This is the good news story you needed on the last day of the year.
December 31, 2023 9:14 AM Subscribe
The Washington Post Revisits Stories from This Year to See Where They Are Now In January, I posted this thread about Devon Henry, a Black Virginia contractor who was hired to take down a Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery when no one else would. In doing so, Henry took on significant risk with workers walking off site, being told his business would be ruined, and having to wear a bullet-proof vest to work every day. An update is the 5th story at the gift link above.
For a Black man to step in carried enormous risk. Henry concealed the name of his company for a time and long shunned media interviews. He has endured death threats, seen employees walk away and been told by others in the industry that his future is ruined.
In the time since, he has become in demand not just as a construction contractor, but as a speaker and consultant. Henry has visited the White House three times, attended a Black History event at Vice President Harris’s home, consulted with corporations on “leading during adversity” and spoken at a university in Germany. In March, he will take part in a panel at the South by Southwest conference in Austin.
Henry developed his unusual expertise in Richmond, where his Team Henry Enterprises removed more than a dozen Confederate monuments between 2020 and 2022 after White-owned companies refused to take on the work. This year, as more parts of the country have wrestled with their symbols of a racist past, Henry has helped authorities in the North and the South make plans for tackling Confederate memorials.
In the meantime, his company’s more routine work has continued to grow. Team Henry has built banks, office buildings, school facilities and restaurants, Henry said. But the jobs that are special to him involve building memorials to the enslaved or the forgotten, including at the University of Virginia and in projects underway at the University of Richmond, the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond and several other places.
For a Black man to step in carried enormous risk. Henry concealed the name of his company for a time and long shunned media interviews. He has endured death threats, seen employees walk away and been told by others in the industry that his future is ruined.
In the time since, he has become in demand not just as a construction contractor, but as a speaker and consultant. Henry has visited the White House three times, attended a Black History event at Vice President Harris’s home, consulted with corporations on “leading during adversity” and spoken at a university in Germany. In March, he will take part in a panel at the South by Southwest conference in Austin.
Henry developed his unusual expertise in Richmond, where his Team Henry Enterprises removed more than a dozen Confederate monuments between 2020 and 2022 after White-owned companies refused to take on the work. This year, as more parts of the country have wrestled with their symbols of a racist past, Henry has helped authorities in the North and the South make plans for tackling Confederate memorials.
In the meantime, his company’s more routine work has continued to grow. Team Henry has built banks, office buildings, school facilities and restaurants, Henry said. But the jobs that are special to him involve building memorials to the enslaved or the forgotten, including at the University of Virginia and in projects underway at the University of Richmond, the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond and several other places.
Weird, the link works for me. Mods feel free to take down if the link is not working.
posted by Toddles at 12:00 PM on December 31, 2023
posted by Toddles at 12:00 PM on December 31, 2023
I just tried using the Wayback machine and their version seems to work better...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:22 PM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:22 PM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
all I get is a cover image and then it skips straight to the links to other similar articles.
WaPo subscriber here, been seeing this all over their site, recently, on Firefox; but when I try the links on the Edge browser, they look fine.
posted by Rash at 6:26 PM on December 31, 2023
WaPo subscriber here, been seeing this all over their site, recently, on Firefox; but when I try the links on the Edge browser, they look fine.
posted by Rash at 6:26 PM on December 31, 2023
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posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:54 AM on December 31, 2023