Women Built This Botanical Garden In Norfolk, VA

Meet Mary Elizabeth Ferguson who along with others like her, built a huge botanical garden during the great depression in America.
On June 30, 1938, Representative Norman R. Hamilton announced a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant of $76, 278 for the Azalea Garden project.
Since most of the male labor force was at work with other projects for the city, a group of more than 200 African American women and 20 men were assigned to the Azalea Garden project.
Laboring from dusk until dawn, the labor crew cleared dense vegetation and carried the equivalent of 150 truck loads of dirt by hand to build a levee for the lake. The laborers were paid twenty-five cents an hour for their hard work.
Within less than a year, a section of underbrush had been cleared and readied for planting. By March of 1939, four thousand azaleas, two thousand rhododendrons, several thousand miscellaneous shrubs and trees and one hundred bushels of daffodils had been planted.
You can learn more here: http://www.norfolkbotanicalgarden.org/about-norfolk-botanical-garden/history
and visit our city at www.norfolk.gov

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[14813able]

Shes so cute. I can't believe her teeth look better than mine. God bless her...

[Chickenandrice1234]

Hey grandma ferguson loved your ceremony

[microdac]

I would love to make a video interviewing these mazing women! Call me if you know of any that I can interview...

[FinallyFreeToBeMe]

Thank you so much for posting this interview!

[relay07]

This is very informative. Thank You.