A common refrain in real estate is location, location, location. Sometimes however, the name is just as important, especially if the divine is involved. Such…
Sherri BagleyJuly 10, 2024
On the morning of 27 April 1870, attorney Patrick Henry Aylett headed toward the Virginia Capitol to hear the Supreme Court of Appeals’ ruling on…
Lee Ann TimreckApril 10, 2024
It is often assumed that after Congressional Reconstruction in Virginia ended in 1870, no Black men won election to political office in the state until…
Library of VirginiaFebruary 22, 2023
When I arrived as a Virginia Humanities Fellow at the Library of Virginia in September 2021, I did so with the intent to research the…
Guest ContributorAugust 10, 2022
Editor’s Note: The Library of Virginia, in partnership with Virginia Humanities, sponsors residential fellows during the academic year to conduct in-depth research in the Library’s…
Lois LeveenFebruary 2, 2022
The history of African American disenfranchisement and exclusion in Virginia is a lengthy one. This blog post is meant to serve as an introduction and…
Jessi BennettSeptember 9, 2020
On 17 April 1868, exactly seven years after a Virginia convention had voted to secede from the United States, another Virginia convention voted to approve…
John DealApril 17, 2019
In 1871 Massachusetts-born Edward Daniels became the editor of the state’s flagship Republican newspaper, the Daily State Journal. He had moved to Virginia just three…
Kevin ShupeOctober 24, 2018
Life for African Americans in Virginia following the end of the Civil War can be described as uncertain at best. As the social balance between…
Chris SmithSeptember 16, 2015
This is the fourth in a series of four blog posts concerning post-Civil War Virginia and the lives of freedpeople after Emancipation. The posts precede the…
Mari JulienneJuly 1, 2015
This is the second in a series of four blog posts concerning post-Civil War Virginia and the lives of freedpeople after Emancipation. The posts precede…
Joseph M. ThompsonJune 17, 2015
In the years following the Civil War, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (commonly referred to as simply the Freedmen’s Bureau) provided assistance…
Bari HelmsMay 30, 2012
The staff at Montgomery County’s Circuit Court Clerk’s Office recently rediscovered the county’s cohabitation register, one of the most valuable records used for African American…
Dale DulaneyMay 2, 2011
Editor's Note: The following editorial is reprinted here courtesy of the Smyth County News & Messenger. It originally ran 28 July 2010. A team from…
Guest ContributorAugust 9, 2010
