• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu RVA Mag Logo
  • community
  • MUSIC
  • ART
  • EAT DRINK
  • GAYRVA
  • POLITICS
  • PHOTO
  • EVENTS
  • MAGAZINE
RVA Mag Logo
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Sponsors

A More Complete History

Jayla McNeill | July 11, 2019

Topics: african american history, American Evolution 1619-2019, Arthur Ashe Boulevard, David Harris Jr., Determined, Karen Sherry, Ralph Northam, Virginia Museum Of History & Culture

Virginia Museum Of History and Culture’s Determined exhibit sheds light on four hundred years of black Virginians’ struggles to be seen as equal.

The Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s latest exhibit, Determined: The 400 Year Struggle for Black Equality, sets out to educate and inspire the public by highlighting the hardships, resiliency, and triumphs of African Americans throughout history. 

“African American history, black history, is American history. And the way that we teach that history is inadequate (and) inaccurate,” said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on Saturday, June 22, during the dedication ceremony for Arthur Ashe Boulevard. “(That) makes exhibits like this all the more important as we continue the work to rewrite the narrative.” 

The exhibition is part of American Evolution, a 2019 statewide commemoration of the events of 1619 in Virginia. These included the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in English-occupied North America to Fort Monroe. The opening of Determined coincided with the dedication of Arthur Ashe Boulevard on June 22, and will remain on display until March 29, 2020. 

During his speech at the dedication, Ashe’s nephew David Harris Jr, shared his thoughts on the museum’s new exhibit. 

“There are many who avoided this building right here behind me because of what is inside,” said Harris, referencing the fact that parts of the museum were originally built in 1913 as a shrine to Confederate dead. “I want you to consider this building as now fully integrated by the city of Richmond.” 

Photo via Virginia Historical Society/Facebook

The exhibit features approximately 100 artifacts, as well as text, graphics, and an interactive section. Throughout the exhibit, historical information is punctuated with questions designed to prompt visitors to reflect upon the reality of slavery, racism, and the systemic oppression of black Americans. 

“Black history in Virginia is very complex and multifaceted,” said Karen Sherry, the curator at the Virginia Museum of History Culture.

“One unifying thread across this long chronology is that black people have been fighting for freedom from enslavement and oppression,” said Sherry. “[African Americans] have been struggling for equal rights and equal justice and equal access to opportunities” and “other forms of equity and full consideration of their humanity.”

Sherry said arriving at the title of the exhibit was a not an easy task. 

“Coming up with a word like ‘determined’ that encapsulates 400 years of African American history in Virginia, that was a big challenge,” she said. 

Then, over the course of her research, Sherry came across the text of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech, where he discussed the need for the civil rights movement. 

“[King] said that the civil rights movement was not about getting into arguments with anybody,” said Sherry. “He talked about how ‘we are determined to gain our rightful place in God’s world. . . we are determined to be people.’” 

Photo via VirginiaHistory.org

She said King’s use of the phrase ‘determined’ “resonated” and “struck” her.

“‘Determined embodies the strength, the resilience, the courage, the agency of black people across history,” said Sherry. “The word also connotes a sense of predetermination, of the way that a person’s position and status in American society is often determined by the color of one’s skin.” 

According to Sherry, the exhibit is organized chronologically so visitors can “see the development of certain historical forces over time… track changes, and compare” progress from generation to generation. 

An important theme of Determined is the struggle for social and political equality. The exhibit is organized into four eras: “First Generations,” covering the years from 1619 to 1775; “Slavery At High Tide,” from 1775 to 1865; “Progress and Backlash,” from 1865 to 1950; and “Equality Achieved?,” from 1950 to present day.  Determined also includes an interactive section, in order to broaden the scope of the exhibit and create room for visitors to share their own stories.

Furthermore, Sherry said, the exhibition focuses upon 30 “key individuals” who are representative of  the “diversity of black Virginians” as well as their experiences and accomplishments. 

“These 30 individuals have what I think are very inspiring and incredible individual stories,” said Sherry. “Yet they are stories that also reflect broader historical trends and phenomena.”

A few examples of the individuals included in the exhibit are: 

  • Angela, one the first Africans brought to Virginia in 1619. 
  • Anne Spencer (1882 – 1975), a well-known poet and activist. During the Harlem Renaissance, Spencer was often visited by prominent humanitarians and activists, such as W.E.B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, and Langston Hughes. 
  • Zyahna Bryant (2002 – ), a student who, when a freshman at Charlottesville High School, began a petition to the City Council asking the city to remove a monument dedicated to Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Because of this petition, white supremacist groups held rallies in Charlottesville that culminated in the Unite The Right event that left Heather Heyer dead in 2017.
Photo by Morgan Edwards

“We recognize that one exhibit cannot cover the full richness and complexity of 400 years of black history in Virginia,” said Sherry. “We want people to think about today and tomorrow, what we need to do as a nation to push ourselves to be better, to push ourselves to a state of true and meaningful equality.”

Determined is the first exhibit Sherry has curated at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, and she hopes that visitors will walk away with a sense of new or renewed appreciation for African American history. 

“Despite the phenomenal progress we’ve made as a society, despite the phenomenal achievements of black Americans, we are still faced with daily reminders that inequities still exist,” said Sherry. “America is a society that still struggles with systemic racism [and] socioeconomic disparities between white people and people of color.”

During the dedication of Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Governor Northam, who was embroiled in his own scandal earlier this year after a racially offensive college yearbook photo of him surfaced, said that exhibits like this are necessary in order to better educate and empower the public. 

“I am grateful for the Virginia Museum of History and Culture for taking up this important conversation,” said Northam. “We need to continue to have this kind of dialogue — because when we know more, we can do more.”

“I very much hope that visitors who come through the exhibition (are) inspired and determined to continue the fight and to continue pushing our society towards our ideal of universal equality,” said Sherry. 

Determined: The 400-Year Struggle For Black Equality is currently on display at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, located at 428 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. The exhibit is open 10 AM to 5 PM daily, and will be on display through March 29, 2020. A piece of advice for all those planning to visit the exhibit – make sure you bring a notebook along so you can fill it up with information that has been left out of Virginia’s history textbooks.

Top Photo by Morgan Edwards

A Cause For Celebration: The Dedication of Arthur Ashe Boulevard

Jayla McNeill | June 28, 2019

Topics: Arthur Ashe, Arthur Ashe Boulevard, David Harris Jr., dedication ceremony, Determined, Donald McEachin, John Lewis, Levar Stoney, Ralph Northam, State Of Black America town hall, Virginia Museum Of History & Culture

Last weekend, government officials, civil rights leaders, and people from all across Virginia joined together to celebrate Richmond’s next step toward racial reconciliation.

It took nearly 30 years, but Richmond has officially renamed the street once known simply as Boulevard to Arthur Ashe Boulevard, in a symbolic action that elected officials hope will help advance Richmond towards becoming a more racially inclusive and representative city. Last weekend, the city celebrated on a bright, sunny Saturday morning with a dedication ceremony on the steps of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

“This stretch of State Route 161 will never be the same after today,” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said at the event. “Today Route 161 is getting an upgrade.”

Mayor Levar Stoney. Photo by Morgan Edwards

“By naming this boulevard here today after Arthur Ashe we are once again parting with our darker past and embracing our brighter future,” Stoney continued. “We are making a pledge, that’s not simply in paint and steel street signs, but in our hearts.”

Hundreds of people gathered on the lawn of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture on Saturday in near 90 degree heat to witness the dedication of Arthur Ashe Boulevard and celebrate Richmond’s latest step toward racial reconciliation. 

Leslie Stevenson from Glen Allen, Virginia said that attending the event felt like “witnessing history.” 

“It was amazing,” said Stevenson. “I think everything was done really well… I think [the dedication] is just great for the community. I love how it’s brought the community together.” 

Photo by Morgan Edwards

According to Stoney, renaming the boulevard is an action that “brings both symbolic and real change” to the citizens of Richmond. 

“Our city is transforming — it is changing its future and triumphing over its past.” 

During the event, the Elegba Folklore Society gave two performances; the first kicked off the day’s celebrations and the second performance was given just before the unveiling countdown.

Additionally, the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church choir performed during the event. Sixth Mount Zion was founded in 1867 by Reverend John Jasper, for African-Americans after the Civil War. 

Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church choir. Photo by Morgan Edwards

In addition to Stoney, several other elected officials, including Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, Senator Tim Kaine, and Congressmen Donald McEachin gathered on the steps of the museum to share in the commemoration. 

Georgia Congressman John Lewis, a noted civil rights leader who helped organize the 1963 March On Washington and was one of the original Freedom Riders, gave the keynote address. As he walked up to the mic, Lewis received a standing ovation from the crowd. Lewis then began an impassioned speech in which he urged the public to fight and speak up against injustices by getting into “good trouble, necessary trouble.” 

Senator Tim Kaine described the boulevard as “a principle gateway into our city: and described the renaming as an “act of healing.”

“Naming is important, this is not a minor thing we are doing today,” said Kaine. “So many of the names that we live with were chosen by a tiny, tiny subset of people who do not represent the full community of our city, or state, or nation today. This is an act to rectify that.”

“Arthur Ashe Boulevard is a name chosen by and ably representing Richmond’s full community and that makes this a very great day for our city and hopefully a day that will be followed by many more such days.” 

Congressman John Lewis. Photo by Morgan Edwards.

The new signs bearing the name “Arthur Ashe Boulevard” were unveiled on the steps of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture after a loud group countdown, at the end of which cannons shot purple streamers into the air.

Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1943. He was the first and only African-American male tennis player to win the U.S Open, Wimbledon, and the Australian Open. In 1968 he was ranked the number one tennis player in the world by the United States Lawn Tennis Association — the first African-American to be named so. Ashe is not only remembered for his accomplishments as a tennis player, but is also as an author, activist and humanitarian. 

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia during the era of ‘separate but equal’, Ashe faced racial discrmination, exclusion, prejudice and segregation. As a child he was denied access to the tennis courts at Byrd Park, which was deemed whites only. As a result, Ashe had to practice on the segregated courts near his home instead. As a kid, he was also forbidden from competing against white youth in Richmond, and was unable to practice on the whites-only indoor courts. 

During his career and throughout his retirement, Ashe was a zealous advocate for civil rights and racial equality worldwide. He worked to break down color lines and racial barriers in athletics and promote social change. 

In addition to fighting racial discriminaion at home, Ashe also protested against apartheid, a political system of institutionalized racial segregation,  in South Africa. 

“Despite the adversity he faced right here in his hometown, by sheer talent courage (and) perseverance, Arthur Ashe brought change to the game of tennis, he brought change to this country…. And he brought change to this world,” said Stoney. 

Governor Ralph Northam. Photo by Morgan Edwards.

Unfortunately, Ashe’s health issues forced him to retire early. He underwent his first heart bypass surgery in 1979 at the age of 36. Then in 1983, he had to undergo a second bypass surgery and contracted HIV following a blood transfusion. In 1993, Ashe founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, helping to raise awareness and combat the misconceptions and stigma surrounding the disease. 

During his retirement, Ashe also worked on a number of advocacy projects, and helped found the Association of Tennis Professionals and the National Junior Tennis League. 

After his death on February 10, 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. 

“Today we also honor a man who challenged the limitations society placed on men of his skin color and by doing so advanced the struggle for equality,” Governor Northam said Saturday.  

“By breaking down racial barriers in tennis, Arthur Ashe achieved much more than sports fame. That legacy is why we are here to honor him today.”

Renaming the boulevard to Arthur Ashe Boulevard, was an idea that was previously introduced and defeated in 1993 and 2003. The latest and finally successful effort to rename the street was carried by Councilwoman Kim Gray.

David Harris Jr. Photo by Morgan Edwards.

David Harris Jr., Arthur Ashe’s nephew, who was also instrumental in the renewed push for the boulevard’s renaming, took the mic Saturday and shared an emotional speech with the crowd. 

“Richmond, this is truly a spectacular and momentous day,” said Harris. “Today we are letting the world know racism, discrimination, exclusionary tactics, lack of investment in our children, education, and people is bankrupt.”

The dedication also coincided with the opening of a new exhibit, Determined: The 400 year struggle for Black Equality, at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, which will run until March 20, 2020. The museum exhibit is part of the American Evolution program, a General Assembly program that recognizes the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans at Fort Monroe in 1619. According to American Evolution, they “partnered with the Virginia Museum of History and Culture to commission Determined to explore the African-American experience” in Virginia.

Virginia Congressmen Bobby Scott and Donald McEachin at the State Of Black America town hall meeting. Photo by Morgan Edwards.

Later that evening, members of the Congressional Black Caucus held a State of Black America town hall meeting to discuss various issues affecting the African-American and black community in America today. 

According to Mayor Stoney, June 22, 2019 is a day that represents hope for a new Richmond with a brighter and more inclusive future. 

“And now at the intersection of our city’s past and present, it is our duty to take the next steps in our journey down the right path to lead the way for future generations,” said Stoney.

 “We already have a map with a road to follow that will take us in the right direction. Let us follow it together. It’s called Arthur Ashe Boulevard.”

Top photo by Morgan Edwards

Landrieu Urges Reflection On Monuments In Meeting With Stoney

Madelyne Ashworth | March 22, 2019

Topics: Confederate monuments, Jefferson Davis Monument, Mayor Levar Stoney, Mitch Landrieu, New Orleans, racial reconciliation, robert e lee, Virginia Museum Of History & Culture

In his meeting with Mayor Levar Stoney this week, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu challenged Richmonders to consider the continued impact of Confederate monuments on our city’s image and reputation.

It was a meeting of the Mayoral minds on Tuesday, as Richmond’s Mayor Levar Stoney and New Orleans’ former mayor Mitch Landrieu engaged in thoughtful discussion at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

About 100 people listened as Mayor Stoney recounted Richmond’s struggle with Confederate iconography and race relations in Richmond, while Landrieu recalled his experience presiding over the removal of his city’s Confederate monuments.

“We created things with regard to race, and we can’t fix things without regard to race,” Landrieu said. “Our public spaces speak to who you are. It’s intended to say something, especially monuments and statues.”

At the crux of this discussion, Landrieu asked of Richmond: What do we want to be known for?

Overhead view of New Orleans’ Battle Of Liberty Place Monument in 2006. The monument was erected in 1891 to commemorate an 1874 riot against New Orleans’ Reconstruction-era government by the White League, a white supremacist group. It was taken down by Landrieu’s administration in 2017. Photo by Infrogmation, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia

In 2015, Landrieu called for the removal from prominent public display of four monuments in New Orleans, three of Confederate generals and one memorializing a violent coup of the state government by the Crescent City White League. All the monuments in question were removed by May 2017, although not without two years of legal battles, public criticism, and even threats against Landrieu’s life. His opponents criticized him for a lack of transparency during the process.

In a discussion moderated by Julian Hayter, an associate professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond and member of Stoney’s Monument Avenue Commission, Stoney and Landrieu discussed racism in the South, and how to reconcile its history with its people.

“We can’t ignore the fact that we’ve had an ugly history,” Stoney said.

Last year, Stoney’s Monument Avenue Commission recommended removing the Jefferson Davis monument, while adding context to the other four Confederate statues.

Jefferson Davis monument on Monument Avenue. Public Domain, via Wikimedia

Landrieu’s charismatic, animated oration offered blunt, third-party observations about Richmond’s race relations and Confederate iconography. Ultimately, he posited Richmond must find a solution that is right for Richmond, regardless of any other city’s actions.

“There is a difference between remembrance and reverence,” Landrieu said. “Remembrance is what you always want to do, so you don’t let it happen again. Reverence is honoring something, so you might be able to do it again.”

Stoney stated that if it were in his legal power to remove them, the statues would be gone. He also said that while removing the statues were important to many Richmonders, his real concern was providing reparations to deprived communities negatively affected by past racial injustices.

In this context, reparations are not about putting cash directly in the hands of disenfranchised people; they are about funding schools that never get funded, putting money in parks and community spaces, and reforming previously exclusive places into safe, inclusive space. They are about allowing a city’s architecture, aesthetic, art, and monuments to reflect the citizens it houses.

“Does that man standing on top of that thing send a message that you are welcome here, and that we want you to be here?” Landrieu said. “I was the mayor of a majority African American city, and I was the mayor of a city that has a monument that doesn’t represent our city. We decided in our specific circumstance, it was the best thing to do. What you cannot do is forget who put it up and why they put it up.”

Landrieu urged Richmonders to consider that a single plaque is not contextualization. To provide an adequate frame of reference would require the statue of a “lynched man” to reside next to Jackson and Lee.

Hayter, Stoney, and Landrieu. Photo by John Donegan

It may be prudent to point out that by erecting those statues, we are actually disobeying the wishes of a dead man, one who is at the epicenter of this entire debate: Robert E. Lee.

“I think it wiser,” the retired Lee once wrote of a proposed Gettysburg memorial in 1869, “not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.”

After the Civil War, Lee swore allegiance to the Union, publicly denounced any sentiment toward Southern separatism, affirmed the need to move on, and believed that by keeping those images alive, so would the sentiments of division live on and thrive.

Mayor Landrieu asserted similar sentiments in asking us to question that reverence associated with Confederate iconography. We have an entire avenue on which we all but worship the leaders of a failed nation, then act as if this is a presentation of historical events rather than a deep respect and longing for that failed nation.

“People are watching y’all,” Landrieu said. “I want to ask, do y’all want to be known for that?”

America has a history of building grandiose, reverent monuments to what Lee described as “civil strife,” and compared to those left by other countries throughout the 20th century after their own national conflicts, it calls us to examine how Americans display memorials to bloodshed.

The American cemetery at Normandy. Photo by Leon Petrosyan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia

Our memorial to the lives lost in the 9/11 attacks has turned into a multibillion dollar shopping mall, the Westfield World Trade Center. The American cemetery in Normandy, France, honoring those soldiers lost to WWII, boasts a $30 million welcome center, a chapel, and a 22-foot statue. Compared to the somber, understated French, German, and Canadian cemeteries in the same area, America’s message is clear: We are dominant, we are proud, we are strong, we are to be seen.

And while direct, this isn’t entirely inappropriate. Our culture differs from European countries in that we are opportunistic, and have a free-market capitalist economy. We honor our tragedies, but we simultaneously find a way to make money from them. We are clever, competitive, and fierce. Albeit occasionally sporting a tone-deaf quality, it is true to our nature. For better or worse, it is what we are known for. And, ultimately, even the aforementioned monuments honor soldiers and innocent lives lost to tragedy and terror, rather than the lost cause for continued human oppression that the figures on Monument Avenue commemorate.

And so, Mayor Landrieu’s challenge to Richmond resonates. In the wake of his visit, we must ask ourselves the same question he asked of us: What do you want to be known for? And how will you display it?

Top photo by John Donegan

“Fresh Paint” Offers Fresh Look At Virginia’s Complicated History

Jack Clark | November 6, 2018

Topics: Austin Miles, Fresh Paint, Hamilton Glass, Mickael Broth, murals, Nico Cathcart, noah scalin, Virginia history, Virginia Museum Of History & Culture, Wing Chow

For Richmond, 2018 is a time for us to come together to understand not only the present we live in, but the ways in which the past has influenced us. The Virginia Museum Of History & Culture is doing just that with their most recent installation, Fresh Paint: Murals Inspired By The Story Of Virginia. Armed with their creativity, ten Virginia artists used an item from the museum’s collection as inspiration to create their murals. The result is ten complex and very different works of art.

Speaking with several of the artists provided the opportunity to learn what their murals communicate.

Nico Cathcart

Nico Cathcart is a native of Toronto, Ontario, but is currently, in her own words, “adventuring in the southern wilds of Virginia.” We spoke briefly about the three women who played a key role in Virginia’s past, who are pictured in her mural: author and abolitionist Elizabeth Keckley, who fought for freedom; suffragist Adele Clark, who fought for the vote, to have a voice; and activist Casey Dokoupil, who fights for those who are currently disenfranchised.

“These women guide our everyday life through their actions,” said Cathcart. “They made it okay to use our voices, and break away from the traditional role of women in the household. I hope my piece tells a story of hope to the women of today, and of tomorrow. That we have the power to enact real, positive change. I hope my piece speaks of the value of being strong, a leader, and a survivor.”

Mickael Broth

Muralist Mickael Broth is the founder of Welcoming Walls, a project which brings art to “the highways and gateways of Virginia.” His mural uses a powerful image of a mother mourning for her dead son in a wartorn landscape. His use of blue is reminiscent of Picasso’s blue phase, or Chet Baker’s melancholic jazz.

According to Broth, he had ”connected with the internal and external struggles of war — in this case, World War One — to depict the way in which decisions on paper have real world ramifications.“ Losses suffered in war “ripple out throughout society,” Broth said. 

Noah Scalin

Modern-day renaissance man Noah Scalin explained his mural, The Readjusters, as “an attempt to show how much Virginia’s history hasn’t changed, both good and bad.” Scalin’s use of figures such as Janie Barret, who created a school in Hampton to help incarcerated African-American girls, and Samuel Tucker, who took part in the first civil rights sit-in in Virginia, demonstrate a response that modern-day activists may look to for inspiration.

“The issues we’re grappling with today about racism and intolerance are longstanding,” said Scalin. “But there have also been amazing models of civil rights activism and collaboration in support of social justice that have existed throughout our history as well.”

Scalin describes his mural as “a story about how even during our darkest times there have always been people who have risen up, spoken out, and worked tirelessly to make sure that this country truly lived up to the values it proclaims.” He compared today’s activists to the multiracial post-Civil War coalition known as the Readjuster Party, active in the 1870s following Reconstruction, which placed priority on African-American education. “[My mural is] a story of the ‘readjusters’ who exist today, who are fighting to tell a new story about our priorities as a state and a nation,” Scalin said.

Austin Miles

Austin Miles is a graduate of VCUarts. Her piece, By Any Means, tells the story of Black women utilizing education as a tool to free themselves and others from physical and mental enslavement. It is inspired by two American women of African descent: Mary Smith Peake, a free black woman in Hampton, VA who educated slaves and former slaves both before and after the Civil War; and Barbara Johns, a black Farmville, VA high school student who led walkouts at her school in the early 1950s to speak out about how separate education was NOT equal. “These were two Black women who stressed the importance of education and actively worked towards change,” said Miles.

By Any Means features a woman moving in a forward motion, holding the bright burning “Torch of Knowledge” representing the passing of knowledge from one generation to the next, with an eager flame in her left hand, while she releases her right wrist from the shackles of slavery that once bound her. As the woman moves forward, she is guiding and lighting the way for others to follow. For us in the present, “this guiding light allows us to dig deeper into the psychological bondages that could be occurring within our present community,” said Miles.

Wing Chow

The installation features a number of other highlights, including Hamilton Glass’s powerful mural (pictured at top) depicting a pair of black hands bound by a rope with both an American flag and a Confederate battle flag in the background. The most difficult mural to understand is that of Endeavor Gallery’s Wing Chow, whose mural seems to be a vegetal portal to another world; it arouses curiosity standing next to the other murals, and left me wondering what object from the museum inspired it.

You can ponder all ten of the murals for yourself at the Virginia Museum Of History & Culture, located at 428 N. Blvd in the (you guessed it) Museum District, where they will be on exhibition until April 21st 2019. 

Images via Virginia Museum of History and Culture

  • ⟨
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2

sidebar

sidebar-alt

Copyright © 2021 · RVA Magazine on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Close

    Event Details

    Please fill out the form below to suggest an event to us. We will get back to you with further information.


    OR Free Event

    CONTACT: [email protected]