John Mitchell Jr. – The UncommonWealth

Newly-Available Archival Accessions, April 1-June 30, 2024

The Library of Virginia maintains the most comprehensive collection of information about Virginia’s history, culture, and government. We hold more than 200 million manuscript items,…

Trenton HizerSeptember 6, 2024

Newspapers Public Libraries

Celebrating Juneteenth in 1890 and 2021

IIn 2020, Governor Ralph Northam issued an executive order proclaiming Juneteenth as a Virginia state holiday. Later that year, the General Assembly unanimously voted in…

Library of VirginiaJune 14, 2021

Education & Programming

Celebration of Black Joy in the Richmond Planet

In 1882, the newspaper Richmond Planet was born. Founded by 13 formerly enslaved Richmonders, the Planet was first edited by Edwin Archer Randolph, the first…

Emma ItoFebruary 24, 2021

Newspapers

Why Juneteenth?

In mid-October of 1899, Richmond's Black Community prepared to have a three day celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation complete with a large downtown parade. The Richmond…

Jessi BennettJune 19, 2020

Archives Newspapers

Please Direct your Attention to Out of the Box and the Legacy of John Henry James

Fit to Print invites you to read yesterday's Out of the Box blog which tells the tragic story of Albemarle County native, John Henry James.…

Kelley EwingJune 7, 2018

Complicated History: The Memorial to Robert E. Lee in Richmond

People have always been complex, making history a complicated topic. When history is distilled down to be straightforward, the reality of human failings and flaws…

Olin JohnsonJuly 27, 2017

Newspapers

Seeds of Resistance: The Richmond Streetcar Boycotts

A graduate student in Public History and two film students have created a short but excellent documentary for The National Museum of African American History…

Errol SomayMay 23, 2017

Newspapers

The Planet and Beyond: an update on African American Newspapers at the Library of Virginia

A single extant issue of the Reformer, an African American newspaper published in Richmond from 1895-1931, was recently added to Virginia Chronicle, the Library’s free and searchable…

Kelley EwingMay 17, 2016

A Knight Unlike Any Other: John Mitchell Jr. & The Knights of Pythias

While processing Nottoway County chancery causes several years ago, Local Records Archivist Louise Jones came across a most unusual item fastening several papers together: a…

Sarah NerneyDecember 16, 2015

Newspapers

Horrible Butcheries at Wilmington—The Richmond Planet’s coverage of the 1898 insurrection in Wilmington, North Carolina

On November 10, 1898, in response to the election of a biracial Fusionist government, a group of white Democrats in Wilmington, North Carolina organized a mob, attacking…

Anne McCreryNovember 10, 2015

Newspapers

Set The Way-Back Machine!

The Library of Virginia is the home of the Virginia Newspaper Project. In 1997, the Library of Virginia moved to a new building at 800…

Errol SomayApril 30, 2014

Education & Programming Newspapers

John Mitchell, Jr. Strong Men & Women Panel Discussion at LVA

Come on down to the Library of Virginia tomorrow night for what promises to be a fascinating discussion of the life and legacy of John…

Kelley EwingFebruary 18, 2014

Newspapers

Happy Birthday John Mitchell, Jr.

John Mitchell, Jr., fighting editor of the Richmond Planet, was born 150 years ago today. Celebrate Mitchell’s birthday by checking out digitized copies of the Richmond Planet on Virginia…

Kelley EwingJuly 12, 2013

Newspapers

The Fighting Editor and his Stanley Steamers

Most of us know John Mitchell, Jr. as the tireless “fighting” editor of the Richmond Planet, a newspaper he ran for 40 plus years beginning in the mid-1880′s.…

Errol SomayMarch 1, 2013

Newspapers

“Stay Off the Cars”–The Boycott of the Virginia Passenger and Power Company

In 1902 Louisiana became the first to pass a statewide statute requiring mandatory segregation of streetcars, followed by Mississippi in 1904. That same year, Virginia…

Kelley EwingJuly 27, 2012