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"That part of America, now called Virginia"

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In 1590, John White published the first separate map of “Virginia” and the first printed record of Sir Walter Raleigh’s...

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A House Built of Virginia Stone

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Approximately forty miles south of Washington, D.C., the Aquia sandstone quarry on Government Island sits quietly in the...

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A Life Rediscovered: The Story of Emily Winfree

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Emily Winfree, an African American woman who lived through slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow, never...

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Abolitionist Pitcher

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Learn about how this pitcher based on Uncle Tom's Cabin was used as propoganda in the mid-1800s.

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Affidavit, 1693

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This affidavit informs the governor that Frank, a man of African descent enslaved by Henry Gibbs, has been jailed on...

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Arthur Ashe Jr.’s Family Tree: Tracing the Blackwell Family to 1735

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See a rare family tree, drawn by hand on canvas, tracing Arthur Ashe, Jr.’s family.

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Audubon's The Birds of America

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In the VMHC collections are several rare editions of his work, including a first edition of Viviparous Quadrupeds and...

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Audubon's Viviparous Quadrapeds

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Following the success of his Birds of America, John James Audubon began to gather material for an equally ambitious...

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Booker T. Washington

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Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was born enslaved on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia. After emancipation...

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Convict Leasing

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For much of the twentieth century, convicts worked on Virginia’s roads. This practice grew out of the convict lease...

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Elizabeth Keckley

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Born a slave in Dinwiddie County, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) purchased her freedom in 1855 and supported...

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Freedmen's Schools

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In the antebellum South, African Americans were generally prevented from receiving education. After Appomattox...

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Mark Catesby

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The first accounts of the strange flora and fauna of the New World created a great demand among European scientists for...

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Murals Inspired by the Story of Virginia

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Richmond is now home to more than 100 outdoor murals, and this popular form of artwork reflects the city’s modernity and...

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Olaudah Equiano

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Snatched from his Ibo village in Nigeria at the age of eleven, Equiano (c. 1745-1797) was transported to Barbados...

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Oysters in Virginia

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Learn about the history of oyster in Virginia's food culture, tourism, and economy.

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The History of Virginia's Natural Bridge: "So Beautiful an Arch"

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In the late eighteenth century, when Thomas Jefferson “discovered” Natural Bridge and purchased it from the King of...

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The Resurrection of Henry "Box" Brown

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Learn about Henry "Box" Brown and one of the most memorable escapes from enslavement.

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Virginia Landscapes: Sublime & Picturesque

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Thomas Jefferson wrote that Natural Bridge is “the most sublime of nature’s works”: “It is impossible for the emotions...