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Virginia McLaurin

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Virginia McLaurin
Virginia McLaurin (centre) during her visit to the White House in 2016
Born
Virginia Lugenia Campbell[1]

(1909-03-12)March 12, 1909[a]
Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S.[2]
Died(2022-11-14)November 14, 2022
Olney, Maryland, U.S.
Other names
  • D.C.'s Favourite Centenarian
  • Grandma Virginia[3]
Occupations
Known forVideo of her dancing with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama at the White House in February 2016, after attending to collect the Presidents service award
Children3
Awards

Virginia Lugenia McLaurin[1] (née Campbell, March 12, 1909 [a] – November 14, 2022) was an American community volunteer, seamstress, manager of a laundry, farm worker, and a semi-supercentarian or a supercentenarian, since her birth certificate was not located (or her official birthdate not recorded) and she is believed to have been born between 1909 and 1917.[1] Being born under the Jim Crow Laws, such fact is not unusual, as the public records at the time for Black and Native Americans were sometimes missing or inaccurate.[6][7][8]

A resident of Washington, D.C., she gained notability after a video of her dancing with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House went viral, where she attended to receive the President's Volunteer Service Award for her service to the community on February 18, 2016, during a reception held for annual Black History Month, and also for her longevity claim, which although reported extensively by the media press remained unsourced by government and official records.

Biography

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McLaurin meets with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, in the Blue Room of the White House (February 2016)

Early life

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McLaurin was born to a Black family of sharecroppers in Cheraw, South Carolina; her father John Oliver Campbell died when she was one and her mother Flora Ella McQueen taught her to sew.[1][2][9] She stated, "My Grandfather was Methodist minister, and my father was a Baptist".[1]

According to McLaurin, she "was birthed by a midwife and the birthday put in a Bible somewhere."[10] In her childhood, she worked in the fields with her parents, shucking corn and picking cotton.[4]

She grew up during the Jim Crow era when racial segregation was widespread throughout the Southern United States.[11] Never receiving an education past third grade, McLaurin got married at 13 and later moved to New Jersey as part of the Great Migration.[4] Widowed when her husband was killed in a bar fight, she moved to Washington D.C. to be closer to her sister in 1939.[4] Around this time she took responsibility for a three-year-old boy after his father had remarried and the new wife did not want to take on the child. McLaurin formally adopted the boy when he was aged 14.[12]

In her career, she worked as a seamstress,[9] as a domestic helper for families in Silver Spring, Maryland, and managed a laundry shop.[4]

Community volunteer

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From the early 1980s, McLaurin volunteered forty hours per week at Roots Public Charter School through AmeriCorps Seniors.[11][13] She joined the United Planning Organization Foster Grandparent Program in October 1994.[12] In 2013, she received a volunteer community service award from Mayor Vincent C. Gray.[14] After a TV crew publicized the fact that her apartment was infested with bed bugs in 2014, a local pest control company got rid of the infestation and gave her a free bed.[15]

Meeting the Obamas

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Towards the end of the Obama administration, friends of McLaurin recommended to members of the Obama administration that she meet with the President due to her extensive history of volunteering.[11] In February 2016, the White House hosted McLaurin in celebration of Black History Month.[11][16] Upon meeting the President and First Lady, McLaurin gave them both hugs and started dancing with them.[3] She would later say in interviews that she never felt that she would live to visit the White House,[3] and she never thought there would be a day she would get to meet a Black President with his Black wife while celebrating Black history.[11][3] Shortly after her meeting with the Obamas, the video of her dancing with the two went viral online.[4] According to the local press, she was afterwards referred to as D.C.'s favorite centenarian and Grandma Virginia.[3]

On March 11, 2016, McLaurin received the President's Volunteer Service Award for her two decades of service to schoolchildren.[13] On May 27, 2016, she attended a Washington Nationals baseball game and was presented with a custom jersey on the field.[17]

Personal life and longevity

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She had two children with her late husband; as of 2016, her daughter was alive at 83 years old; her son had died. Despite this, she estimated she had about 50 living descendants. At least one of her grandchildren had a great-grandchild, making her a great-great-great-grandmother.[4]

In 2016, McLaurin had trouble obtaining a replacement photo ID from the Washington, D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles because of bureaucratic difficulties in getting a copy of her birth certificate from South Carolina.[10]

On March 12, 2019, McLaurin allegedly turned 110 years old, becoming a supercentenarian.[a][3] She celebrated her previous birthdays from ages 106 to 109 with her favorite basketball team, the Harlem Globetrotters.[18][19]

McLaurin died at her home in Olney, Maryland, on November 14, 2022, at the claimed age of 113.[12]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c There is no official record of McLaurin's birth. South Carolina Vital Statistics also provided an alternate date of March 12, 1916 or 1917, as they noted that they had not located any documents relating to the apparent date of birth.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Virginia McLaurin obituary: Sharecropper's daughter who danced with Obamas at the White House". The Irish Times. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "D.C.'s Virginia McLaurin is celebrating her 111th birthday". March 12, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Carlson, Adam (March 12, 2019). "110 Years Old and 'Still Dancing'! Michelle Obama Wishes Happy Birthday to Beloved Centenarian". People.com. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Itkowitz, Colby (February 23, 2016). "Virginia McLaurin: Dancing 106-year-old describes moment she met President Obama". The Independent. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  5. ^ Ives, Mike (November 16, 2022). "Virginia McLaurin, Sharecroppers' Daughter Who Danced With the Obamas, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  6. ^ "Perspective | Birth certificates have always been a weapon for white supremacists". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  7. ^ Pearson, Susan J. (2022). "Birth Registration and the Administration of White Supremacy". Modern American History. 5 (2) (published 2002): 117–141. doi:10.1017/mah.2022.13. ISSN 2515-0456. S2CID 251470779.
  8. ^ Roberts, Jennifer (February 28, 2021). "'We're looking for closure': Family trying to locate Bible to right father's birth history". Wmbfnews. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  9. ^ a b Klein, Allison (March 12, 2019). "Virginia McLaurin, who charmed hearts when she danced with Obama in the White House, turned 110 today". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  10. ^ a b Milloy, Courtland (April 23, 2016). "Obama's dance partner is persona non grata in D.C. government". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c d e Samuels, Elyse (March 6, 2018). "Virginia McLaurin is celebrating her 109th birthday in style". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  12. ^ a b c "DC's "Dancing Grandma" Passes at Age 113". WHUR. November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Warfield, Samantha Jo (March 11, 2016). "Internet Sensation, 106-year-old Dancing Grandma Receives President's Lifetime Achievement Award for Service". Corporation for National and Community Service (Press release). Retrieved July 5, 2017 – via PR Newswire.
  14. ^ Sherwood, Tom (December 17, 2013). "104-year-old Virginia McLaurin honored for volunteering in D.C." WRC-TV. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  15. ^ Holmes, Horace (January 21, 2015). "106-year-old woman's D.C. apartment no longer bed bug infested, thanks to 7 On Your Side". WJLA-TV. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  16. ^ Garunay, Melanie (February 22, 2016). "Meet the 106-year-old who got to dance with the President and the First Lady". The White House. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  17. ^ "107-year-old Virginia McLaurin attends first MLB game, dances on the field". Fox 5 DC. May 27, 2016. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  18. ^ Pearl, Diana. "Virginia McLaurin, Who Danced with the Obamas, Celebrates Her 108th Birthday with the Harlem Globetrotters". People.com. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  19. ^ Moye, David (March 6, 2018). "Woman Celebrates Her 109th Birthday With The Harlem Globetrotters". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
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