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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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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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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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Clementina Rind
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Clementina Rind was Virginia’s first female printer and newspaper publisher, publishing important official documents for...
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Colonial Cookbooks
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Food and dining were integral to social life in the eighteenth century, particularly among the upper class. The gentry...
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Education in Virginia
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The Virginia Constitution of 1869, passed during Reconstruction, established a statewide system of free public schools...
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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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Equal Suffrage League of Virginia
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Learn about how the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia helped women gain the right to vote.
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Grace Sherwood: The "Witch of Pungo"
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On July 10, 1706, a forty-six-year-old Princess Anne County woman named Grace Sherwood faced an unusual legal procedure...
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Jim Crow to Civil Rights in Virginia
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Following the Civil War, black Virginians struggled to assert their independence and make freedom meaningful. In the...
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Lila (Meade) Valentine
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Lila (Meade) Valentine (1865–1921), president of the Equal Suffrage League, championed causes of health and education...
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Maggie Lena Walker
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Maggie Lena Walker (1864–1934) was the daughter of Elizabeth Draper, a former kitchen slave and then cook in the Civil...
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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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Martha (Dandridge) Custis Washington
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This portrait of Martha Washington (1731–1802) is the work of Charles Willson Peale, who also painted the sitter several...
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Mary-Cooke Branch Munford
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Learn how Mary-Cooke Branch Munford helped improve education in Virginia.
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Nancy Langhorne Shaw Astor
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Viscountess Astor (1879–1964) was the first woman to take a seat in the British House of Commons. Nancy was born in...
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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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Proud American Day program
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Learn about the beginning of Black History Month.