| Barbara Harrisâ mother was 35 when she was sterilized by the state of Virginia in the 1960s. âShe could have a desire to get married, and have a family with her new husband. But she was not able to do that,â said Harris, a longtime nurse who now is executive treasurer for for Virginia Organizing, an advocacy group. âThat choice was taken away from her.â Her mother, a single parent, was threatened with loss of state aid for her four children if she didnât get sterilized. Between 7,200 and 8,300 people - 22% of whom were black - were sterilized in Virginia from 1927-1979 on grounds of homelessness, insanity or âunworthiness to procreateâ. Decades after the program ended, statistics show that women of color still have disproportionately negative outcomes relating to maternal health. Some advocates, including Harris, worry that the Supreme Courtâs decision to overrule Roe v. Wade may make that situation even worse if abortion becomes illegal in Virginia. Read more in the Sunday Main News section
You are two to five times more likely to serve prison time if you reside in one of these nine Norfolk neighborhoods, a new report found. Norfolk community leaders are working to change that. Prison Policy Instituteâs latest report found that Olde Huntersville had the highest rate of incarceration at 5,690 per 100,000 people â more than five times Norfolkâs overall incarceration rate of 1,106. Olde Huntersville is followed by Park Place at 4,376 and Bruceâs Park at 3,651. The findings, community leaders say, are not surprising. Read more in the Sunday Main News section This wouldnât be the first time Kristen Green became curious about a piece of Virginia history that led her to write a book. In 2011, Green was a reporter with the Richmond Times-Dispatch and writing about a graveyard for free and enslaved people, discovered buried under a parking lot. During her research, she learned of the remnants of a nearby slave jail also hidden under a layer of asphalt, along East Broad Street behind the Main Street Amtrak Station. Green is Virginia born and knew that Richmond was in the thick of trafficking the enslaved before the Civil War. But Robert Lumpkinâs jail was notorious throughout the South. It housed thousands of children, men and women who were shipped to busy ports, including Norfolk and New Orleans. Owners could also bring their enslaved to Lumpkinâs to have them whipped for a fee when owners didnât want to bloody themselves. The jail earned the name âThe Devilâs Half Acre.â Read more in the Sunday Break section The 13 believers formed a circle, their hands outstretched to the skylight in the sanctuary of Fox Hill United Methodist Church. They were praying that the âreverse missionâ they were planning would flood the congregation with energy and fellowship. Eight of them looked exhausted but excited. They had spent 30 of the last 40 hours in a white van, driving from Utah and New Mexico. The Navajo missionaries would be leading Fox Hillâs vacation Bible school, singing songs in the Navajo Diné language and teaching biblical stories. Historically, Christian missionaries carried baggage beyond suitcases; early European and American missionaries flocked to Indigenous tribes to push the political goals of their governments. Some modern missionaries are more mission tourists, more concerned with serving their egos than people. But Brian Sixbey, lead pastor of Fox Hill, was looking to flip that narrative â he thought his congregation could learn more from a âreverse missionâ than they could teach. Read more in the Sunday Break section
As Bob and Steve Lawson stood side by side overlooking downtown from the 16th floor of the Truist Building, it gave the father and son time to reflect on all that Lawson Cos. accomplished throughout the past 50 years. The company, started by Bob Lawson in 1972, relocated its corporate office in May from a 10,000-square-foot office on South Boulevard in Virginia Beach to almost double the size on Main Street in Norfolk. The move takes the real estate development, construction management and apartment property management firm back to the city where it started and where many of its projects were completed. Read more in the Sunday Work & Money section
Some athletes in Hampton Roads inspired, others dominated in the first full, uninterrupted high school year in sports since the pandemic. Hereâs a look at the athletes and state champions from the 2021-22 year in high school sports, compiled by the 757Teamz staff: Read more in the Sunday Sports section
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