"200 African American women & 20 African American men, very painfully, built the #NorfolkBotanicalGarden starting in 1938, were paid 25¢/hr., & not allowed in again until the mid-1960s due to the #JimCrowe era"
#MarthaMcClennyWilliams/Historian
#FirstofAllwithVictorBlackwell
#MarthaMcClennyWilliams/Historian
#FirstofAllwithVictorBlackwell
A once-segregated botanical garden honors the Black workers who built it
The Norfolk Botanical Garden opened a $50 million conservatory and unveiled a Chihuly work, with a renewed commitment to reckon with its past.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 12, 2026 at 11:33 PM
"200 African American women & 20 African American men, very painfully, built the #NorfolkBotanicalGarden starting in 1938, were paid 25¢/hr., & not allowed in again until the mid-1960s due to the #JimCrowe era"
#MarthaMcClennyWilliams/Historian
#FirstofAllwithVictorBlackwell
#MarthaMcClennyWilliams/Historian
#FirstofAllwithVictorBlackwell