C. W. Seay (1900-1982)

Clarence William “Dick” Seay, who lived here, was principal of Dunbar High School, Lynchburg's secondary school for African Americans. A pioneer in the struggle for equal opportunities for blacks, for 30 years Seay shaped Dunbar High School into a school of academic excellence, holding that a “successful school and its community are inseparable.” He later became the first high school principal elected to the presidency of the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. After his retirement in 1968, Seay taught at Lynchburg College and served two terms as Lynchburg’s first black city council member since the 1880s and the first black vice mayor.