Virginia

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• 1/10/2021
  

  Will VMI Move Further Toward Change and Away from Stonewall Jackson?

  by Wallace Hettle

  Removing the statue of Stonewall Jackson from campus is just one step that the Virginia Military Institute must take toward separating itself from the Lost Cause myth and serving all Virginians. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  12/21/2020
  

  A Black VMI Cadet Was Threatened With A Lynching, Then With Expulsion

  A racist incident during freshman "Hell Week" highlights the problems with racism, Confederate veneration, and unequally applied discipline at the Virginia Military Institute.

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• SOURCE: Governor Ralph S. Northam
  12/21/2020
  

  Virginia Removes Confederate Statue from U.S. Capitol

  “Confederate images do not represent who we are in Virginia, that’s why we voted unanimously to remove this statue,” said Senator Louise Lucas.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/25/2020
  

  Grave Is Found at Site of Historic Black Church in Colonial Williamsburg

  The excavation may have discovered the remains of a Baptist congregation dating to the late 18th century, and may prompt a rethinking of the place of African American history in the open museum of Colonial Williamsburg.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/16/2020
  

  Virginia Sen. Louise Lucas Cleared of Charges of Conspiring to Topple Confederate Monument

  Virginia state senator L. Louise Lucas, who is Black, was cleared of charges related to this summer's protests against public monuments to the Confederacy. 

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• SOURCE: NPR
  10/26/2020
  

  VMI Superintendent Steps Down Amid Allegations Of 'Structural Racism'

  Governor Ralph Northam wrote that Virginians expect universities to "eschew outdated traditions that glamorize a history rooted in rebellion against the United States."

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• 9/27/2020
  

  The Troubling History of a Black Man's Heart

  by Chip Jones

  What Virginia doctors saw as a triumphant achievement was a devastating indictment of medical racism and institutional disregard for the dignity of a Black man and his family.

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• SOURCE: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
  8/22/2020
  

  A Powerful Black leader. White Opposition. Criminal Charges. An Old Pattern Continues in Portsmouth

  “The people that were (in Portsmouth) 200 years ago are still there, and their descendants are still in power,” said Norfolk State University history professor Cassandra Newby-Alexander. “And they’re making sure that they maintain the status quo and do everything to fight against any changes — any challenges — to the status quo."

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• SOURCE: TIME
  8/18/2020
  

  Black Virginia State Senator Charged With 'Injuring' Confederate Monument

  “It’s deeply troubling that on the verge of Virginia passing long-overdue police reform, the first Black woman to serve as our Senate Pro Tempore is suddenly facing highly unusual charges,” said Gov. Ralph Northam.

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• SOURCE: Roanoke (VA) Times
  8/18/2020
  

  UMW, City of Fredericksburg Partner in Effort to More Accurately Tell the Local Civil Rights Story

  Christine Henry, an assistant professor of historic preservation at UMW, will contribute to this project with her fall semester upper level seminar “Diversity in Historic Preservation.”

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• SOURCE: DCist
  8/10/2020
  

  Robert E. Lee’s Name Is Still All Over Arlington, But That Could Be Changing

  “Symbols matter. They shape how we view the world and inform our culture,” Julius D. Spain Sr., the President of NAACP Arlington, tells DCist. “Do these [symbols] really represent the Arlington we live in today?”

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/26/2020
  

  A Liberal Town Built Around Confederate Generals Rethinks Its Identity

  The town finds itself reassessing its identity, divided between the growing imperative to eradicate symbols of slavery and decades of cultural and economic ties to the Confederates who fought to preserve it.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  7/28/2020
  

  History Meets Mythology: Debate Stirs over Push to Rename T.C. Williams High School, of ‘Remember the Titans’ Fame

  Thomas Chambliss Williams served as superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools from the 1930s to the 1960s. He resisted integration, argued black and white students learn differently and fired a black cafeteria worker when she joined a NAACP lawsuit compelling Alexandria to end segregation.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  7/25/2020
  

  Across Virginia, Local Officials Weigh Taking Down Reminders Of Confederate Legacy

  Virginia has more Confederate statues than any other state, according to Julie V. Langan, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  7/24/2020
  

  Confederate Memorials Quietly Removed from Virginia Capitol Overnight

  “Virginia has a story to tell that extends far beyond glorifying the Confederacy and its participants,” House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn said in an emailed statement, condemning the Confederate ideology as based on maintaining slavery.

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• SOURCE: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
  6/14/2020
  

  Edith White, World War II ‘Code Girl’ and Norfolk Academy Librarian who Fought Massive Resistance, Dies at 96

  Edith White was part of a team of women who served the US Navy as codebreakers, and fought for democratic values like integrated schools after the war's end. 

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• SOURCE: Associated Press
  5/24/2020
  

  Charlottesville Official Wants To Revisit Statues’ Removal

  The move could potentially inflame the controversy that led to deadly violence by far-right defenders of the Confederate memorials in 2017.

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• SOURCE: Architectural Digest
  5/5/2020
  

  A New Public Art Installation in Alexandria Confronts the City’s Ties to the Slave Trade

  Brooklyn-based artist Olalekan Jeyifous examines an oft-overlooked aspect of the Virginia port community’s history.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/23/2020
  

  Joseph Mccoy was Lynched by a Mob in 1897. At a Virtual Remembrance, Officials Vowed not to Forget.

  The young man was taken from jail, beaten and shot before being hanged in front of a cheering crowd.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/9/2020
  

  The History of Slavery Remains With Us Today

  by Ariela Gross and Alejandro de la Fuente

  Two historians trace how law and institutions developed around anti-black ideology in the Americas.