Unveiling Photos - Historical Marker - Bishop Edgar Amos Love

Unveiling Ceremony (Bishop Edgar Amos Love - Historical Marker)
Saturday, April 18, 2015 (10:00AM)

To Sir, With Love

Historical Marker Honors Life, Work Of City Native
Posted: April 20, 2015
By AMELIA BRUST

Section: News (Local) 

Members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, city residents and relatives of Harrisonburg
native Edgar Amos Love attended a dedication Saturday for a historical marker honoring
the late Methodist bishop and civil rights activist. (Photo by Amelia Brust/DN-R)

HARRISONBURG - As a co-founder of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Edgar Amos Love had hundreds of brothers around the country. On Saturday, about 80 of them, as well as three generations of Love's biological family, attended a dedication in the city of the late bishop's historical highway marker at John Wesley United Methodist Church. "I know a lot of the brothers really appreciated my father because of the type of person that he was," said Love's son, Jon, 75. The retired reverend came from Owings Mills, Md., with his wife while his son and granddaughter were also in attendance.

Edgar Love, a Harrisonburg native who died in 1974 at 82, co-founded Omega Psi Phi in 1911 while a student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. In 1952, he was elected bishop by the Methodist Church's central jurisdiction comprising 19 black conferences of the former Methodist Episcopal Church.

The marker is situated outside John Wesley United Methodist Church on Sterling Street and commemorates Love for his co-creation of the first fraternity at a historically black college, as well as the efforts he made to integrate his church and his civil rights advocacy.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources, which approves the markers, does not receive state funding for the program and relies on private sponsors and individuals to apply for and purchase the markers.

That community support is what makes the program strong, according to Randall Jones, a city resident and a DHR public relations and publications manager. He told the crowd that during the past 30 years the program "has expanded tremendously" to include more commemorations of minorities and women.

Dawnn Wallace of Newport News, who is married to a James Madison University Omega Psi Phi alumnus, helped lead the effort to get the marker. Wallace is executive director of the Love BDD Foundation, a nonprofit that is the fundraising arm of JMU's chapter and which donated $1,000 to John Wesley United Methodist Church.

Mayor Chris Jones issued a formal proclamation commemorating the bishop's legacy.

"I just think it's important that we recognize ... that we can live a life of Love," Jones said before making his proclamation.

Also in attendance was 79-year-old Samuel NeSmith, a retired reverend from Richmond. Love not only ordained NeSmith into the ministry, he performed NeSmith's wedding ceremony.

He shared personal anecdotes about the late bishop with the crowd, as well as a tune.

"Something made a change in my life," NeSmith crooned while played harmonica. "Love made a change in my life."

Contact Amelia Brust at 574-6293 or abrust@dnronline.com               

Spring 2015 - Through the Crucible of Trials

Congratulations to the Spring 2015 line - Through the Crucible of Trials

Avery Coleman
Jeffrey Wallace

Bishop Edgar Amos Love Day (April 18, 2015)

Certificate of Recognition - Bishop Edgar Amos Love Day - April 18, 2015

Dedication For Love Historic Marker On Tap

Dedication For Love Historic Marker On Tap

by Ryan Cornell

HARRISONBURG - A notable civil rights activist and Methodist bishop will get a permanent mark in the city this weekend.

A dedication ceremony for a new state historical marker for Edgar Amos Love will be held at the John Wesley United Methodist Church at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Love, born in Harrisonburg in 1891, was a co-founder of Omega Psi Phi at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Omega Psi Phi is the first international fraternity at a historically black college, according to its website.

After graduating from Howard, Love was ordained a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and served overseas as a U.S. Army chaplain during World War I. He became a bishop in 1952 and worked to desegregate the church, advocating for nonviolent protest against discrimination.

Love died in Baltimore in 1974.

Dawnn Wallace serves as the executive director of the Love BDD Foundation, a nonprofit formed by James Madison University's Beta Delta Delta chapter of the fraternity.

Wallace said a representative from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources will speak at the dedication, the national president of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity will offer his remarks and Love's son, Jon, will also be at the ceremony.

She lauded Edgar Love's social activism for equality and desegregation.

"He didn't just advocate for African-Americans," she said. "He advocated for equality for all people."

Contact Ryan Cornell at 574-6286 or rcornell@dnronline.com

Copyright (c) 2015, Byrd Newspapers, All Rights Reserved.

"A Labor of Love" Weekend - April 17 - 19, 2015

Happy Easter

On behalf of the Love BDD Foundation, Inc. and the Beta Delta Delta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi, Fraternity, Inc., we wish you and your families a very blessed and happy Easter!

Lord, the resurrection of Your Son

has given us new life and renewed hope.

Help us to live as new people

in pursuit of the Christian ideal.

Grant us wisdom to know what we must do,

the will to want to do it,

the courage to undertake it,

the perseverance to continue to do it, 

and the strength to complete it.