Jim Crow and Segregation – The UncommonWealth

The Stacks

Service & Segregation: A Look Back

Editor's Note: In recognition of Black History Month, we explored our own history to understand how segregation restricted access to Library of Virginia resources. During…

Lisa WehrmannFebruary 5, 2025

Archives The Stacks

“Yours in Utmost Disgust”: Desegregation Letters to the Governor of Virginia

How do archivists describe documents that reflect years of trauma and oppression with sensitivity? What if these documents are inflammatory letters written during an era…

Library of VirginiaJune 5, 2024

Education & Programming Virginia Authors

“Pioneers in American librarianship who happen to be Black”

Brenda Mitchell-Powell’s book Public in Name Only explores the history of racial segregation in Virginia public libraries through the example of the Alexandria library system and…

Library of VirginiaJanuary 23, 2023

Public Libraries

Unequal Access: The Desegregation of Public Libraries in Northern Virginia

It all began with a question. The Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) Board of Trustees had over the past year onboarded a cohort of new…

Guest ContributorApril 11, 2022

Archives Newspapers

In Between: Japanese and Japanese Americans In Jim Crow Virginia

The Library of Virginia is closed to the public, but we can still observe Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month virtually! Let’s explore the…

Emma ItoMay 8, 2020

Who Do You Love?: Race and Marriage in Virginia Before the Loving Decision

Virginia’s marriage license requirements recently made the national news, and the state’s complicated history with racial classification is part of that conversation. Various records held…

Vince BrooksSeptember 16, 2019

Archives Digital Projects

Education Is A Virtue: Patrick County Chancery Causes

A lack of education and a trusting heart caused many minorities to lose their property in the early 20th century. A perfect example is the case…

Sherri BagleyJuly 15, 2015

Newspapers

“Stay Off the Cars”–The Boycott of the Virginia Passenger and Power Company

In 1902 Louisiana became the first to pass a statewide statute requiring mandatory segregation of streetcars, followed by Mississippi in 1904. That same year, Virginia…

Kelley EwingJuly 27, 2012

Mapping segregation in Virginia’s early public schools

Before the Civil War, Virginia did not have a comprehensive public school system. Lawmakers passed various measures to fund public schools, but these measures were…

Catherine OBrionMay 18, 2011