Browse Items (215 total)

Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute opened in 1868 near the site of Fort Monroe, which had served as a refugee camp for thousands of enslaved men, women, and children who sought freedom there during the Civil War. The fort and surrounding…

The Supreme Court’s 1896 decision in Plessy v Ferguson that “separate but equal” accommodations did not violate the rights of Black citizens paved the way for states across the South to pass formal segregation laws. In 1902, Louisiana passed the…

By the end of the 19th century, the conservative Democratic Party dominated Virginia’s General Assembly. After wresting control from the short-lived bi-racial Readjuster Party early in the 1880s, legislators passed a series of laws designed to weaken…

James Madison (1751–1836) was one of the most influential and successful Virginians of the Revolutionary generation. His service in the House of Delegates and in the Continental Congress taught him to be a pragmatic politician, something that served…

The 1896 US Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that established the so-called "separate but equal" doctrine gave rise to segregation laws throughout the southern United States. Often called Jim Crow laws, these laws mandated the separation…

By the 1870s, bicycles and tricycles using wire-spoked wheels were common, particularly in England. Albert A. Pope became the first American bicycle manufacturer under the trade name “Columbia” in Connecticut in 1878.The popularity of bicycles in the…

This broadside advertises an excursion by train from Lawrenceville to Norfolk as a fundraiser for St. Paul Normal and Industrial Institute. James Solomon Russell (1857–1935) founded St. Paul Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville to serve the…

The Richmond Planet was first published in 1882, seventeen years after the end of the Civil War. The thirteen founders (including James H. Hayes, James H. Johnston, E.R. Carter, Walter Fitzhugh, Henry Hucles, Albert V. Norrell, Benjamin A. Graves,…

Washington County is one of the first known localities in the United States to be named for George Washington. He had been commander in chief of the Continental army for little more than a year when the county was split from Fincastle in 1776. At the…

Tobacco production has dominated Virginia commerce for more than four centuries. From the colonial period, producers created brands that made their products distinguishable from others. Early tobacco art usually took the form of the planters' brand…