Descendants will have equal say at Montpelier The Montpelier Foundation voted last week to share governance of the historic property with the Montpelier Descendants Committee, an organization comprised of descendants of the enslaved laborers who once lived and worked on the plantation. Montpelier is widely known as the estate of James Madison, the fourth U.S. […]
Descendants will have equal say at Montpelier The Montpelier Foundation voted last week to share governance of the historic property with the Montpelier Descendants Committee, an organization comprised of descendants of the enslaved laborers who once lived and worked on the plantation. Montpelier is widely known as the estate of James Madison, the fourth U.S. […]
For more than 20 years, Crescent Halls residents have been speaking out about the intolerable living conditions in the public housing apartments, including leaky laundry machines, broken air conditioners, sweltering heat, sewage flooding, busted elevators, bed bugs, and cockroaches. Charlottesville leaders vowed in 2010 to redevelop the 45-year-old complex for seniors and disabled residents—along with […]
From 1941 to 1945, at least 6 million European Jews were deported, tortured, and murdered by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. In light of these evils, all symbols honoring or celebrating the Third Reich have been banned in Germany for decades—outside of museums, you’ll find no Nazi flags, swastikas, or statues of Adolf Hitler. Yet […]
For nearly a century, Charlottesville’s downtown statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson have stood as brutal emblems of white supremacy. Local Black activists have fought long and hard for the bronze eyesores to be taken down for good, but the city has faced a string of roadblocks over the past four […]
It’s been over a year since 74-year-old Richard Allan hurled Charlottesville’s former slave auction marker into the James River, frustrated with the city for not creating a better tribute to the thousands of enslaved people bought and sold in Court Square. Ever since, the city has been working to replace the marker. The Historic Resources […]
“For more than 25 years, redevelopment and public housing in the City of Charlottesville have been conversations and promises to residents,” said Audrey Oliver, standing on a dirt lot near Oakwood Cemetery downtown. “The promises became broken, and residents became discouraged, because the promises were never delivered.” That string of broken promises will soon be […]
As I made my way down Jefferson Park Avenue, I felt a sense of familiarity. Just two years ago, I took the bus this way almost every day, praying I would make it to my classes at the University of Virginia on time. But that familiarity faded to sadness once I arrived at my destination: […]
Sign of the times After months of debate over Charlottesville’s honorary street name policies, City Council unanimously approved two requests last week recommended by the Historic Resources Committee: Black History Pathway and Byers-Snookie Way. Black History Pathway, located on Fourth Street NW between West Main Street and Preston Avenue, pays homage to the city’s rich […]
For nearly a year, Isabella Gibbons has peered over Charlottesville. Inscribed into the rough-hewn granite of the University of Virginia’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, her eyes not only draw attention to the cruel realities of slavery—but ask what we are going to do to rectify them. As UVA continues to atone for its racist history, […]
Joint resolution Let’s start by putting it bluntly: On Friday, Virginia’s legislature voted to legalize marijuana, becoming the first state in the South to do so. Some details of the bill still need to be hashed out, however. Retail sales of legal marijuana to Virginians 21 and up won’t begin until 2024, and the new […]