Shelly Lipscomb Echeverria proudly displays a shirt bearing the image of her ancestor, Delegate James F. Lipscomb, who represented Cumberland County from 1869 to 1877 in the General Assembly.
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From slave to legislator
Virginia’s early black lawmakers honored
James Apostle Fields started life in Virginia as a slave in Hanover County. By his death in 1903, he had gone to Hampton University, earned a law degree at Howard University and been elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.