African-American Calendar
Events for November, 2009
Exhibit: The African American Image in Virginia
Sunday February 1, 2009 - Wednesday December 30, 2009
Virginia Historical Society
428 North Boulevard map it
Richmond, VA 23220Covering almost four centuries of African American history and culture in Virginia through pictorial representation in art, this exhibition tells the story of free and enslaved laborers, young and old family members, students, professionals, and officials.
Items on display include prints, paintings, photographs, magazine and book illustrations, and advertisements.
More information on the Virginia Historical Society website.
Exhibit: "Much in Demand: 200 Years of Central Virginia African American Military Service"
Saturday June 20, 2009 - Thursday December 31, 2009
The Legacy Museum of African American History
403 Monroe St. map it
Lynchburg, VA 24504This exhibit will trace ways the status of African Americans in the larger society shaped their experiences in the military. Part of the Legacy Museum's Juneteenth Celebration.
Open Wednesday-Saturday: Noon - 4 p.m
Sunday: 2-4 p.m.See http://www.legacymuseum.org/exhibits.htm for more information or call Cheryl Robinson at (434) 845-3455.
Much in Demand: 200 Years of Central Virginia African American Military Service
Saturday June 20, 2009 - Saturday May 1, 2010
Legacy Museum
403 Monroe Street map it
Lynchburg, VA 24505
This exhibit traces the ways the status of African Americans in the larger society shaped their experiences in the military. Dianne Swann-Wright, director and founding curator of the Frederick Douglas - Isaac Myers Maritime Park in Baltimore, is guest curator.
The exhibit explores the following themes:
More Information...
- Central Virginia's African Americans, like people of African descent living elsewhere, fought in military conflicts dating back to the American Revolution.
- African Americans fought racial discrimination in the military while fighting for the principles of liberty and democracy.
- Military service changed the lives of African Americans living in Central Virginia in significant ways.
- Military service expanded Central Virginia's African American military men and women's social and economic horizons.
- Central Virginia's African American men and women had successful experiences in the military, bringing honor to themselves, their families, and communities.
Ornament and Simplicity: Historic Costume at Patrick Henry's Scotchtown
Friday July 10, 2009 - Sunday November 1, 2009
Scotchtown
16120 Chiswell Lane map it
Beaverdam, VA 23015Explore how the Henry family and later residents of Scotchtown used elements of ornament and simplicity in their clothing to make statements about themselves. Themes include exploration of the relationship between clothing and identity for Patrick Henry, his family, and later residents of [his home] Scotchtown, including enslaved African Americans. More than two dozen historic garments and accessories, c. 1760-1830, will be on display including pieces from the collection of noted collector Mary Doering as well as rarely exhibited pieces from the Preservation Virginia collection. More...
Whitfield Lovell: One Man's Treasures
Friday October 2, 2009 - Saturday November 28, 2009
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Hampton University Museum
Huntington Building, 11 Frissell Avenue map it
Hampton, VA 23669Whitfield Lovell, a 2007 MacArthur Fellow, is known as a painter and installation artist. Lovell will exhibit a number of his meticulous, life-sized charcoal portraits on wooden panels that are typically shown with various found objects. An avid collector of treasures, patrons will be awestruck at the assemblages Lovell creates. Works for this exhibition are on loan from the D.C. Moore Gallery of New York, private collectors and museum collections including Hampton University Museum’s piece, Fortune. Call 757-727-5308 or visit http://museum.hamptonu.edu/
"The Portent: John Brown's Raid in American Memory"
Saturday October 10, 2009 - Sunday April 11, 2010
Virginia Historical Society
428 North Boulevard map it
Richmond, VA 23220This exhibition is the first-ever critical analysis by a southern institution of an episode that, on the eve of the Civil War, broke open sectionalist fissures. Brown demanded that his contemporaries take a moral stance on slavery, and to this day a mention of his attack spurs debate about issues of justice, terrorism, liberation, and vigilantism. The story of Brown’s early life, his fervent religious beliefs, his turn to violence as an abolitionist in Kansas, and his Virginia raid and its aftermath will be told in the exhibition, part of the national acknowledgement of the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on the Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Contemporary reactions to the raid and to the trial and execution of John Brown will be discussed and visitors will see a display of objects and books related to the raid. See www.vahistorical.org for gallery hours and admission fees.
A Lesson Before Dying Reading & Discussion Program
Thursday November 5, 2009
10:30 AM
City of Fairfax Library
10360 North Street map it
Fairfax, VA 22030This event is part of The Big Read.
Similar to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Gaines uses capital punishment to explore humanity in his book A Lesson Before Dying. Join guest scholar, Wendi Kaufman, and explore the place, themes, and history behind this book. No registration required. For more information, visit fairfaxcounty.gov/library.
Book Release: Shaping Memories: Reflections of African American Women Writers
Friday November 6, 2009
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
JMU - Highlands Room - Festival Conference & Student Center
Harrisonburg, VA 22807The Furious Flower Poetry Center celebrates teh recent book release of Dr. Joanne Gabbin's newest publication, Shaping Memories: Reflections of African American Women Writers. This collective includes the writings of Nikki Giovanni, Daryl Cumber Dance, Trudier Harris, Opal Moore, and many more!
Lecture by Prof. Trudier Harris: "The Scary Mason-Dixon Line"
Friday November 6, 2009
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive map it
Charlottesville, VA 22903Trudier Harris, the J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of English Emerita at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will discuss her new book, The Scary Mason-Dixon Line: African American Writers and the South. A reception at 12:30 precedes her 1 p.m. lecture.
Prof. Harris is the author or editor of more than 20 volumes of criticism on African American literature and folklore. Regarding Dr. Trudier Harris' new book and the subject of her talk at VFH, LSU Press states: "New Yorker James Baldwin once declared that a black man can look at a map of the United States, contemplate the area south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and thus scare himself to death. In The Scary Mason-Dixon Line, renowned literary scholar Trudier Harris explores why black writers, whether born in Mississippi, New York, or elsewhere, have consistently both loved and hated the South." For more info, call 434-243-5176.
Fim Screening: "Locked Out: The Fall of Massive Resistance""
Saturday November 7, 2009
5:00 PM
Culbreth Theater
109 Culbreth Road map it
Charlottesville, VA 22901The Virginia Film Festival at the University of Virginia presents "Locked Out: The Fall of Massive Resistance", a 2009 film directed by Mason Mills. A discussion with Governor Douglas Wilder, Director Mason Mills, U.Va. professor Dr. Larry Sabato, Delores Brown, Rita Moseley, and Donald Martin will follow the screening.
After the US Supreme Court mandated that all schools be desegregated, the Virginia government instead chose to lead a movement called Massive Resistance that locked students out and left a permanent scar across most of the South. Follow the story of the students who fought against Massive Resistance for the integration of Virginia schools, and how this legacy has impacted Virginia since.
Admission $10; students & faculty $6.50 http://www.vafilm.com/2009/filmguide/detail/534/ Ph 434-982-5277 or email info@vafilm.com
Panel discussion: "We Always Heard..."
Tuesday November 17, 2009
4:00 PM
Kenwood (Jefferson Library)
931 Thomas Jefferson Parkway map it
Charlottesville, VA 22902Four descendants of the Monticello and Montpelier enslaved communities and researchers from these historic houses will talk about the difficulties and rewards of tracing roots to presidential plantations by combining oral history and records research. The event is free and open to the public. http://www.monticello.org/index.html or call (434) 984-9822
