Browse Items (217 total)

In March 1775, the American colonies appeared to be on a path to war with Britain. Tensions increased over British treatment of Bostonians after Parliament passed the Coercive Acts (also known as the Intolerable Acts) in 1774. In Virginia, Governor…

George Washington was born in 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to a relatively prosperous family. His father died when he was eleven and so he was not sent to school in England like his older half-brothers, but studied with tutors. He trained…

Among his many skills, George Washington was a well-respected land surveyor. After the death of his father in 1743, eleven-year-old George Washington did not attend school in England like his older half-brothers, but had private tutors and may have…

A bookplate is a small-sized, decorative label that is adhered to the inside front cover of a book. They are used to identify the owner of a book for personal use or for use in a library. Bookplates are designed to reflect a person’s interests or to…

Gabriel’s Conspiracy illustrated the lengths to which some enslaved people were willing to fight for freedom in pre-Civil War America. In 1800, a group of enslaved men living in the vicinity of Richmond planned a conspiracy to take over the capital,…

World War I brought about great shifts in American society. As the war began, women were not allowed to vote or serve in military combat roles. As the nation was gripped by war, the entire population mobilized to produce weapons and supplies for the…

Virginia's General Assembly first met in July–August 1619. At that time twenty-two burgesses representing eleven settlements assembled in Jamestown with the royal governor and his councilors, or advisors. They approved legislation related to tobacco…

During the 19th century, local and state governments provided few social programs and women's benevolent activities provided food, shelter, education, and alms for the poor. Often, wealthy white women established charitable or religious-based…

Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. In 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. L.C. that the ADA prohibits unnecessary segregation of mentally ill or…

From late in the 19th century until the middle of the 1960s, Virginia's white authorities tried to keep Black citizens from full participation in government and society. The Virginia state constitution adopted in 1902 reinstituted a poll tax as a…