Learn how enslaved African Americans in Richmond, Virginia, established what a historian in this clip calls “quasi-free communities, where they etched out lives for themselves, that paved the way forward.”  This resource is part of the How the Monuments Came Down collection, created by Virginia Public Media.

Discover the differing approaches to memorialization among African Americans and white southerners, in Richmond, Virginia, in the years immediately after the Civil War.  This resource is part of the How the Monuments Came Down collection.

Discover how African American political organizing in Richmond, Virginia, in the first decades after the Civil War, secured a measure of power amid ongoing fights against injustice.   

Discover how white southerners in Richmond, Virginia, honored General Robert E. Lee through a monument of his likeness unveiled in the former Confederate capital in 1890. 

Discover John Mitchell, Jr. and Maggie L Walker, two African American leaders in Richmond, Virginia, whom a historian in this clip refers to as “the vanguard” of Black resistance to white supremacy there. 

Learn why white city leaders in Richmond, Virginia, in the early 20th century, embraced the nationwide “City Beautiful” movement through the construction of Monument Avenue, a grand boulevard lined with statues to Confederates. 

Learn why blackface minstrelsy in the early 20th century sought to “parody and caricature Black ambition and achievement,” as explained by historians in this clip. Note to Teachers: The video clip, Caricatures of African Americans, includes depictions of blackface; in an effort to provide authentic and transparent resources about the historical experiences of Black Americans, these moments were not censored. 

Learn about Jackson Ward, a historic African American neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, and why white city leaders supported the construction of an interstate highway through its center in the 1950s. 

Discover the motivations, strategies, and success of the Crusade for Voters, a pathbreaking initiative that made possible the election of the first majority-Black city council in Richmond, Virginia, in 1977. 

Learn why the first majority-Black city council in Richmond, Virginia, in the late 1970s, avoided discussion of the city’s Confederate monuments while attending to urgent crises of housing and education.  

Learn about tennis champion Arthur Ashe, whose death spurred residents of his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, to honor him with a statue along a grand boulevard that had previously only featured statues of Confederates

Learn how activists in Richmond, Virginia, are working to honor the lives of free and enslaved African Americans, in a city where the most prominent monuments had long celebrated Confederates. 

See how descendants, community groups, and a National Park Service site worked together to establish a monument to Maggie L. Walker, an African American leader from Richmond, Virginia. 

Learn how a mayoral commission attempted to reckon with Confederate monuments in Richmond, Virginia—and how political scandal and electoral change helped reshape the city’s statuary landscape. Note to Teachers:Some of these video clips include depictions of blackface; in an effort to provide authentic and transparent resources about the historical experiences of Black Americans, these moments were not censored. Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

Discover why protests in Richmond, Virginia, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, centered on Monument Avenue—a grand boulevard then-lined with statues of Confederates.

See the removal of Confederate monuments in Richmond, Virginia—first, through direct action by protestors, and then by city-ordered cranes—amid summer 2020 protests against systemic racism following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

Learn about Marcus-David Peters, a teacher in Richmond, Virginia, who was killed by police while having a mental health crisis, and why activists there see his death as one of many examples of how white supremacy endures in the city even as Confederate statues have been removed. 

How the Monuments Came Down explores the complex history of Richmond, Virginia through the lens of Confederate monuments, supported by an extensive visual record never before presented in a single work.Through personal stories from descendants and history-makers, the film uncovers how Confederate monuments came to shape Richmond’s landscape and why protestors demanded they come down.How the Monuments Came Down is a production of Field Studio, in association with VPM.

This collection uses primary sources to explore The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

A racist attack on Democratic vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Johnson. The Kentucky Congressman's nomination, in May 1835, as Van Buren's running-mate for the 1836 election raised eyebrows even among party faithful, because of Johnson's common-law marriage to a mulatto woman, Julia Chinn, by whom he fathered two daughters. The artist ridicules Johnson's domestic situation, and the Democrats' constituency as well. Seated in a chair with his hand over his face, a visibly distraught Johnson lets a copy of James Watson Webb's "New York Courier and Enquirer" fall to the floor and moans, "When I read the scurrilous attacks in the Newspapers on the Mother of my Children, pardon me, my friends if I give way to feelings!!! My dear Girls, bring me your Mother's picture, that I may show it to my friends here." On the right are his two daughters, Adaline and Imogene, wearing elegant evening dresses. One presents a painting of a black woman wearing a turban, and says, "Here it is Pa, but don't take on so." The second daughter says, "Poor dear Pa, how much he is affected." A man behind them exclaims, "Pickle! Pop!! and Ginger!!! Can the slayer of Tecumseh be thus overcome like a summer cloud! fire and furies. oh!" Johnson is reported to have slain the Indian chief Tecumseh. Flanking Johnson are a gaunt abolitionist (right) and a black man. The abolitionist holds a copy of the "Emancipator," a Hartford, Connecticut newspaper, and says, "Be comforted Richard; all of us abolitionists will support thee." The black man pledges, ". . . de honor of a Gentlemen dat all de Gentlemen of Colour will support you." On the far left is a stout postmaster who says, "Your Excellency, I am sure all of us Postmasters and deputies will stick to you; if you promise to keep us in office." The print seems to date from early in the campaign of 1836. Johnson's wife Julia Chinn died in 1833. Adaline, one of the two daughters pictured, died in February 1836. Although Weitenkampf dates the print at 1840, when Johnson was again Van Buren's running-mate, the presence of both daughters and the drawing style are persuasive evidence for an 1836 date.|Probably published by Henry R. Robinson, New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 63.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1836-15.