The federal office and courthouse in downtown Roanoke now known as the Poff Building will soon be named for the late Rueben Lawson, a pioneering African-American civil rights attorney in Roanoke. Attorney John Fishwick Jr., worked with politicians on the renaming and today celebrated it being approved by Congress as part of a much larger bill.
The Poff building had long been named for a Virginia Congressman and Judge; Richard Poff's roots as a segregationist came under scrutiny after the George Floyd murder in 2020. Joining Fishwick today was the Rev. Edward Burton, who knew Lawson more than 5 decades ago.