Vildred Fitzgerald grew up in the small community of Vernon Hill located just outside of Danville, Virginia. As a child she loved school and loved to read and write on the chalkboard. This would eventually inspire her to attend Winston-Salem Teachers College and become a teacher. She met her husband while she was in college. As a young couple, they lived with her parents while he completed his education to become a dentist. They relocated into the Penn Branch neighborhood in 1963 and were among the first wave of African Americans to integrate the neighborhood. Their home had a deed that did not allow the owners to sell the property to any person of color. Ironically, their new home was also a parsonage, which is any house owned by a church for clergy to reside. Her family quickly became members of Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church. The church also had a majority White membership in 1963. Vildred Fitzgerald was an elementary school teacher in DC Public Schools for 32 years. Her late husband, William, became a prominent dentist who owned and operated his own practice located at the Penn Branch Shopping Center.