Browse Items (373 total)

Known as the "Female Elvis," Janis Martin was a pioneer rockabilly star.

Danville

Janie Porter Barrett devoted her life to improving opportunities for young African American women through education.

Hanover County

Civic leader and educator Janie Porter Barrett worked to improve the lives of African American women.

Hampton and Hanover County

James Randolph Spencer is the first African American federal judge appointed from Virginia.

Richmond

James Heyward Blackwell advanced the cause of African American public education in Richmond for more than forty years.

Richmond

As director of the Congress of Racial Equality and as initiator of the Freedom Rides, James Farmer played a critical role in the national civil rights movement.

Spotsylvania County

For decades, multi-talented saxophonist and bandleader James “Plunky” Branch has promoted the cultural importance of music at home and abroad.

Richmond

Jamelle Smith Wilson is the first woman and first African American to lead the Hanover County Public School Division.

Hanover County

A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jacques Mushagasha is the founder and current president of the Alliance for Good Government and Peace in Africa in Harrisonburg.

Harrisonburg

Isabella Gibbons learned to read while enslaved and later educated hundreds of African Americans as a teacher in the freedmen's schools and public schools of Charlottesville.

Charlottesville