Western End

Samuel W. Starks (1866-1908) was a prominent community leader and the first African American state librarian in the U.S. Starks advocated for real estate acquisition to empower Black communities and held the state librarian position from 1901 until his death at 43.

Rebecca Bullard (1871-1945) and Sara Bullard (1873-1958) were founding members with seven others of the Charleston Woman’s Improvement League established on January 20, 1898. The sisters were widely active in church and civic life. Rebecca, a teacher, was a founder and later a director of the Mattie V. Lee Home for Colored Women.

David Washington Kinney (1949-1969) was a lifelong resident of Charleston who attended Charleston High School before enlisting in the military. Kinney was killed in action in Vietnam one week before he was scheduled to be discharged from the service. A road in Spring Hill Cemetery is named in his honor.

Mrs. Blanche Wade (1901-2006) grew up in a coal camp in West Virginia, facing racial harassment and leaving school in eighth grade. She moved to Charleston where she worked as a domestic servant before co-owning a beauty salon known for Marcel Waves. In her 60s she joined boycotts against segregation in stores. For her activism during the Civil Rights Movement she received the Distinguished West Virginian Award from Governor Bob Wise in year

Moses Newsome (1914-1971) was born in Ahoskie, North Carolina, and attended the Graduate School of Theology at Oberlin College. He became the pastor of First Baptist Church in 1941. Newsome envisioned the church as a community center and was a civil rights advocate, securing fair housing and job training for African Americans in Charleston. He held leadership positions in various organizations, including the Charleston Opportunities Industrialization Center and the West Virginia State Baptist Convention. A close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, whom he brought to Charleston, he played a vital role in the civil rights movement, organizing sit-ins and marches for racial justice.

Willard L. Brown (1911-1978) became the first African American attorney to serve as a judge in a West Virginia court of record. Brown was the President of the Charleston NAACP from 1950 to 1966. He was the founder of the Charleston Human Rights Commission and served on the Charleston City Council for eight years after being elected in 1947

James D. Randall (1922-2003) was a photographer and co-author with Anna Evans Gilmer of Black Past, a book that details much of the history of Black lives in the Kanawha Valley.

Benjamin Clyde Perkins, Jr. (1917-2006) was a World War II veteran and a Tuskegee Airman, honored posthumously by Senator Jay Rockefeller in 2005. After the war, Perkins co-opened an Esso station before working for the United States Postal Service until retirement.

Scipio (?-?) was an African prince who came to America as a slave. Owned by Colonel George William Summers, who served on George Washington’s staff, Scipio served as the colonel’s valet and was known as a man of unusual intelligence. He is buried next to Colonel Summers.