Former capital of the Confederacy, Richmond preserves a rich Civil War history that still impacts race relations, income inequality, and city services. Students explored that legacy—and found Richmond’s unhealed wounds of war. By Molly Brind’Amour, Brooke Harty, and Joe Walderman.
“The map says we’re close, it’s definitely around here somewhere.” “Is that it?” “No, I’m pretty sure that’s just a construction site. Wait, there’s a marker!” It had been half an hour since we first passed under the railroad trestle framing the Welcome to Shockoe Bottom sign on the sidewall of a Main Street building. Read more about Devil’s Half-Acre[…]
Unhealed Wounds Interactive Map
AS I WALKED ALONG East Clay Street in downtown Richmond, past the VCU Hospital and its sprawling medical center, it would be easy to dismiss the gray, unassuming building, number 1201, for any other historic mansion in the city. But that would be a mistake. For this is the Confederate White House (right), the former Read more about SHAPING THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE[…]
“The map says we’re close, it’s definitely around here somewhere.” “Is that it?” “No, I’m pretty sure that’s just a construction site. Wait, there’s a marker!” It had been half an hour since we first passed under the railroad trestle framing the Welcome to Shockoe Bottom sign on the sidewall of a Main Street building. Read more about DEVIL’S HALF-ACRE[…]
TO REACH EVERGREEN CEMETERY, you take the bus from downtown Richmond: Board at 7th and Marshall, pay $1.50, then ride about 20 stops until you arrive at Nine Mile and Echo. As you step off the bus, there is no sidewalk, just short grass and dilapidated houses and power lines. Then you walk along empty Read more about EVERGREEN CEMETERY: RESTING IN PIECES[…]
It is a beautiful day at Clay Abner Park, in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood. I don’t know what I expected from a park in the heart of one of Richmond’s oldest, poorest, and predominately African-American neighborhoods. But it is a perfect Sunday in late April. Spring has swept through the city at last, and the Read more about SCORCHED EARTH[…]
JUST A FEW BLOCKS from the statues of Confederate generals that line historic Monument Avenue, sits another piece of Richmond’s Civil War past: the unassuming, tiny white Confederate Memorial Chapel, a unique landmark nestled among the colorful townhouses in a quintessential Fan District neighborhood. THE CHAPEL IS ONE of the original buildings that remain from Read more about GHOSTS OF THE CONFEDERACY[…]
