THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 16, 1995 TAG: 9511170414
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 02E EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COMMUNITY NEWS
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
The achievements of Norfolk native Evelyn T. Butts will be celebrated Saturday in a ceremony that will culminate with a street being renamed in her honor.
The city of Norfolk, friends, family and Oakwood Chapel are hosting the ceremony at 11 a.m. in the parking lot of Oakwood Chapel at Avenue E and Elm Avenue. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Elm Avenue will become Evelyn T. Butts Avenue.
State Sen. Yvonne Miller and City Council members Paul Riddick, Herbert Collins and Conoly Phillips are expected to participate in the ceremony.
Butts rose to prominence in 1966 when she was a plaintiff in a U.S. Supreme Court case that resulted in the elimination of the Virginia poll tax. With the assistance of the NAACP, she was also instrumental in desegregation of the Norfolk public schools.
Butts was the first African-American woman to be appointed a Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority commissioner and received a gubernatorial appointment to the Virginia Board of Housing and Community Development. During her lifetime, Butts, who died in March 1993, received more than 25 awards, ranging from the ``Backbone Award'' given to her by the Education Association of Norfolk to the Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals Echoes of Excellence Media Award for community service. by CNB