Richmond

Second Street, or “the Deuce,” in Richmond’s historic Jackson Ward neighborhood, was the focal point of African-American commerce in the early part of the twentieth century.  Enterprises of all types clustered along this street, just north of Broad Street, Richmond’s main thoroughfare and the center of white business activity.  While some scholars have argued that there was, in fact, never a separate black economy, it is clear that this street was the hub of African-American economic and social life in Richmond.  Professional and personal services, banks, hotels, restaurants and general merchandise stores were established along Second Street to meet the needs of Richmond’s black population.  Denied access to the white-owned theatres and clubs, blacks also created a unique entertainment district along the Deuce, which was home to numerous social clubs, restaurants, and theatres.  This paper explores the growth of Second Street during the first half of the 20th century and explains the reasons behind its subsequent decline in the latter half of the 20th century.

In Richmond, Virginia, racial discrimination is clearly visible in the condition of historical burial grounds. Efforts to reclaim these sacred sites have generated controversy surrounding the proposed Revitalize RVA development adjacent to the city’s oldest cemetery for people of color. Recent outrage, activism, and attempts at dialogue have also occurred in relation to some archaeological collections of human remains from Richmond, while other such collections have received comparatively little attention. This paper will present ethnographic research into the value placed by city communities on archaeological human remains and burial places through three case studies: the activism that reclaimed Richmond’s Burial Ground for Enslaved Africans; The East Marshall Street Well Project, which seeks to redress the mishandling of dissected human remains recovered from a well containing medical waste; and the Virginia State Penitentiary site, where construction during the 1990s uncovered an unanticipated cemetery containing interments and comingled skeletal deposits.

An attempt to identify mainstream critical opinions of Richmond, Virginia's "literati" and literature in the 1920s and 1930s. The essay focuses on the relationship and correspondence between New York author and critic Carl Van Vechten and Richmond author Ellen Glasgow from 1929 to 1949. Written to fulfill the requirements of English 541: Special Topics in American Literature -- Ellen Glasgow and Her Contemporaries.

Richmond has been a significant human habitation site at least since the Contact Period, when the Fall Line of the James River was a boundary between the Powhatan chiefdom and the Monacan lands to the west. Once the town was settled in the 1730s, Richmond expanded as a critical trade location, especially of tobacco, due to its location at the fall line of the James River. While Richmond is famed for its historical significance, most notably the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and the domestic slave trade, information gleaned from the city’s archaeological resources have often not received much attention. This presentation will provide an overview of previous archaeological investigations in Richmond, including the discovery of preserved boats associated with the Great Turning Basin of the James River and Kanawha Canal, sites identified during the floodwall project in the 1990s, investigations of Historic Tredegar and the Riverfront, the Virginia State Penitentiary excavation, and more. Special emphasis will be placed on archaeological subjects to which Richmond’s resources could uniquely contribute – including native subsistence along the James River, Powhatan/Monacan interactions, 19th century industry, the tobacco economy, the domestic slave trade, and the Civil War. Additionally, I will introduce some of the groups and individuals responsible for previous archaeological investigations, often under challenging circumstances. Finally, I will briefly introduce a new community organization, RVA Archaeology, founded to encourage public engagement with archaeology in the city.