Named
for the presidents of his parents' alma maters -- James Hugo Johnston of Virginia
State University, from which his mother graduated in 1900, and Samuel Armstrong
of Hampton University, from which his father received a degree in 1898 -- Dr.
Hugo Armstrong Owens, Sr. was guided down a path of excellence early on. That
path would lead James and Grace Owens' youngest son to achieve phenomenal success
as a dentist, vice mayor, and civil rights leader.
Dr. Owens received
his early formal education in the strictly-segregated public schools of Norfolk
County (now Chesapeake, Virginia) and Portsmouth, Virginia. He went on to earn
a bachelor's degree from Virginia State University and graduate, with honors,
from Howard University's College of Dentistry. Dr. Owens established a dental
practice in 1947, which he operated until his retirement in 1991.
In 1970, he became
one of the first two African Americans to be elected to the Chesapeake City
Council. Two years later, he organized and successfully led a four-member, integrated
ticket for re-election to the city council. That same year, he was elected vice
mayor, a capacity in which he served for eight years.
In addition to his
commitments as a husband, father, dentist and elected official, Dr. Owens was
an ardent activist in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1951, he headed a group
of litigants in a suit to force the desegregation of the Portsmouth city park
and golf course. Along with a group of local medical and dental practitioners,
Dr. Owens forced the desegregation of Portsmouth General Hospital in 1964.
During the past
50 years, Dr. Owens has been recognized and lauded by many. When the Hugo A.
Owens Middle School in Chesapeake was dedicated in 1998, the fruits of labor
of Dr. Owens, and others like him, were realized.
Dr. Owens shares advice that he
has imparted on his own three children: "Write your life's plan (your dreams)
now! What you will be doing 2, 4, 5, 7, 10 years hence! Think and prepare for
what you will become. Life's rewards for those who think and prepare themselves
are generous indeed!"
