ROADSIDE MARKER APPROVED FOR CIVIL RIGHTS CHAMPION
Posted: December 19, 2014
By Bryan Gilkerson
HARRISONBURG - While Virginia may be for lovers, the state has decided to recognize
Harrisonburg as the home of a historic Love.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has approved a state highway marker to
mark the 1891 birth of Edgar Amos Love in Harrisonburg. Randall Jones, public information officer for the state agency, said Love's role in cofounding Omega Psi Phi - the first fraternity established at a historically black college - as well as his efforts to desegregate the Methodist Church and leadership in the Southern Conference Educational Fund civil rights organization warranted the marker.
"Love's work had statewide and national significance," said Jones.
Love also served as a chaplain with the U.S. Army during World War I and was elected
chaplain of the American Negro Veterans of the World War organization in 1922. He was chosen as a bishop in the Methodist Church in 1952 and was involved in desegregation efforts and voter registration drives. He died in Baltimore in 1974 at the age of 82.
The marker will be placed near John Wesley United Methodist Church at the intersection of Sterling and Effinger streets. Love, whose father had been a minister at the church, was born in the parsonage. At the time, the church was on West Market Street at the site now occupied by the former
Wetsel Seed Building and the current home of several shops and the Union Station Restaurant and Bar.
The Love BDD Foundation - the philanthropic arm of the James Madison University chapter of Omega Psi Phi - sponsored the effort to have Love's connection with Harrisonburg commemorated. Dawnn Wallace of Newport News - whose husband, Andre, is an alumnus of the JMU Omega Psi Phi chapter - said the marker will be dedicated on April 18, the 30th anniversary of the chapter's founding. She also said Love's son, Jon E., and the national president of the fraternity, Antonio F. Knox, are expected to attend. A banquet will be held at Spotswood Country Club following the dedication ceremony.
Contact Bryan Gilkerson at 574-6267 or bgilkerson@dnronline.com
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