Editor's Note: We're sharing this essay from community content partner Jon Baliles of RVA 5x5. If you enjoy his work and want more in-depth coverage of Richmond politics and history, consider subscribing to RVA 5x5 on Substack. The views expressed are those of the...
Walking into this exhibit, it’s hard not to think about the moment it’s opening into. Immigration isn’t some abstract issue right now. It’s at the center of national conversation again, shaping policy, headlines, and how people talk about who belongs and who doesn’t. It’s one of those topics that gets reduced quickly, turned into something...
A political mailer referencing Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan is circulating in Virginia ahead of the April 21 redistricting referendum, prompting criticism from state lawmakers and members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. The mailer urges voters to oppose the referendum and return their ballots immediately. One side reads, “Our ancestors...
A mural in Richmond’s Northside has sparked a complex debate about public art, race, and neighborhood change, with artists, community leaders, and residents weighing in on how public art intersects with neighborhood history. The mural, painted by artist Lauren YS, depicts a woman holding a slice of watermelon with seeds spelling out “Free...
Editor’s Note: This piece was written by a student at Randolph-Macon College as part of a feature writing course. Thank you to the students and to Professor Seth Clabough, Ph.D., for organizing the project. From the low rumble of the locomotive to the hustling footsteps of the passengers, whether this is their first stop or their...
Renee Nicole Good, a graduate of Old Dominion University, was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a federal enforcement operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The shooting has drawn national attention as questions continue to emerge about the circumstances surrounding the use of lethal force by federal...
On Sunday afternoon, the last baseball game will be held at The Diamond after 40 years of service to a city and region and two baseball teams in what was, when it opened, “a major league park in a minor league town.” Between opening night in 1985 and the last game on Sunday is a span of 14,761 days. Through all the debates over the decades about...
It’s early afternoon at Kuba Kuba, and the place is buzzing. Coffee cups clatter, plates hit the counter, and over it all, Melissa Vaughn is already in motion. Before we’ve even ordered our food, she’s out of her chair, greeting someone at the table next to us like a long-lost friend, leaning in to compliment another patron on their work. ...
Over a century ago, engineers from the Edison Company hauled their bulky recording equipment from New Jersey to Richmond, Virginia. In 1909, they captured one of the first interracial recording sessions in American history: Polk Miller, a white Confederate veteran with a banjo, performing alongside a Black vocal quartet. Even though he broke...
“The rebel yell, reinforced by a glorification of the lost cause was everywhere manifest,” reported John Mitchell Jr., editor of the Richmond Planet, an African American weekly newspaper, at the time of the Robert E. Lee monument’s unveiling. It was the spring of 1890. Boxes adorned with Confederate flags held the 12-ton bust, as a faithful...
