Highbrow Magazine - virginia https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/virginia en Discovering the Rich African-American History of Virginia Beach https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12070-discovering-rich-african-american-history-virginia-beach <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/travel" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Travel</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 05/19/2021 - 15:52</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1virginiabeach_ben_schumin-flickr.jpg?itok=PyEVtmP8"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1virginiabeach_ben_schumin-flickr.jpg?itok=PyEVtmP8" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>Searching for an educational road trip that also helps you and your family learn about the rich history of African Americans? Look no further than Virginia Beach. You may already know the destination as the site of the original Jamestown settlement in 1607, at First Landing State Park. The history of African Americans throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia is a critical piece of the story of how America came to be. That story dates to 1619, when the first documented Africans arrived at what is now Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia.</p> <p> </p> <p>A new self-guided tour commissioned by the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau in partnership with the Virginia African American Cultural Center offers details of this historical road trip. The tour showcases over a dozen landmarks and locations offering a fascinating window into the African-American experience in Virginia Beach.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Here are a few stops along this tour of Virginia Beach:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>First Landing State Park</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>The park commemorating the original Jamestown settlement was built after the Great Depression, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the Civilian Conservation Corps to provide work for millions of young men, including 250,000 African Americans. Company 1371, an all African-American regiment, constructed trails and built cabins for First Landing State Park.</p> <p> </p> <p>Although Black workers built the park, they were not actually allowed to use it until 1965. A lawsuit was filed by a group of local African Americans in 1951 against the Virginia Conservation Commission for being denied entrance to the park. The suit wasn’t heard until 1955, and officials closed the park that year rather than integrating it. The park reopened its trails in 1961 and campgrounds in 1962.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2virginiabeach_virginia_state_parks-flickr.jpg" style="height:402px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Seaview Beach and Amusement Park</strong></p> <p>Between 1945 and 1965, Seaview Beach and Amusement Park was a vibrant, popular place where African Americans socialized, dined and danced during segregation. While no longer in operation, Seaview also had an amusement park with rides and a midway, and featured shows by artists like musical icons Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. WRAP DJ “Big Daddy Jack” Holmes coined the catchy slogan, “See you at Seaview!”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Nimmo United Methodist Church</strong></p> <p>Established in 1791, the Nimmo United Methodist Church building included a slave balcony that still exists today. By 1829, a small group of white members and people of color formed a separate congregation together. A parcel of land across the road from Nimmo was acquired by the new congregation’s trustees and a church was built there, later known as Olive Branch Methodist Church. The group reunited with Nimmo in 1894.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3virginiabeach_brandpoint.jpg" style="height:338px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>L &amp; J Gardens, Seatack Community</strong></p> <p>In 1954, this neighborhood was created by Black businessman and college graduate Walter H. “Crow” Riddick for middle-class Blacks during racial segregation. The picture-windowed, split-level, pillared ranch colonials on meticulously tended lawns showcased a mid-20th-century community personifying the American Dream.</p> <p> </p> <p>In December 2019, the Virginia State Review Board determined L &amp; J Gardens' eligibility for listing as an Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The City of Virginia Beach received an Underrepresented Communities grant from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund, so the process to nominate the neighborhood to the NRHP is underway. Members of the Riddick family and other prominent professional Black families live there today.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Virginia African-American Cultural Center</strong></p> <p>This site features “Portraits from a Place of Grace,” an art installation by nationally renowned artist Rich Hollant, commissioned by the Virginia Beach Office of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the Virginia African-American Cultural Center. The portraits celebrate residents from each of the historically Black neighborhoods in Virginia Beach, reflecting the dignity, resilience and hope of several generations.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>VisitVirginiaBeach.com offers a full list of sites.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>© Brandpoint. Published with permission.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>Brandpoint</em></p> <p><em>Virginia State Parks (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vastateparksstaff/24858183215" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>Ben Schumin (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/schuminweb/50091853901" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virginia-beach" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virginia beach</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-american-histroy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african american histroy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virginia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/black-history" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">black history</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nimmo-united-methodist-church" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Nimmo United Methodist Church</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/first-landing-state-park" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">First Landing State Park</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/seaview-beach" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Seaview Beach</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/travel/archive" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">travel</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/road-trips" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">road trips</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">BPT</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 19 May 2021 19:52:17 +0000 tara 10362 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12070-discovering-rich-african-american-history-virginia-beach#comments The Latest Legal Challenge to Removing Confederate Statues in Virginia https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10712-latest-legal-challenge-removing-confederate-statues-virginia <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 06/29/2020 - 08:46</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1virginiastatues.jpg?itok=LSJMDovJ"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1virginiastatues.jpg?itok=LSJMDovJ" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p> </p> <p>A controversial statue of Robert E. Lee will remain in place in Richmond, the former capital of the American Confederacy –- at least temporarily.</p> <p> </p> <p>On June 18, a judge extended an injunction barring the removal of the Confederate general’s statue, stating that “the monument is the property of the people,” not the state of Virginia, which seeks its removal.</p> <p> </p> <p>In early June, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam vowed to dismantle the prominent Lee statue in Richmond, the state capital, following sustained, nationwide protests over police brutality and racism. That plan was blocked by a 10-day court injunction – now extended through late July – based on the petition of a man whose ancestor, Otway Allen, gave Virginia the land the sculpture sits on.</p> <p> </p> <p>In his petition, William C. Gregory claimed that dismantling the Lee statue would violate the conditions of his great-grandfather’s 1890 land deed, which says Virginia “will faithfully guard it and affectionately protect it.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Richmond isn’t the only Virginia city where a centuries-old land deed is a legal hurdle in removing monuments to men that many see as defenders of white supremacy. Nearby Charlottesville has faced similar questions about the intentions of the philanthropist who donated its contested Robert E. Lee statue.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2virginiastatues.jpg" style="height:338px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>‘Irreparable harm’</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Richmond’s Lee sculpture sits atop a pedestal on a traffic circle at the gateway to Monument Avenue, an architectural paean to white Richmonders’ long tradition of gracious, segregated living.</p> <p> </p> <p>The land was a gift to the state from real estate investor Otway S. Allen and his sisters, Bettie F. Allen Gregory and Martha Allen Wilson. The donors hoped that putting the monument on the tree-lined boulevard would hasten development of the prestigious, whites-only residential neighborhood planned for the area.</p> <p> </p> <p>Back in the 19th century, the Lee monument was on the outskirts of the city. Over the next 40 years, four more Confederate monuments were erected along the avenue, which traverses what is now central Richmond.</p> <p> </p> <p>In his injunction request, Gregory claimed that removing the statue would cause “irreparable harm” because his family “has taken pride for 130 years in this statue resting upon land belonging to his family.”</p> <p> </p> <p>To many locals, especially Black Richmond residents, the sculptures have always been colossal reminders of the South’s history of enslavement and the violence wrought on Black lives. The governor and city leaders now seemingly agree, saying that monuments glorifying the region’s white supremacist history should not be displayed on public land.</p> <p> </p> <p>Nevertheless, Richmond’s Lee statue still has its defenders. On June 15, six Monument Avenue homeowners filed their own separate lawsuit to block its removal, claiming that dismantling the “priceless work of art” would lead to the “degradation of the internationally recognized avenue on which they reside.”</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3virginiastatues.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Charlottesville’s ‘princely giver’</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>An hour away in Charlottesville, another Robert E. Lee statue has been embroiled in legal challenges since 2017, when a city council vote for its removal triggered a deadly white supremacist rally.</p> <p> </p> <p>Charlottesville’s statue was a gift of a prominent local philanthropist, Paul Goodloe McIntire. McIntire, born during the Civil War, was the son of the Charlottesville’s mayor when the city surrendered to General Custer’s Union troops in 1865.</p> <p> </p> <p>McIntire made his money on the stock exchanges in Chicago and New York before returning to Charlottesville, a city shaped by his philanthropy. Funding Charlottesville’s first library and building an amphitheater for the University of Virginia, McIntire earned the sobriquet “princely giver” of gifts.</p> <p> </p> <p>In 1918, McIntire donated land to the city for use as a public park, to be called Lee Park. The deed stipulated that a sculpture of the Virginia-born Confederate general, commissioned and paid for by McIntire, would be installed and maintained.</p> <p> </p> <p>Among other objections to the statue’s removal, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Monument Fund and a small group of local citizens cited this land deed in their successful March 2017 legal complaint. They claimed that removing the statue would violate the terms and conditions of McIntire’s gift.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4virginiastatues.jpg" style="height:401px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Courts side with progress</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Both Virginia lawsuits argue that the land donors’ original wishes are inviolable.</p> <p> </p> <p>But my legal research on charitable gifts shows that donor wishes are not always set in stone, so to speak. Under state law, Virginia’s included, courts can modify gift conditions when fulfilling them is no longer possible or practicable.</p> <p> </p> <p>Gifts with problematic racial restrictions and segregationist intentions have troubled many American institutions, from nursing homes established by donors to benefit elderly, white Presbyterians to church scholarships mandated to fund white students only.</p> <p> </p> <p>In such cases, judges have often declined to preserve the wishes of long-dead donors, allowing discriminatory gift conditions to be eliminated. That renders the gifts usable in the modern era.</p> <p> </p> <p>Rice University, for example, was founded in 1912 with a charitable bequest on the condition that the school educate only “the white inhabitants of Houston, and the state of Texas.” In 1963, seeking to integrate the university, Rice trustees filed a motion to modify the racial restrictions.</p> <p> </p> <p>Despite opposition by a group of alumni who sought to keep the school segregated, the court concluded that strict adherence to the donor’s racial restrictions was no longer practicable and that the terms of Rice’s charter could be modified to admit Black students.</p> <p> </p> <p>On July 23, a Richmond court is expected to hold a new hearing to determine whether land given to Richmond by a private citizen making a very public statement about Southern racial inequality can instead be used to celebrate new and different histories.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Allison Anna Tait is a professor of law at the</em></strong><em> <strong>University of Richmond.</strong></em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>This article was originally published in </strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/latest-legal-hurdle-to-removing-confederate-statues-in-virginia-the-wishes-of-their-long-dead-white-donors-141156" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>The Conversation</strong></a><strong> and is republished with permission under a Creative Commons license.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>--Mobilus in Mobili (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RVA_Counter-Protests_Against_New-CSA_(37109128732).jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--VCU Capital News Service (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vcucns/32817207648" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Mobilus in Mobili (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RVA_Counter-Protests_Against_New-CSA_(10_of_20).jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Mobilus in Mobili (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mobili/49981574081/in/photostream/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p>                                                                                      </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/toppling-statues" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">toppling statues</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/confederate-statues" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">confederate statues</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/richmond" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">richmond</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virginia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virginia</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/robert-e-lee" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">robert e. lee</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/charlottesville" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">charlottesville</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/black-lives-matter" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">black lives matter</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/george-floyd" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">George Floyd</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ralph-northam" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ralph northam</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/viriginia-courts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">viriginia courts</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/confederacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the confederacy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/slavery" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">slavery</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/slave-owners" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">slave owners</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Allison Anna Tait</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 29 Jun 2020 12:46:05 +0000 tara 9649 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10712-latest-legal-challenge-removing-confederate-statues-virginia#comments The American Evolution: Virginia as a Gateway to Modern America https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10060-american-evolution-virginia-gateway-modern-america <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/travel" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Travel</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 07/22/2019 - 08:44</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1virginia.jpg?itok=kYVwUswF"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1virginia.jpg?itok=kYVwUswF" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>There is no better way to connect with the roots of modern America than to return to Virginia, where so many of America’s vital institutions, traditions, and movements first began.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The birthplace of America’s free enterprise system</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>From its inception in 1607, the Virginia Colony, a private joint-stock trading company, was an expression of inventive and entrepreneurial thinking. To diversify its economy, the Virginia Company passed laws in 1619 allowing colonists to experiment with a variety of potentially profitable industries, including winemaking, cloth, and silk production. With these innovative developments, Virginia became the vanguard of what has become America’s free enterprise system.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The seeds of American democracy were planted in Jamestown </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>The first “General Assembly,” composed of 22 representatives from 11 Virginia “boroughs,” was the first representative legislative assembly in the New World. The General Assembly met in Jamestown for six days, from July 30 to Aug. 4, 1619. The group developed and passed laws that evolved Virginia’s colonial settlement beyond just being a commercial enterprise. The actions of Gov. Yeardley and the General Assembly marked Jamestown as the site of the first representative democratic institution in America. This earliest expression of America’s democratic ideals was the formative event in establishing the United States’ current system of representative government.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Women’s achievements</strong></p> <p>Virginia embodies a powerful legacy of women’s achievement over the course of its 400-year history. Having experienced great hardship in Jamestown since 1607, officials of the Virginia Company recognized that the presence of women would be crucial to developing a stable and productive society. In November 1619, 147 English women were recruited to join Jamestown’s male settlers, which led to the establishment of permanency in the Colony.</p> <p><em>Tenacity: Women in Jamestown and Early Virginia</em>, a special year-long exhibit at Jamestown Settlement, explores captivating and little-known personal stories of the English, Native American and African women in early Virginia, revealing their tenacious spirit and their vital and lasting impact on a fledgling society.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2virginia.jpg" style="height:426px; width:639px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The first official English Thanksgiving in North America </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Virginia is the true location of America’s actual first English Thanksgiving. In December 1619, a group of English settlers arrived safely in Charles City, Virginia. They held a ceremony of thanksgiving, which was to be observed “annually and perpetually” thereafter. Before Europeans arrived in the New World, Native American peoples marked successful harvests with feasts and communal celebration at around the same time of year. While these events are reminiscent of America’s modern Thanksgiving, they were traditionally spontaneous affairs, as opposed to regularly scheduled celebrations. The pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, didn’t host their first Thanksgiving until 1620.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The birthplace of student civil rights</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>The student civil rights movement in the United States during the 20th century began in Farmville, Virginia. In the late 1950s, African American students frustrated with the boundaries of segregation mobilized to draw attention to the injustice they faced in their schools. Over 400 African American students at Robert Russa Moton High School became pioneers of civil rights. They organized a strike to protest the lack of resources that prevented them from obtaining an education equal to that of their Caucasian counterparts. Students in Prince Edward County became plaintiffs in the <em>Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka</em> case during the late 1950s. They were unable to receive an education for four or more years while the administrators closed schools to resist integration. Seventy-five percent of the student plaintiffs in the historic case attended school in Virginia.</p> <p> </p> <p>Understanding where we are today and what our country really means often requires a trip back into our past. Knowing where we came from lends so much more insight into the concerns and issues in modern America. A journey to Virginia is a journey into the evolution of America.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From Brandpoint -- published with permission.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em><strong>Photo credits: Brandpoint; Ken Lund (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Historic_Jamestown_Settlement,_Virginia_(2522044167).jpg">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons).</strong></em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virginia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/visiting-virginia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">visiting virginia</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virginia-history" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virginia history</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-history" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american history</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/jamestown" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">jamestown</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/roanoke" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">roanoke</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/thanksgiving" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">thanksgiving</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/settlements" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">settlements</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-colonies" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american colonies</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">BPT</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Brandpoint; Ken Lund (Flick--Creative Commons)</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 22 Jul 2019 12:44:45 +0000 tara 8855 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10060-american-evolution-virginia-gateway-modern-america#comments Discovering the Legacy of African-American History in Virginia https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/9987-discovering-legacy-african-american-history-virginia <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/travel" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Travel</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 05/20/2019 - 04:50</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1virginiahistory.jpg?itok=Z7dM_9Dl"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1virginiahistory.jpg?itok=Z7dM_9Dl" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>Looking for a window into the past? For families, history buffs, students — and anyone aspiring to understand the legacy of African-Americans who helped shape American history — there's no better place than Virginia.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Jamestown</strong><strong> Settlement</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Explore America’s first permanent English settlement, vividly revealed through more than 500 fascinating artifacts in museum galleries and outdoor living history. Exterior exhibits include recreations of a 17th-century Powhatan Indian village, colonial fort and three 1607 English ships that arrived in Jamestown. Learn about the cultures of the Powhatan Indians, west central Africans and English who converged in 1600s Virginia. Discover the riveting story of Angolan Queen Njinga, a warrior who negotiated peace with the Portuguese and resettled former slaves in Angola.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2virginiahistory.jpg" style="height:341px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Historic Jamestowne</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Exciting new archaeological digs are underway at Historic Jamestowne. In collaboration with the National Park Service, Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists are exploring the home site of merchant William Peirce, whose slave, a woman known only as Angela, was one of the first Africans to arrive in England’s North American colonies in 1619. Witness this important investigation firsthand and see how items dug up from the past reveal fascinating details about the lives of the earliest English settlers and the first Africans brought to our shores.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Fort</strong><strong> Monroe</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>President Barack Obama designated Fort Monroe a national monument in 2011. Known as Freedom’s Fortress, Fort Monroe was finished in the 1830s. During the Civil War, Fort Monroe served as a shelter for runaway slaves, who were declared contraband of war. This is the site of the 1619 African Arrival, when the first Africans were forcibly brought to North America on an English privateer ship. Fort Monroe houses trails, the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse and the Casemate Museum, where you can learn about the ships that brought the first Africans to Virginia, as well as the fort's role throughout U.S. military history.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3virginiahistory.jpg" style="height:535px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Gum Springs</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>This 200-year-old African-American community was founded by former slave West Ford, who was born on the plantation of John Augustine Washington, George Washington's brother. Ford received his freedom at 21. He later managed Mount Vernon for Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington (John Washington’s son). Family tradition holds that George Washington was West Ford’s father, but historic consensus suggests that Bushrod Washington actually was. West inherited 119 acres in 1829, which became Gum Springs, a community dedicated to sheltering runaways and freed slaves.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Freedom</strong><strong> Park</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>An early settlement for free blacks, Freedom Park showcases historically accurate recreations of their homes. Merchant William Ludwell Lee managed a large plantation in James City County. When Lee died in 1802, he directed in his will that his several dozen slaves should be freed. The freed slaves were protected by the timing of Lee’s death from the state of Virginia’s order that newly emancipated slaves leave the state. As a community, they made incredible economic progress from 1803-1850. Visit Freedom Park to discover their stories.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4virginiahistory.jpg" style="height:414px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>First</strong><strong> African Baptist Church</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Although founded in 1802, it became Richmond’s first black Baptist church in 1841, when white members sold the building to its black members. While African-Americans were not allowed to marry, the church held weddings for its members. By 1861, church membership reached over 3,000. Congregants included Henry Box Brown, who escaped slavery by mailing himself in a crate to abolitionists in Philadelphia, and Lucy Goode Brooks, who established the Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans. In 1955 the congregation moved, selling the building to the Medical College of Virginia.</p> <p> </p> <p>History comes alive through the actual places, homes, building and artifacts left behind. The rich legacy and lasting impact of the contributions and stories of adversity and triumph of African-Americans in American can be found by visiting Virginia.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Brandpoint</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/black-history" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">black history</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-american-history" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">african american history</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virginia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fort-monroe" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fort monroe</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/powhatan-village" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">powhatan village</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/slavery" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">slavery</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/slaves" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">slaves</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Brandpoint</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Brandpoint</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 20 May 2019 08:50:25 +0000 tara 8729 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/9987-discovering-legacy-african-american-history-virginia#comments Eye on Virginia: Restoring Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5971-eye-virginia-restoring-ex-felons-voting-rights <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 08/28/2016 - 17:23</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1vagovernor.jpg?itok=cjY5s_QP"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1vagovernor.jpg?itok=cjY5s_QP" width="480" height="237" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://www.equalvoiceforfamilies.org/">Equal Voice News</a> and republished by our content partner New America Media</strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>RICHMOND, Va. – On a steamy early August afternoon outside Broomfield Christian Methodist Church, along a desolate stretch of Jefferson Davis Highway in this former Confederate capital, William Irvin Banks Jr. recalled rejoicing when Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored his right to vote.</p> <p> </p> <p>But Banks’ eyes suddenly turned downcast. And he could hardly contain his outrage and sense of injustice. For in July, the Virginia Supreme Court stripped away his voting rights and those of about 200,000 other ex-felons, striking down the governor’s April executive order restoring voting rights to all ex-felons in the state who had completed their sentences, parole or probation.</p> <p> </p> <p>The bearded 31-year-old, wearing a white T-shirt with the word “BOSS” in black letters, committed armed robbery in 2006 and served a few years for it.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I was 21 when that robbery happened, and I’m 31 now,” Banks said, standing under a lone shade tree and spitting out his words rapid-fire. “So you mean to tell me what I did when I was 21, you’re still punishing me for what I did when I was 21?”</p> <p> </p> <p>But Banks had reason to rejoice Monday.</p> <p> </p> <p>After four months of political and legal wrangling, McAuliffe, a Democrat, announced he had signed individual orders allowing 13,000 ex-felons who had registered to vote after the governor’s April order, including Banks, to re-register.</p> <p> </p> <p>Now Banks is eager to vote in the November election.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I mean, I want to rejoin society and be a productive person in society,” he said. “I learned my lesson from my incarceration. If you’re willing to come back to society, be productive and do what you’re supposed to do in life, they should welcome you back with open arms.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Banks, a father of two grown children who said he’s looking for work after recently losing a job as a bouncer at a nightclub, considers jobs the biggest issue in the 2016 presidential election, as well as in state and local races.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Virginia</strong><strong>: At Center of U.S. Debate </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>State policies on ex-felon voting rights vary widely, from the most liberal, Maine and Vermont, which allow those incarcerated to cast ballots while in prison, to lifetime bans on ex-felons’ voting.</p> <p> </p> <p>The recent trend in most states has been toward expanding ex-felons’ voting rights, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.</p> <p> </p> <p>Since 1996, seven states have repealed lifetime ex-felon disenfranchisement laws; two gave ex-felons on probation the right to vote; nine required ex-felons be provided information and assistance on regaining voting rights after completing their sentences; 12 simplified the process for ex-felons to restore voting rights after incarceration; and seven improved data-sharing among state agencies on restoring ex-felons voting rights.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the past five years, conservative Republicans have pushed back, seeking to restrict ex-felons’ voting rights as governors and state lawmakers wage increasingly intense battles over re-enfranchisement.</p> <p> </p> <p>Virginia’s contentious – and racially and politically charged fight, with conservative Republican lawmakers leading the opposition to Democrat McAuliffe’s order – places the state at the crux of a national debate over restrictions on ex-offenders’ voting rights.</p> <p> </p> <p>Across the nation, GOP governors and state legislators have increasingly fought efforts to restore ex-felon voting rights in recent years.</p> <p> </p> <p>Nationwide, as in Virginia, ex-felon voting restrictions disproportionately affect African-Americans such as Banks. In recent years, grassroots advocates and people who have not been able to vote have been raising their voices, especially in Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida, in what has become a pressing civil rights issue for U.S. democracy.</p> <p> </p> <p>In Virginia, more than one in five African-Americans can’t vote because of a felony conviction, and they comprise 45 percent of those who had been covered by McAuliffe’s order in a state where African-Americans make up less than 20 percent of the population, according to The Sentencing Project, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.</p> <p> </p> <p>In his announcement Monday, McAuliffe said he had used an autopen to sign individual orders restoring voting rights for the 13,000 ex-felons and that they would receive his order and a voter registration card they can use to re-register.</p> <p> </p> <p>The governor said about 80 percent of ex-felons whose voting rights had been restored in April had been convicted of non-violent offenses.</p> <p> </p> <p>McAuliffe also pledged to move quickly to review records for the estimated 200,000 ex-felons still unregistered and urged them to contact the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth about getting their voting rights restored.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I believe in the power of second chances and in the dignity and worth of every human being,” McAuliffe said under a brilliant blue sky at the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial in Richmond, commemorating protests demanding school desegregation in the state.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I am done wasting time arguing about the old Virginia way. We’ve got a new Virginia way now.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Kelly Thomasson, secretary of the Commonwealth, said the McAuliffe administration would restore voting rights to the roughly 200,000 ex-felons “as expediently as possible.” But she said she couldn’t predict whether their voting rights would be restored by the Oct. 17 deadline to register to vote in a state where their votes could decide the presidential election.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We want to make sure we’re reviewing the legal implications of this case so we don’t find ourselves right back up in court,” Thomasson said.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Suppressing Black Voting Rights</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>When he announced the order to restore voting rights for ex-felons on the steps of the state Capitol on April 22, McAuliffe spoke of the state’s “long and sad history” of suppressing African-Americans’ voting rights.</p> <p> </p> <p>The 1901-02 Virginia constitution, McAuliffe noted, re-established poll taxes and literacy tests and vastly expanded the Civil War-era disenfranchisement of ex-felons to keep African-Americans from casting ballots.</p> <p> </p> <p>At the Virginia Constitutional Convention, where delegates adopted the ban on ex-felons voting, delegate Carter Glass said, “This plan will eliminate the darkey as a political factor in this state in less than five years, so that in no single county of the Commonwealth will there be the least concern felt for the complete supremacy of the white race in the affairs of government.”</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2vagovernor.jpg" style="height:416px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Lynetta Thompson, president of the Richmond chapter of the NAACP, sees the GOP lawsuit that led to the state Supreme Court’s decision as a legacy of the state’s long, shameful history of racial bigotry.</p> <p> </p> <p>Speaking of the GOP opposition to ex-felons’ voting, Thompson said: “It is racist, it is documented to be racist and its purpose is racist. It’s meant to keep Black folks from voting, to disenfranchise those voters. That goes back to the status imposed on them as slaves in the Commonwealth, so it would keep a certain power structure. This is a civil rights issue of our time.”</p> <p> </p> <p>The April order, which McAuliffe has called among his proudest achievements since taking office in January 2014, immediately drew fierce criticism from conservatives in the Republican-controlled state General Assembly.</p> <p> </p> <p>They ascribed McAuliffe’s order to political motivations, pointing out he is a longtime friend of and fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and suggesting he hoped the move would help her carry the state by granting voting rights to more African-Americans.</p> <p> </p> <p>Since the mid-20th century, Blacks have overwhelming voted for Democrats. McAuliffe denies the GOP claim.</p> <p> </p> <p>The GOP plaintiffs – two lawmakers and four other citizens – claimed McAuliffe’s order exceeded his state constitutional authority, and that argument ultimately prevailed in the court’s 4-3 conservative majority ruling.</p> <p> </p> <p>One of the plaintiffs, Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell, said Monday that the General Assembly would scrutinize each order to restore ex-felons’ voting rights.</p> <p> </p> <p>“[McAuliffe] has restored the rights of some odious criminals,” Howell said in a statement.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The people of Virginia deserve a full explanation of the policy, specifically why he is restoring rights to habitual offenders, those who have not yet paid back their victims, and the Commonwealth’s worst sex offenders.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Howell and other Republicans said McAuliffe’s April order had restored voting rights to 132 sex offenders still in custody and to several convicted murderers on probation in other states.</p> <p> </p> <p>Matthew Moran, a spokesman for Howell, called the court’s July 22 ruling vindication for the plaintiffs.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The heart of this issue was a fundamental executive overreach by the governor, who purported to have powers that the constitution did not grant him,” Moran said.</p> <p> </p> <p>Asked if Howell believed a bid to win votes for Clinton underlied the governor’s order, Moran said: “I don’t think there’s anyone in Richmond who doubts that was the governor’s intention.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Daunting Challenges Remain</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Far from the state Capitol building – away from the endless politicking, claims and counterclaims, legalisms and politicos’ speeches – anger, frustration, confusion and despair pervade among many ex-felons in this racially-divided Southern city.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It’s just been heartbreaking and devastating,” said Tram Nguyen, co-executive director of New Virginia Majority, a progressive, grassroots organization that led voter-registration efforts after McAuliffe’s order.</p> <p> </p> <p>“People kept telling us how they felt they had been redeemed, that they had finally been given a voice, but now their voice has been taken away again.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Nguyen called McAuliffe’s Monday announcement a “step forward,” adding: “We applaud the governor for doing everything in his power to restore ex-felons’ voting rights. The process is a lot clearer now, and we can tell people it seems like things are going to move forward pretty quickly.”</p> <p> </p> <p>But she noted some 200,000 ex-felons remain ineligible to vote and said her organization would redouble efforts to reach out to them and encourage them to contact the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.</p> <p> </p> <p>“I don’t think we will have a true victory for democracy until every citizen has their right to vote,” Nguyen said. “We’re going to roll up our sleeves and get back to work. We have a lot of work to do.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://www.equalvoiceforfamilies.org/">Equal Voice News</a> and republished by our content partner New America Media</strong></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virginia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/terry-mcauliffe" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">terry mcauliffe</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/felons" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">felons</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voting-rights" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voting rights</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voting-rights-felons" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voting rights for felons</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Gary Gately</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 28 Aug 2016 21:23:35 +0000 tara 7118 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5971-eye-virginia-restoring-ex-felons-voting-rights#comments