Tag: Alexandria VA

Happy Black History Month

“The Other Alexandria’s Column,” in the Alexandria Times Newspaper

For Black History Month, I would like to highlight two articles that I wrote. The first article is in the December 2021 newspaper, I wrote an article on Lauretta Dorsey Young who was a well-known Opera Singer. Lauretta was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1942. Her family migrated to Baltimore, Maryland around 1951.

Lauretta Dorsey Young

Lauretta became an international Opera Singer winning many awards for her performance. She never forgot her ties to Alexandria. The City of Alexandria was Lauretta’s birthplace and throughout her world travels, she made all the Alexandrians proud.

You can read my article on Lauretta in:

Lauretta Dorsey Young sings for the world

Sarah A. Gray

Behind the scenes of the article titled, “Sarah A. Gray: Principal of Hallowell School.”

Sarah A. Gray was one of two people that Parker-Gray School was named after. She was a remarkable woman who was educated as well as a talented pianist and an organist.

Sarah A. Gray

Due to the death of her father, William Gray and two lawsuits, Sarah started experiencing health issues. Her father, William Gray died in 1891.

Sarah filed two lawsuits against Reverend Robert H. Robinson’s son, Reverend Robert B. Robinson, for slander. The other lawsuit was against her stepmother and relative, Alfred Peters concerning her father’s estate. Due to these heavy burdens, Sarah died in 1893 – just two years after her father.

A detailed article is available in the Alexandria Times dated, September 9, 2021 on, “Sarah A. Gray: Principal of Hallowell School on pages 17 and 18 at

https://alextimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/September-9-2021.pdf. A small correction in the article is that Sarah’s father died in 1891 not 1892. In addition, the above article incorrectly had Sarah teaching at the public school in 1871. She started in the 1870 school year.

Contee and Gibson Families

Behind the scenes of the article titled, “A 150-Year history of the Contee-Gibson Family School.”

Myron Contee had no idea about the history of his ancestors in Alexandria, Washington, DC and Maryland. His Contee and Gibson families were early property owners in Alexandria. The Contee family migrated from Prince Georges, Maryland around the beginning of the Civil War to Washington, DC. They stayed in Washington, DC until after the Civil War. Myron’s second great-grandfather and his children migrated to Alexandria after the civil war leaving other relatives in DC. They became property owners of not just one house but several homes in Alexandria.

You can read Myron Contee’s story, “A 150-year history of the Contee-Gibson Family” in the Alexandria Times dated, August 12, 2021 at https://alextimes.com/2021/08/the-other-alexandria-contee-gibson-family/

Indenture to Millionaire: Colonel John McKee

Behind the scenes of the Alexandria Times’ article, “From indenture to millionaire: Colonel John McKee – dated July 8, 2021.

In 19th Century, Alexandria had a large freed Black population. Many of these freed people were able to acquire wealth, but one individual stood out more than others did in his era. Colonel John McKee acquired wealth in Philadelphia. You can read more about him in the Alexandria Times on page 12 at https://alextimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/07_8_2021-Alex_Times_WEB.pdf.

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