Looks like the armory is receiving some much needed attention in the amount of an $600,000 grant made by Governor Bob McDonnell. The grant will be administered by Peter Chapman, the Mayor’s economic development czar, to create a new home for the Black History Museum. There was interest some time ago in using this building [...]
Here’s some good press about Richmond and Jackson Ward from African Diaspora Tourism.com. Once the city with one of the largest slave markets in the United States, Richmond is now making positive strides toward slavery reconciliation, recognizing its diverse heritage and embracing multiculturalism. The capital of the state of Virginia, the city, for the last two decades or so, [...]
WTVR produced a great video on the iconoclastic editor of the Richmond Planet and civil rights leader John Mitchell and the lack of recognition he has received.
Once upon a time, Emancipation Day was widely celebrated by African Americans in Richmond. White Richmond on the other hand, maybe less so. Why? The day chosen to celebrate freedom was April 3rd, the day Union troops marched into Richmond. Back then, freedom came at the point of a gun. Black Richmond didn’t mourn the death [...]
From the National Historic Marker Database: By Daw Bowen, July 28, 2007 Inscription. On 1 May 1946, Richmond’s first professional African American police officers were hired and assigned to the First Precinct at Smith and Marshall Streets. They were Howard T. Braxton, Doctor P. Day, Frank S. Randolph, and John W. Vann. On 16 December 1949, [...]
via Belch.Com (Can anyone identify this location?) NEGROES’ DAY CELEBRATED Richmond, Va., April 3 (Washington Post, April 4, 1905.) Thousands of Negroes observed Emancipation Day in Virginia today. The occasion resulted in an outpouring of the race never before equaled, armed with miniature United States flags and attended by brass bands. In addition, there was [...]
The Colored Normal School was founded by the Freedman’s Bureau in 1873 and became the first public high school available for blacks in Richmond. The school was transferred to the City of Richmond in 1876 and under a progressive government elected under the supervision of the occupation was eventually staffed fully by a black principal [...]
In 1915 Russell Walker, son of Maggie Walker, shot his father in their family home and was subsequently put on trial.
From the Library of Virginia: On February 4, 2011, at 6:00 PM at the Library of Virginia, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson will discuss and sign The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, her moving masterwork chronicling the decades-long migration of black people from the South to the northern and western cities of [...]
Born: July 11, 1863 Died: December 3, 1929 Editor of the Richmond Planet. Civil rights leader Member of the Richmond City Council Founder of the Mechanics Savings Bank Candidate for Governor of Virginia. This story from Wikipedia paints a vivid picture: -
