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Booker T. Washington High
Sweeps Tucker Awards
The George Holbert Tucker Historical Essay Contest is open to all high
school students in the region. Honoring the Virginian-Pilot’s
longtime columnist, whose timeless stories continue to charm us every
Sunday, cash prizes of $500, $300, and $200 are awarded for the three
best essays on a selected subject. Submittals of no more than 1500 words
were judged by a panel of historians from the Norfolk Historical Society.
Three students from Norfolk’s Booker T. Washington High School,
Ashley Smith, Kevin Smith and Phylicia Upshaw, swept the prizes this
year.
The topic selected for 2005 was “African American Contributions
to Hampton Roads before 1950.” There is growing appreciation that
our history is multi-faceted. Earlier historians tended to see American
history from only a white male viewpoint. George Tucker was an exception,
a historian who saw not only the broad flow of history but the back
currents and eddies as well.
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| From left to right: Kyzeah Parson, Phylicia Upshaw,
Kevin Smith, Ashley Smith, Vice Mayor Daun Hester, Emma Miller,
(sister of the late George H. Tucker) |
Checks were presented to the winners in a closed circuit TV broadcast
at Washington High School on November 29. Mr. Tucker’s younger
sister Emma Miller, presented the checks for the Society, assisted by
President Louis Guy and Treasurer Mary Mosier. Also present to honor
the students were Norfolk Vice Mayor Daun Hester, and teacher Kyzeah
Parson, who has all three in her African American Advanced Studies class.
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The
Tucker Award