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.

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. Nevertheless, Richmond’s Lee statue still has its defenders.

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. 

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. 

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. Now Banks is eager to vote in the November election. “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.”