Ancella Bickley's Effect on Community

Lost Voices

Back to Home Page

Community Shaping
Women

EFFECT ON COMMUNITY

In addition to her long teaching career, in both the public school system and at the college level, Dr. Ancella Bickley has served her community in a variety of ways. In the late 1960's and early '70's, she contributed through her position on the Human Rights Commission of West Virginia. Her association with the West Virginia Humanities Council has continued long after her eight years of service in an "official" capacity with this organization. It was after her remarks to then mayor of Huntington, Bobby Nelson, that the Carter G. Woodson foundation came into being. I have always been upset about the choice of heroes for us as black people. I'm not sure that simply because one achieves a certain kind of notoriety by being a public person, that one ought to be considered a hero... Carter Woodson came here as a young man. He graduated from Douglass High School and was later principal... If we were to choose a hero for our young people, my question was why would we not choose a scholar?

A primary concern of Dr. Bickley continues to be recognizing, and including in history, the contributions of African Americans to the building of our state. I think that black people in West Virginia have contributed a lot to the development of this state. They have, under some fairly severe pressures, lived full and rich lives and have, in a really masterful way, met all kinds of challenges and have triumphed. I suppose what I want to leave behind me is the memory of some of those people. Dr. Bickley's efforts toward this goal include oral history projects, short stories and plays, all of which honor and credit the labors and creative energies of African Americans both past and present.