Former West Virginia State Senator Marie E. Redd will present this year’s Carter G. Woodson Lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, in the Shawkey Room of Marshall University’s Memorial Student Center.
Redd attended the all-black Barnett Elementary School, formerly located at Hal Greer Boulevard and Eighth Avenue, Oley Junior High School and Huntington High School. She earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Marshall. She has served as a full-time instructor of criminal justice at Marshall. Redd was inducted into the inaugural class of the Marshall University Black Alumni Hall of Fame.
In 1998, Redd became the first African American elected to the West Virginia State Senate and the first female state senator elected from Cabell and Wayne counties. In 2003, Redd advocated for and received funding for a senior citizens’ center in the Fairfield Community, which was named the Marie Redd Senior Life Enrichment Center in her honor. West Virginia Living Magazine featured Redd as one of the West Virginia Wonder(ful) Women in 2020, and she was inducted into the Greater Huntington Hall of Fame in 2022.
This event is co-sponsored by the John Deaver Drinko Academy and the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum at Marshall University.
“We are honored to have Marie Redd serve as the 2025 Carter G. Woodson Lecturer,” said Dr. Montserrat Miller, executive director of the Drinko Academy and a history professor. “Redd is a model citizen who has made a range of significant contributions to our community. Her presentation will advance public understanding of the historic importance of the Burlington 37 to this region and to our country.”
“I tried for years to get Marie as a speaker. It has been difficult because of her schedule,” said Burnis Morris, director of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum at Marshall and a professor of journalism. “But now it’s going to happen, and I can’t wait for this event.”