For Immediate Release:
October 13, 2025
Primary Media Contact:
Sally Voth
Public Relations Specialist
[email protected]
Phone: 540-868-7134
More than 100 people gathered at Laurel Ridge – with more watching online – Saturday afternoon to hear the story of two women, one White and the other Black, who discovered their families were tied together by blood and by slavery.
Dr. Betty Kilby Fisher Baldwin, known as the “little girl in Front Royal who sued the school board” and integrated Warren County High School in 1959, was due to speak with her cousin Phoebe Kilby, a White woman who discovered their shared lineage nearly two decades ago. Unfortunately, Phoebe Kilby was in the hospital in North Carolina, and unable to be at the presentation. Instead, Dr. Baldwin was joined by two other cousins, Tim Kilby and Roslyn Ella Honesty.
Dr. Baldwin’s father, James Wilson Kilby, filed a lawsuit on her behalf, Betty Ann Kilby, et al. vs. Warren County Board of Education, and won the right for his and other Black children to attend Warren County High School in the late 1950s.
In 2007, Phoebe Kilby – who had suspected her family had ties to the Black Kilby family members since both women’s fathers grew up on farms less than a mile apart in Rappahannock County – came across Dr. Baldwin’s autobiography, “Wit, Will & Walls,” published five years previously.
On Saturday, Dr. Baldwin read aloud the first two emails Phoebe Kilby sent her in January 2007. The subject of the first was “an invitation to conversation.”
“I suspect that our families had some kind of relationship in the past,” Dr. Baldwin read.
Phoebe Kilby referenced the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote from his “I have a Dream” speech – “…the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
“Perhaps we as daughters can contribute to fulfilling that dream,” she wrote.
Dr. Baldwin said, “Right there, she had me.”
She wrote Phoebe Kilby back, saying, “We are the key to healing.”
Those emails are included in “Cousins,” the book the women wrote together in 2021. After receiving Phoebe Kilby’s emails, Dr. Baldwin invited her to dinner. DNA and genealogical research would later reveal a common ancestor linking Dr. Baldwin and Phoebe Kilby’s cousin, Tim Kilby.
Dr. Baldwin said Phoebe Kilby, wishing to make amends for her family’s past, came up with the idea of establishing The Kilby Family Endowed Scholarship Fund for descendants of those who were enslaved by John Kilby, who lived in Culpeper County from 1715-1772, and his descendants who also enslaved people.
On Saturday, Tim Kilby recalled growing up in Rappahannock County and asking his father if they were related to the numerous other Kilby families in the phonebook. He was told no and met with silence.
“The message was you don’t ask that question,” Tim Kilby said.
He said it was only natural that establishing the scholarship was fitting considering how important receiving an equal education was to Dr. Baldwin’s father. He said about 50 scholarships had been awarded so far.
Dr. Baldwin, a graduate of Laurel Ridge, recalled attending Shenandoah University and being nervous about the Virginia History course she was taking. She was shocked when her professor said they would be talking “about that little girl in Front Royal who sued the school board.” The professor was excited to have a historical “primary source” in his classroom.
Dr. Baldwin was asked her advice to those concerned about racial oppression happening today.
“Keep talking to one another,” she said. “The way Phoebe and I started off, we just started talking. We are Kilbys in black and white because we have that same gusto for civil rights and that same fight for what’s right.”
Honesty, Tim Kilby and Dr. Baldwin spent more than an hour taking questions from those in attendance.
Vicki Quarles said she had only lived in Virginia a short while and has begun researching her family history.
“It’s a lot,” she said. “I have handwritten documents with slave names, people who were enslaved by my ancestors.”
Honesty said it’s courage-building and confidence-building for African American children to know who their grandparents and great-grandparents were. While it’s important for them to learn about famous civil rights leaders, “there are also strong shoulders in your own family.”
Ginger Newton is a gifted-and-talented teacher for Warren County Public Schools. History becomes more relatable for her students when they learn what happened in their own hometown, she said.
“It’s just an honor to be here,” Newton said. “I encourage anybody to research, just knowing our history books are not giving us all the details.”
Nineteen organizations, including Belle Grove Plantation, Northern Shenandoah Valley Coming to the Table, Warren-Page NAACP, Shenandoah County NAACP, the Strasburg Museum at the Strasburg Visitor’s Center and numerous churches and church organizations, sponsored Saturday’s presentation, said Laurel Ridge Sociology and Human Services Professor Larry Friedenberg.
“As part of the inviting, inclusive, inspiring and impactful frameworks of the Engage 2027 strategic plan at Laurel Ridge, we believe it’s vital to provide programming for the community that raises awareness and brings to life inclusive narratives and stories from our community,” he said.
You can watch a recording of Saturday’s event at https://www.youtube.com/live/VAC-Ba6aBxs.
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Founded in 1970, Laurel Ridge Community College is a multi-campus public institution of higher education. With three locations — Middletown, Warrenton, and Luray-Page County — the College serves eight localities in the Shenandoah Valley and northern Piedmont regions. The localities are the counties of Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren and the city of Winchester. Laurel Ridge offers more than 75 associate degree and certificate programs in a wide variety of disciplines, in addition to providing access to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs offered on site by a four-year institution. Laurel Ridge also serves the business community by offering workforce preparation programs for employees and employers. Laurel Ridge serves more than 9,000 unduplicated credit students and more than 11,000 individuals in professional development and business and industry courses annually.
Laurel Ridge Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate degrees. Laurel Ridge Community College also may offer credentials such as certificates and diplomas at approved degree levels. Questions about the accreditation of Laurel Ridge Community College may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097, by calling (404) 679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC’s website (www.sacscoc.org).
Laurel Ridge Community College is an equal opportunity institution providing educational and employment opportunities, programs, services, and activities. Laurel Ridge shall promote and maintain equal employment and educational opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age (except when age is a bona fide occupational qualification), status as a veteran, national origin, or other non-merit factors. Laurel Ridge also prohibits sexual misconduct including sexual violence or harassment. Inquiries may be directed to the Associate Vice President, Human Resources, [email protected], 173 Skirmisher Lane, Middletown, VA 22645, 540-868-7226.
Laurel Ridge Community College was known as Lord Fairfax Community College until June 2022. For consistency purposes, the college will be referenced as Laurel Ridge going forward.
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