NORFOLK, Va. — As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, one member of the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters is reflecting on his family's history and how it motivates his will to serve.
Kevon Purdie was raised in Suffolk and is the first man to work as a social worker at CHKD's NICU in Norfolk.
"I always had a passion from teenage years to serving you can ask anybody in my hometown of Whaleyville," Purdie said. "As a teenager, I was always picking up the mail for all the neighbors."
Purdie received his bachelor's degree in social work at the Norfolk State University and went on to get his master's at the University of Pittsburgh.
He has been working with CHKD for close to a year and says it's an honor to work with families.
"It's very rewarding to be able to help families, especially when they have a new baby that has multiple challenges and navigating that," Purdie said.
Purdie believes his willingness to help others comes from his ancestors and says he is related to Nat Turner.
"My maternal great-grandmother, her grandfather was Nat Turner," Purdie said.
Turner was responsible for one of the revolutionary slave rebellions in American History.
"I know what he had to do to make a statement about the injustices of slavery," Purdie said.
Purdie is also related to. Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood, a former slave who founded the Temperance, Industrial and Collegiate Institute— a school for higher education for Black girls and boys, in Surry County.
"Nat Turner had a daughter named Mary Eliza and she was sold to slavery," Purdie said. "Mary Eliza had a son, and his name was John Jefferson Smallwood."
By the time the school had closed in 1928, more than 2,000 students attended.
Purdie said hearing the stories of his family's contributions has made him who he is today.
"You know I'm just grateful for being a part of that heritage and that legacy," Purdie said. "I plan to with my children, my nieces, my nephews, the young people that come after me when I leave this role for them to follow in my footsteps and just serve."
Purdie's cousin has written a book on more details about Smallwood's life called, Devine Will, Restless Heart.
