Early Saturday morning, several hundred people gathered at Monticello to celebrate Juneteenth, including descendants of the over 400 Black people who were enslaved at the plantation during Thomas Jefferson’s lifetime. The free community event featured insightful and invigorating panel speakers—including renowned filmmaker Ava DuVernay, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, and over […]
Early Saturday morning, several hundred people gathered at Monticello to celebrate Juneteenth, including descendants of the over 400 Black people who were enslaved at the plantation during Thomas Jefferson’s lifetime. The free community event featured insightful and invigorating panel speakers—including renowned filmmaker Ava DuVernay, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, and over […]
Most athletes are hitting the end of the road by age 40. Martina Navratilova hung up her racket at age 38. Soccer star Abby Wambach scored her last goal at 35. When Jessica Coleman turned 40, she was just getting started in her sport. Four years later, she won her first national bodybuilding competition, and […]
Tax victory Last week the Virginia Supreme Court upheld Charlottesville Circuit Court’s decision that said the city cannot require freelance writers to pay its business license tax. As a result of the ruling, local freelance writer Corban Addison, who filed the lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville, will receive a tax refund for the $2,461.23 […]
By Eshaan Sarup and Brielle Entzminger This Sunday, June 19, marks the 157th annual celebration of Juneteenth, which commemorates the day—June 19, 1865—that Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved people there that the Emancipation Proclamation freed them, and the Civil War was over. Though President Abraham Lincoln signed the proclamation […]
For years, Jack Hanrahan dreamed of visiting historical sites of the civil rights movement throughout the South. In 2018, after retiring from a career as an ad exec and relocating to Charlottesville, Hanrahan and his wife made that dream a reality. “I was quite moved by what occurred during this trip, and the experiences, the […]
For Ashley Reynolds Marshall, the past year has been a whirlwind. A few weeks after she became Charlottesville’s first deputy city manager for racial equity, diversity, and inclusion last May, the city removed its infamous Lee and Jackson monuments, and the Sacajawea, Lewis, and Clark statue. When former city manager Chip Boyles resigned in October—shortly […]
It’s a process that happens over and over again in Charlottesville and other localities. A big project is proposed, but before any money is spent on construction, the city hires a consulting firm, often to the tune of six or seven figures. Projects like the Belmont Bridge, the West Main Streetscape, and Cville Plans Together […]
Guns down Sporting an array of orange attire, several dozen community members gathered in the Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church parking lot on Friday afternoon to honor and remember the thousands of lives lost to gun violence nationwide each year. The National Gun Violence Awareness Day event—hosted by the B.U.C.K. Squad, Moms Demand Action […]
Charlottesville resident Dhanya Babu moved to the city from India when she was 8 years old. Unable to speak English well, she enrolled in the ESOL program at Albemarle County Public Schools—and came full circle last year when she returned to work for the school division. Now, she is headed to West Africa to teach […]
Weeks after a power-sharing dispute between descendants of enslaved workers and previous leadership was resolved at James Madison’s Montpelier, descendants at another former president’s home will formally gather for the first time. Organized by the Highland Council of Descendant Advisors, Descendants Day at James Monroe’s Highland will happen on June 11 from 1-4pm. The event […]