The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is adding a new component to its “Pride Overcomes Prejudice” permanent exhibition.
The new piece, “Toward a Lineage of Self,” is an interactive map-based exhibition that looks at the physical and social development of Black Charlottesville. It opens Saturday, Sept. 21 at 10 a.m.
According to a news release, the new display is the culmination of years of research in the Heritage Center’s extensive property and oral history archive, as well as research in the City of Charlottesville’s property records.
“Toward a Lineage of Self” uses a giant digital interactive map to guide people through 120 place-based stories that tell the origin stories of Charlottesville’s historically Black neighborhoods — only some of which are still standing.
The stories and images in the digital exhibit document the history of the families that settled in those neighborhoods and how they built social and political power with the schools, churches and businesses they established.
Take Action
Take a free tour of “Toward a Lineage of Self” every Thursday from Sept. 26 through Dec. 12, and on select Saturdays (Oct. 12, Nov. 2, Dec. 7) at The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, 233 4th St. NW, Charlottesville.
The exhibition also looks at the racist and discriminatory acts the city and private citizens took against Black communities in Charlottesville — from eminent domain land seizures to racial covenants, zoning laws and infrastructure abandonment.
“Toward a Lineage of Self” opens Saturday, Sept. 21 at 10 a.m., and is open when the Heritage Center is open: Tuesday through Friday 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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