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Time Period
1623 to 1763
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![byrd.jpg byrd.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/byrd.jpg.webp?itok=tpaDoOLl)
The colony prospered. Tobacco—grown by indentured servants and enslaved Africans—sustained the economy. The first popularly elected legislative body in the New World was established. Following the failed Indian uprising in 1622 and on orders from London, the native peoples were “removed” and reduced in number to 3,000 by a “War of Extermination.” During the next hundred years, the remainder of Virginia’s population expanded a hundred fold. Social inequalities, however, and frontier conflicts with the French and with Indians made this distant dominion increasingly difficult to govern from London.
Time Period
1764 to 1824
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![StJohnsChurchBell.1900.5.jpg StJohnsChurchBell.1900.5.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/StJohnsChurchBell.1900.5.jpg.webp?itok=ijgmT4eZ)
British taxation—introduced to pay for a British military presence in America—was unexpected by the Virginia gentry and resented. Those Americans began to view British policy as a plot against their liberty. They played leading roles in the Continental Congresses that debated independence, in the fighting of the American Revolution, and in the conception and implementation of a new government. Virginia also provided four of the new nation’s first five presidents. Virginia leaders advocated equality for all but they never considered extending it to women and African Americans.
Time Period
1861 to 1876
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![BattleOfFiveForks.2006.190.jpg BattleOfFiveForks.2006.190.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/BattleOfFiveForks.2006.190.jpg.webp?itok=dnioiQBa)
If Virginians were instrumental in creating the Union in 1776, they were also pivotal in breaking it apart eighty-five years later. Most Virginians rejected secession until they were called upon to provide troops after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. The far northwestern counties refused to secede and instead formed West Virginia. Virginia became the bloodiest battleground of the war. At its conclusion, slavery was ended and black males could vote, but the daily lives and standard of living of African Americans changed little. Virginia was put under military rule for three years.
Time Period
1877 to 1924
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![Streetcar4.jpg Streetcar4.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Streetcar4.jpg.webp?itok=xsMvxMYv)
After the Civil War, Virginia remained largely rural, but Virginians embraced economic development and the new technologies that were revolutionizing everyday life. At the same time, however, they resisted political and social change––especially racial and gender equality. Living standards improved and income rose, but the political system became less democratic and society was rigidly segregated by race. “The New South” brought economic renewal but little reform. The Virginia legislature rejected a woman’s right to vote in 1919, and it passed a regressive Racial Integrity Act in 1924.
Time Period
1925 to Today
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![Badge.2002.148.6.jpg Badge.2002.148.6.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Badge.2002.148.6.jpg.webp?itok=r7F9K3xl)
A century of foreign wars expanded the presence of both the federal government in Northern Virginia and the military in the Hampton Roads area. Growth in those regions helped transform the state from a rural to a primarily urban one, from a poor to a relatively affluent one, and from a state with few non-natives to one with many. Only painstakingly, however, have minorities gained equality. Since 1960, the population has doubled. The largest employer now is the government, next is agriculture, which adds billions of dollars to the state’s economy.
Exhibition
A Better Life for Their Children
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![Elroy & Sophia Williams – Sophia Williams’s Grandparents, Former Slaves, Acquired and Donated Land for a Rosenwald School. Photo by Andrew Feiler. Two people hold an ornately frame painted portrait of two people in early 1900s dress](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/19%20Elroy%20%26%20Sophia%20Williams%20%E2%80%93%20Sophia%20Williams%E2%80%99s%20Grandparents%2C%20Former%20Slaves%2C%20Acquired%20and%20Donated%20Land%20for%20a%20Rosenwald%20School.jpg.webp?itok=njqvitgO)
From 1912-37, the Rosenwald schools program built thousands of schools, shops, and teacher’s homes across 15 Southern...
Exhibition
A Landscape Saved
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![GCV100_SignatureImage.jpg GCV100_SignatureImage.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/GCV100_SignatureImage.jpg.webp?itok=ebSK_ADJ)
This exhibition celebrated the efforts in preservation and horticulture made by the Garden Club of Virginia during its...
Exhibition
A Material World
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![P.O. Box 7311, Richmond, Virginia 23221 Photograph of Stephanie Lane wearing seven Swatch watches. Image courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.Enter FullscreenMore informationPhotograph of Stephanie Lane wearing seven Swatch watches. Image courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. P.O. Box 7311, Richmond, Virginia 23221 Photograph of Stephanie Lane wearing seven Swatch watches. Image courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.Enter FullscreenMore informationPhotograph of Stephanie Lane wearing seven Swatch watches. Image courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VHSpt5_22_1920x1440.jpg.webp?itok=-j31ypAX)
Featuring 43 iconic images from the archives of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and accompanied by historical objects that...
Exhibition
Agents of Change
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![AgentsofChange_HeaderImage.jpg AgentsofChange_HeaderImage.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/AgentsofChange_HeaderImage.jpg.webp?itok=g-ZiTR3t)
Organized in conjunction with the statewide Women’s Suffrage Centennial, this exhibition featured artifacts from the...
Exhibition
Apollo: When We Went to the Moon
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![Apollo 11 crew The crew of Apollo 11: 3 astronauts in full space suits hold space helmets in front of a backdrop depicting the moon](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Apollo_Apollo-11-Crew_118903695_orig_WEB.jpg.webp?itok=QFVsUctG)
Through objects and artifacts from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s archives, this exhibition explored the social and...
Exhibition
Artists4ERA
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![Logo for Artists4ERA Logo for Artists4ERA features multicolored words in a spray painted font](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/artist4era-rainbow-795x250-_SEARCH-IMAGE.jpg.webp?itok=gC7nabFP)
Artists4ERA is part of ongoing efforts to ensure that the ERA becomes the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution...
Research Guide
Civil War in Virginia Published & Primary Sources
Exhibition
Coming Out, Affecting Change
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![ComingOutAffectingChange_ExhibitionTeaserImage.jpg ComingOutAffectingChange_ExhibitionTeaserImage.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/ComingOutAffectingChange_ExhibitionTeaserImage.jpg.webp?itok=7q9WtDqr)
For centuries, social and legal discrimination forced most lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+)...
Exhibition
Determined
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![Two Black students protest school closures in Farmville, Virginia Two Black female students protesting school closures by marching with posters](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Farmville%2BProtest%20%28002%29_1920x1440.jpg.webp?itok=4gqp-b6Y)
This exhibition examined the long history of black Americans in North America as they have fought for freedom, equal...
Exhibition
Founding Frenemies
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![Exhibition display from Founding Frenemies Manuscripts and a feather pen on a table with an exhibit label showing a Twitter post](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/768x576-Founding-Frenemies-Preview_013.jpg.webp?itok=y29yaWri)
This exhibition explored Alexander Hamilton’s relationships with the founding generation of Virginians through rare...
Exhibition
Fresh Paint
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![VMHC_FreshPaint_Nico_small.jpg VMHC_FreshPaint_Nico_small.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/VMHC_FreshPaint_Nico_small.jpg.webp?itok=HH9emF76)
This unprecedented exhibition explored the power of murals to encourage reflection on Virginia’s past by inviting...
Exhibition
Inside Looking Out
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![Event-BTS-Stovall-teaser.jpg Event-BTS-Stovall-teaser.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Event-BTS-Stovall-teaser.jpg.webp?itok=x5x6a5CW)
The first exhibition of its kind in that it displays nearly all of artist Queena Stovall’s work in one place, this...
Exhibition
John Marshall
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![Portrait of John Marshall Portrait of John Marshall - Marshall has grey hair, glasses positioned on top of his head and wears a black jacket with white necktie](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/JohnMarshall.1988.8_2_1920x1440.jpg.webp?itok=OLR-MU5t)
Highlighting objects like his Law Commonplace Notebook, spectacles and inkwell, writing desk, and even his hair, this...
Exhibition
Mending Walls RVA
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![Mending Walls RVA logo.jpg Mending Walls RVA logo.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Mending%20Walls%20RVA%20logo.jpg.webp?itok=LXP9_lQ1)
This pop-up exhibition and community collaboration featured a diverse group of artists creating public artwork as a tool...
Exhibition
Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!
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![Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown Exhibition Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown Exhibition installed in the gallery with small tree with red ornament in foreground](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/Merry-Christmas-Charlie-Brown-Gallery_005_1920x1440.jpg.webp?itok=j0FcaWlj)
This exhibition examined the making of this animated classic and celebrated the anticipation, joy, and pitfalls of the...