Category: Recognition

AARCH Society celebrates lives well lived. Join us as we honor Mr. Harold Cooper, who was featured in “The Tale of the Lion” documentary, and Mrs. Ruth Brown, who appeared in our most recent documentary of Lincoln School, “Back to Our Bygone Days.”

Harold Cooper was born in 1927 in Jacksonville, Fla., and served in the military until 1947. He was employed at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for 35 years and during that time married Katherine Knight Cooper. In his senior years he moved to Frederick to live closer to family.  Mr. Cooper, who would often share his experiences of living in a segregated society, is featured in the opening segment of “The Tale of the Lion.“

Ruth Brown was born in 1929 and in adulthood became affectionately known as Miss Ruthie.  She married her high school sweetheart Bernard Brown in 1955 and became an admired classroom teacher, mentor, and board member of various community organizations. Miss Ruthie was the creator of The Young, Gifted and Black Bernetta R. Brown Dance Troop, named after her only child who died unexpectedly in her late teens. Ruth and her husband both attended the segregated Lincoln School, and they appear together singing the Lincoln School song in the last scene of “Back to Our Bygone Days.”

On May 26, AARCH Society was honored to receive the 2022 Lord D. Nickens Community Service Award from the Human Relations Commission of Frederick County and thrilled that AARCH Society Board Member Rose Dorsey Chaney earned the Theodore W. Stephens Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ms. Chaney is a founding member of AARCH Society and a driving force in our growth and ongoing success. In 2021 Ms. Chaney was named a Wertheimer Fellow for Excellence in Volunteerism by the Community Foundation of Frederick County.

Michael Hughes, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer for Frederick County, presented the keynote address at the ceremony, which was held virtually.

The Lord D. Nickens Community Service Award is given to an individual or organization (school, business, non-profit agency, etc.) in Frederick County that has shown a strong commitment and compiled a solid record of achievement in promoting justice, tolerance, affirmative action, cultural diversity, and inclusion in the community at large.

AARCH Society was noted for our planned establishment of Frederick’s African American Heritage Center on the corner of All Saints and Carroll streets in 2023 and “… its programs, services, and activities, its research, archival and cultural materials, objects and collections and … support of a dedicated and hard-working corps of volunteers … shar[ing] the stories about the history, the contributions and extraordinary resiliency of African Americans in Frederick County despite the challenges they faced during slavery, the Jim Crow era and beyond.”

The Theodore W. Stephens Lifetime Achievement Award is given to an individual with at least 10 years of active involvement in community services in Frederick County and a record of outstanding contributions over the course of time.

At the award ceremony, Ms. Chaney was lifted up for her longstanding and wide-ranging dedication to community service. “For several years, she has spearheaded the task of creating and emailing a weekly African American Community Calendar that promotes local events. You can also find her periodically emailing job postings and other announcements that she’s gathered from various sources. The list of contributions reaches far and wide and ranges in varying degrees,” the Human Relations Commission noted in their introduction.

AARCH Society congratulates Miss Rose for this well-deserved recognition and expresses our deep appreciation to the Human Relations Commission for the awards acknowledging the work being done by AARCH Society and our members on behalf of Frederick County.