling was offered, she returned to Caroline in 1985 to live in Lake Caroline, remaining until her death in 2004 at age 85. Her husband, Edward, a retired architect, still lives on Lake Caroline Drive. He is now 92.
In May 1956, Hamm, university-educated and determined her three children would not be deprived because of their skin color, was a plaintiff in a civil suit that defied Virginia's policy of "Massive Resistance," resulting in the integration three years later of Arlington's schools.
Hamm, a government administrative assistant, also joined in striking down discriminatory pupil placement forms and desegregating athletics in Arlington schools.
In 1963 she was arrested for picketing segregated Arlington theaters and joined legal suits ending that discrimination. She also led successful efforts to eliminate the poll tax and remove race from public forms and voting records. She would later serve as Arlington's chief election officer in the Woodlawn Precinct for 14 years. An acquaintance of Dr. Martin Luther King, she participated in the 1963 March on Washington and the Poor People's March on Washington in 1968.
In later years she wrote plays.
"Our Heritage: Slavery to Freedom 1776-1976" was an official bicentennial event in Arlington, while "Our Struggle for Equality – 25 years Ago" was broadcast on Arlington Cable TV in 1985.
Additionally, "A Woman Called Moses," about Harriet Tubman, was presented at the 1985 Northern Virginia Folk Festival.
Returning to Caroline to be close to family, Hamm attended Wright's Chapel United Methodist Church in Ladysmith, serving as secretary, trustee and in the drama group, for which she also wrote plays.
She also wrote a book "Integration of Arlington County Schools: My Story," and worked with Carmela on a documentary of fellow civil rights pioneer Oliver Hill. Congestive heart failure took her life May 14, 2004, at Henrico Doctors Hospital.
Descendant of a Caroline Native American and slave girl, and growing up in Segregation, Dorothy Hamm had succeeded at changing the world.
For more information on Dorothy Hamm and to watch a short video about her life, visit The Library of Virginia 2010 African American Trailblazers at www.lva.virginia.gov/public/trailblazers.