Jim Henderson (1942-2007) Originally from Philadelphia, James Henderson came to Geneva in the 1960s as a non-commissioned officer at the Seneca Army Depot. He met his wife Beth Kenney at Club 86. After working at American Can, he earned an associates degree from Cayuga Community College in 1971. A job at Hobart & William Smith Colleges led to a degree in sociology in 1975. Over 24 years, Jim held several positions working with minority and intercultural students, and academic support services. After retiring in 1995, he became the Dean of Students at Newark High School.
Hobart College Senior Honorary Society honored James with the Druid Award, given annually to a teacher or administrator who exemplifies the highest personal attributes of character, leadership, and loyalty. HWS Colleges gives out the James Henderson Award to a Hobart or William Smith student of color who embodies the spirit of Dean Henderson and his love of learning and athletics. Photo courtesy of HWS Archives.
Born in Tennessee, McKinley Flowers (1928-2020) joined the Marines at age 17 for three years. Because he did not serve the entire three years, he was drafted into a segregated Army in 1950. Thanks to the GI Bill, he attended North Carolina Agriculture Technical State University, a historically Black college, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1956 in vocation industrial education. McKinley taught at Pikeville Correctional School for Boys as an industrial arts teacher. After marrying his college sweetheart Magnolia, he began his passion of activism by seeking to desegregate the Sears lunch counter in Maryville, Tennessee.
In 1958, McKinley started a job at the VA in Coatesville, Pennsylvania where he spearheaded protests for equal opportunity in the VA system. In Chester County, he organized the first interracial Chester County Coalition for Equal Opportunity. Because of his efforts, he was offered a promotion to administrative assistant to the chief of staff at the VA in Canandaigua in 1973. McKinley and Magnolia settled their family in Geneva in 1974.
McKinley served as membership chairman and President of three local NAACP chapters: Coatesville PA, Downingtown PA, and in Geneva where he helped revive a defunct NAACP branch. He launched progressive initiatives in local communities in the Finger Lakes and Blount County, Tennessee. He served as President of the Afro-American Men’s Association, served on the Industrial Development Board, and as a trustee at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church. Photo courtesy of the Finger Lakes Times.
Rosa (1931-2018) and Clifford (1925-2015) Blue moved to Geneva from Florida in 1949. Rosa got involved in the NAACP around 1965 and became its first female president in the 1960s. She served as Executive Director of the Geneva Human Rights Commission for more than 30 years and founded Community Unified Today, Inc. Rosa held numerous leadership positions with multiple community organizations dedicated to promoting affordable housing, childcare, educational access and employment opportunities.
She received the Loftus C. Carson Human Rights Award from the New York State Division of Human Rights; the Agnes Slosson Lewis Award; multiple honors from the Geneva Chapter NAACP; and the Springstead Award from the Geneva Rotary Club. In May 2012 an honorary doctorate of humane letters was conferred on her by Hobart and William Smith Colleges in recognition of her service to the community. In 2018, Geneva Mayor Ron Alcock proclaimed February 7th as Rosa Blue Day.
Born in Raleigh, West Virginia, James Richmond Jr. (1931–2021, on right) and his wife Peggy moved to Geneva where her brothers were stationed at the nearby Sampson Air Force Base. In Geneva, he took a job at a dry cleaning plant and in DiDuro’s shoe store for about a year before being hired by the Firestone store on Exchange Street. Jim learned all parts of the business and became a successful salesman. He was promoted through positions and became the second African American Firestone manager in the country. Jim cofounded the Geneva chapter of the NAACP, the Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, and the African American Men’s Association.