PETERSBURG, Va. -- A half-painted wicker chair on the front porch serves as an artifact to call Rossalyn Dance missed. The former Mayor of Petersburg returned that call Thursday, and found out Richard Stewart, the honorary mayor of Pocahontas Island and her dear friend, had passed away.
“I’m going to miss not being able to call him, and he said, ‘Hey, Roz, how’s it going? Hey, Roz, how’s it going?’ It was fine because Richard was in this world with me,” Dance said, fighting back tears.
Stewart is a beloved and well-known figure in Petersburg and Pocahontas Island, where he was born and returned to after a career in the military. He leaves behind an immense legacy on island, one of, if not the, oldest Black neighborhoods in the U.S. sitting just outside downtown Petersburg on the Appomattox River.
The 79-year-old’s passing came as a shock to his friends, and they remember a man who was dogged in fight to preserve artifacts and property on the island. Enslaved and free African-Americans have lived on Pocahontas Island since 1732, and Stewart created the Pocahontas Island Black History Museum, filled with hundreds of artifacts and deeply researched histories.
Whether it be governors or school kids or television crews, Dance said Stewart was passionate about sharing the island's important history and doing so to help lift the families who live there.
“Blacks lived free on that island before they were even free,” Dance said. “Because of the light shining on them, he was able to help a lot of people.”
Michael Edwards first met Stewart when he was 14 years old. Impressed by his fighting spirit and passion at Petersburg City Council meetings, a decades-long friendship only blossomed from there.
“A gentleman who beloved in fighting for what’s right. He believed in letting folks know the true story, rather than what you wanted to hear,” Edwards said. “His memory will always last when you go through this island.”
Both Dance and Edwards said work must be done to preserve the work Stewart did, which drew international attention to the city. Artifacts, they said, of their leader and dear friend.
“No matter how old you are, no matter how much you rock the boat, just stand and fight for something you believe in, and Mr. Stewart had a lot of causes that he believed in,” Edwards said. “I hope somebody going forward preserves that and fights for what he believed in when came to this island and other things involving the city.”
“I know that he’s an example of what a humble man from humble beginnings can do, can accomplish much, if they do it the right way. Take the road less traveled; that’s what Richard would say,” Dance said.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
