Civil Rights – The UncommonWealth

An “Express Intention:” Marriage and Divorce Before the Loving Decision

Looking up at the justices of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals sitting behind their dark paneled bench, Richard and Mildred Loving heard the words…

Library of VirginiaMarch 3, 2025

Education & Programming

Justice for Ourselves: Black Virginians Claim Their Freedom After Slavery

In December 1889, James A. Fields took his seat in Virginia's House of Delegates. He had escaped slavery as a young man, attended school behind…

Library of VirginiaJune 7, 2024

Archives Education & Programming

The Movement: Danville Civil Rights Demonstrations in 1963

On June 10, 1963, after months of peaceful protest of Danville’s segregationist policies and entrenched racism, the city's white police force, aided by deputized municipal…

Mary Ann Mason, They/ThemMay 29, 2024

Newspapers

Banker, Editor, Activist, Woman: Maggie Walker’s St. Luke Herald

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of blog posts regarding Virginia female newspaper editors by our Transforming the Future of Libraries and…

Elena CarioOctober 23, 2023

Archives Education & Programming Manuscripts & Special Collections

The First Civil Rights: Black Political Activism After Claiming Freedom

It is often assumed that after Congressional Reconstruction in Virginia ended in 1870, no Black men won election to political office in the state until…

Library of VirginiaFebruary 22, 2023

Growing Up with Paternalistic Language: Conversations about Disability in Virginia

This is the second in a series of blog posts I am writing as part of my work as an extern in State Records. In…

Jenna GabrielDecember 28, 2022

Digital Projects Education & Programming

Civic Season 2022

The Library of Virginia is excited to partner with Made by Us, a coalition of history museums, archives, historical societies, and civic education organizations, in…

Library of VirginiaJune 15, 2022

Education & Programming The Stacks Virginia Authors

Placing Pupils on Common Ground

Charlene Butts Ligon’s book Fearless: How a Poor Virginia seamstress took on Jim Crow, beat the poll tax and changed her city forever focuses on…

Library of VirginiaOctober 22, 2021

Virginia Authors

New Books – September 2020

The Library of Virginia is now open by appointment only. During this initial reopening phase, researchers will be able to use the collections by appointment…

Donna PletcherSeptember 28, 2020

Education & Programming

A Book List on Racism and Resistance in Virginia History

Evidence of the past appears in many forms. We find history in manuscript records, old newspapers, artifacts in a plowed field. But history is also…

Rebecca SchneiderJune 29, 2020

Archives Education & Programming

True Son of Freedom: The World War I Experience of James Preston Spencer

True Sons of Freedom, a photographic exhibition at the Library of Virginia, explores the stories of Virginia's African American World War I soldiers. More than…

Claire RadcliffeJanuary 17, 2018

Manuscripts & Special Collections Newspapers

Willis M. Carter Journal and Research Collection Donated to the Library of Virginia

Author and researcher Deborah Harding recently donated to the Library of Virginia a rare, firsthand account of slavery and its aftermath written by Willis M.…

Margaret RhettMay 11, 2016

Archives Digital Projects

Kaine Email Project @LVA: Oliver Hill

This is the ninth in a series of posts spotlighting recently released email from Governor Tim Kaine’s administration. These posts are not meant to be comprehensive but to…

Roger ChristmanJune 22, 2015

Education & Programming

Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom

With its roots in 19th-century Texas, Juneteenth has grown into a popular event across the country to commemorate emancipation from slavery and celebrate African American…

John DealJune 19, 2014

Southside Burning!: Reformatted Recordings Preserve Historic Testimony

Editor’s Note: On Sunday 4 February 2013, the Richmond Times-Dispatch ran a front page article on the 1963 Danville civil rights demonstrations. The Library of Virginia has…

Alex LorchFebruary 5, 2013