Solidarity in song: Raising voices and raising awareness since 1973, Sweet Honey in the Rock is an African American a cappella group with a broad range of performance credits, from “Sesame Street” to Carnegie Hall. With mesmerizing harmonies and gifted lyrical flow, the ensemble addresses civil rights, justice, equality, and freedom through gospel, blues, and […]
Solidarity in song: Raising voices and raising awareness since 1973, Sweet Honey in the Rock is an African American a cappella group with a broad range of performance credits, from “Sesame Street” to Carnegie Hall. With mesmerizing harmonies and gifted lyrical flow, the ensemble addresses civil rights, justice, equality, and freedom through gospel, blues, and […]
When Paul Gaston came to the University of Virginia in 1957, it was overwhelmingly white and male, and segregation was the order of the day. And that’s why the young history professor and early civil rights activist chose it for his life’s work. He brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Old Cabell Hall in 1963, […]
Baby boomers grew up with news correspondent Dan Rather covering the civil rights movement, the assassination of President John Kennedy and the Vietnam War. They raised families while Rather anchored “CBS Evening News,” a coveted position he took in 1981 and held for 24 years. Now a whole new generation knows Rather from YouTube’s The […]
Charlottesville’s legendary civil rights leader turned 90 November 6, and Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy presented him with a proclamation declaring the day Eugene Williams Day at a birthday celebration November 4 at Boar’s Head Inn. Williams grew up on Dice Street in a house with no plumbing, unlike the white-owned abodes on nearby Ridge Street. He […]
The first thing Steve Rubin heard was not the wailing sirens of a fire truck, but the shouts of his house guest, actor Bob Costley, alerting Rubin his car was on fire. Rubin had expected this—he routinely checked underneath his car for a bomb before going to his teaching job at Louisiana State University New […]
After Muhammad Ali moved to a farm in Nelson County in 1982, it wasn’t that unusual to spot him on the Downtown Mall, and his local connections remained even after he moved away. The boxing and civil rights legend died June 3 at age 74. Ali planned his funeral several years ago with the help […]
If a major event happened during the 20th century, attorney and civil rights legend Mark Lane likely was there. The man who wrote in 1966 Rush to Judgment, which disputed the Warren Commission conclusions and spawned a conspiracy-theory industry on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, died May 10 at his Charlottesville home at age […]