Category: Independent Order of St Luke
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What did it cost to bury someone in 1947?
A 1947 funeral statement from Pocahontas, Virginia, reveals just how costly a funeral could be for working families. The $567 bill, equivalent to roughly $8,480 today, helps explain why mutual aid societies were so essential to Black communities across Central Appalachia.
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Freeman Family
The Freeman family played an important role in Blacksburg’s African American community during the early twentieth century. Bessie Briggs Freeman and her husband, Alonzo Freeman, Sr., built their lives and raised their daughters in the Jackson Street neighborhood during the era of segregation. Bessie’s name appeared on the 1919 deed for their home, and she…