Virginia

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/24/2021
  

  Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Abolish the Death Penalty

  Governor Ralph Northam explained that the state could guarantee neither racial equity nor the indisputable guilt of condemned prisoners. Virginia had executed more prisoners than any American state or colony in 413 years of the death penalty.

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• SOURCE: NPR
  3/3/2021
  

  Discovery Of Schoolhouse For Black Children Now Offers A History Lesson

  The discovery of an 18th century schoolhouse on the campus of William & Mary offers a chance for public historians to explain the complexity of Black education in colonial Virginia, which taught reading in the hopes of indoctrinating both free and enslaved children with pro-slavery ideology.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/26/2021
  

  University Finds 18th-Century Schoolhouse Where Black Children Learned to Read

  The discovery of a 260-year-old structure with such a deep connection to a little-known chapter of the history of Colonial Williamsburg, when the population was more than 50 percent Black and teaching slaves to read was legal, is especially significant, said history professor Jody Lynn Allen. 

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• SOURCE: Virginian-Pilot
  3/1/2021
  

  How a Wave of Segregationist Tributes, from Streets to Schools, Entrenched the Idea of White Supremacy

  Understanding the stakes of renaming public buildings, streets, or schools requires understanding the purposeful politics that attached the names of Confederates to public spaces a century ago, say Virginia historians Dan Margolies and Calvin Pearson.

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• 2/28/2021
  

  Is Virginia's Move to Abolish the Beginning of the End of the Death Penalty in America?

  by Rick Halperin

  Virginia's move to abolish capital punishment is long overdue, and other states and the federal government should follow suit to restore American legitimacy on global human rights. 

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• SOURCE: WTOP
  2/5/2021
  

  Virginia House votes to turn ‘Jefferson Davis Highway’ into ‘Emancipation Highway’

  The bill, which has bipartisan support, would rename any stretches of  US Route 1 still named for the Confederate president as "Emancipation Highway" but would not reflect segments of the road already renamed by local authorities. 

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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.