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Virginia’s historic Black watermen communities are endangered
Most days, James Douglas would be on the water by 5:30 in the morning, on the hunt for oysters. He’d push off in his small boat from his family’s wharf on the Yeocomico River in Westmoreland County, the birthplace of the nation’s first president, George Washington, and, since 1824, of Douglas’ family, the Wilsons. Douglas’ […]
Pocahontas Island’s next lifetime
Having devoted the latter part of his life to preserving Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, Richard A. Stewart, the island’s honorary mayor, is gone, dead at age 79. In the wake of the stalwart community historian’s death, though, the island lives on, primed for its second wind. As it did during his lifetime, Stewart’s presence looms […]
Irvo Otieno is gone; how many more Black people must die before real change comes?
Within the cavernous sanctuary of First Baptist Church of South Richmond on Wednesday, hundreds of mourners viewed a vignette of Irvo Otieno’s brief life. Photos and videos showed him sporting a wide grin alongside classmates and football buddies. His rich baritone voice rapped lyrics to a song he’d written about his love for his family. […]
Irvo Otieno’s needless death exemplifies the criminalization of Black mental illness
Irvo Otieno departed this life on March 6, sprawled on the floor of Central State Hospital, his hands and feet shackled. Otieno died from asphyxiation after Henrico sheriff’s deputies and Central State Hospital employees took turns kneeling on him for almost 11 minutes. Earlier this week, a Dinwiddie County grand jury indicted seven deputies and […]
In Hanover, a name is more than a name
It took years of community outcry, the urging of a governor, being sued by the NAACP and national media scrutiny for the Hanover County School Board to finally be shamed into voting to remove the names of Confederate treasonists from two schools’ monikers in 2020. Now, this same board is proposing that the one school […]
Given a chance to apologize for the theft of a Black man’s heart, House Republicans declined.
In what can only be characterized as a stunningly callous decision, last week members of a Rules subcommittee of Virginia’s House of Delegates killed a resolution to acknowledge and apologize for the state-sanctioned medical misuse of Black bodies in Virginia, a common practice in the 19th and 20th centuries. Four of the subcommittee’s five members […]
In righting wrongs, former state registrar helped create a more equitable, inclusive Virginia
Janet Rainey, Virginia’s recently retired state registrar, has come a long way from the tobacco fields of Chase City, the small metropolis that is her hometown in Mecklenburg County. Her parents, God-fearing farmers James Sr. and Inez, encouraged Rainey and her five siblings to get educated, and get moving. “They encouraged us to leave home […]
Once a dead end, a Richmond cemetery earns new respect
On Jan. 20, the federal government reopened historic review of the 123-mile Washington, DC to Richmond (DC2RVA) segment of the proposed Southeast High-Speed Rail project, which when complete will increase intercity passenger rail travel throughout the southeast region. Initially, the railway was planned to be built through one of the largest cemeteries for enslaved people […]
New monuments must mean more than memorialization
Soon, statues of Barbara Johns and Henrietta Lacks – two Black, Virginia-born women who contributed to significant educational and scientific progress in America – will be erected, one in Roanoke and the other in the U.S. Capitol. These new figures emerge after the eviction of the Confederate warmongers memorialized in metal that used to tower […]
‘Part of the destiny of this country’: Church site excavation aims to unearth African American contributions
In Colonial Williamsburg, experts are unearthing the foundations of First Baptist Church, among the oldest African American congregations in the country, as part of an attempt to uncover a more complete narrative of early American history, centering the Black people — enslaved and free — who contributed much to the fledgling nation. First Baptist Church, […]
Breastfeeding in Virginia: New law provides protections for nursing mothers but disparities remain
Both a biological process and a powerful bonding experience, mothers and infants have practiced breastfeeding since the birth of humanity. Yet, here in Virginia, breastfeeding in all public spaces became legally protected just five years ago. Now, as the state observes August as Breastfeeding Awareness Month, health care workers, community advocates and state legislators are working together […]
Treat the cause, not the symptoms
Renaming schools and removing monuments is only the beginning; real change can come only by dismantling Virginia’s systems of racial inequity This week, Hanover County School Board voted to rename Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle school, joining a slew of school systems across the state choosing to remove from their campuses longstanding symbols […]