Race and Place in Charlottesville
Latest Episodes
Calling the Church
Still sitting in the Study Center library, Professor Nelson and Dayna Matthew's conversation moves from discussing the current state of racial inequity in Charlottesville to examining what the church can do next."Instead of just giving ear to th
Where Are We Today?
At the end of his walking tour, Professor Nelson sits down with Dayna Mathew, William L. Matheson and Robert M. Morgenthau Distinguished Professor of Law at UVA, to discuss Charlottesville's current landscape of racial inequity. The episode ends with
Three Histories of the KKK
Professor Nelson expounds on three historical iterations of the Ku Klux Klan's presence in Charlottesville—including the August 11 and 12 rallies in 2017—and the impact the white supremacist group has had on the city's minority communities, incl
Acting Out the Lost Cause
Standing in front of the Downtown Mall's Jefferson Theater, Professor Nelson explores the ways in which the white citizens of Charlottesville looked back with great fondness on the way of life of the antebellum South—slavery included—through social g
Vinegar Hill: Enfranchisement of Place
Professor Nelson continues to meditate on the history surrounding Charlottesville's Vinegar Hill neighborhood. As he stands in the parking lot that has come to replace the black-owned and -occupied homes and businesses, he expounds on the disenfranch
Vinegar Hill: Eminent Domain
In this first episode of a two-part series, Professor Nelson explores the Vinegar Hill neighborhood: a once-vibrant African-American neighborhood located near Preston Avenue and Ridge/McIntire Road. Claimed by the Charlottesville government under eminent
Remembering Integration
In this episode we take a tour of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center with its director, Andrea Douglas, as she traces the process of integration in the Charlottesville schooling system. Then, we rejoin Pat Edwards on her porch as she re
Separate and Unequal
The landmark Supreme Court ruling Plessy v. Ferguson led to the state-sanctioned racial segregation of public facilities, as long as said facilities were "separate but equal." Today's stop on the tour explores the impact that segregation had on the school
Monumental Legacies
Professor Nelson concludes his walking tour with a powerful reflection on the monument of Stonewall Jackson, located in what is now called Court Square."Adopting a framework of celebrating the peaceable city of Charlottesville and not recognizing th
The City Inside a City
Welcome to Starr Hill, Charlottesville's city inside a city. In response to the conditions of segregation, residents of this historically black neighborhood developed an economy of their own, complete with medical care, a daycare, and its own bank sy