Search | Virginia Museum of History & Culture

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Media

"Hidden Figure" of GPS (Commonwealth Classroom)

In this virtual event on February 19, 2021, VMHC Curator Karen Sherry led audiences in a conversation with Dr. Gladys West. Dr. West, a Dinwiddie...

Time Period

16,000 BCE to 1622 CE

At the time of the great northern glaciers, Native Americans followed the game they hunted to Virginia. Ten thousand years later, as the cold of the Ice Age gave way to a warmer, drier climate, they relied also on foraging and farming. After about 900 CE they settled into villages that united into chiefdoms. In 1607, in pursuit of opportunity in a new world, English settlers intruded into an eastern Virginia chiefdom of thirty-two tribes (15,000 to 20,000 people). Its leader then was Wahunsenacawh, whom the new settlers called by his title, Powhatan.

Media

1619: Jamestown and the Forging of American Democracy

On October 17, 2018, James Horn delivered the J. Harvie Wilkinson, Jr. Lecture, “1619: Jamestown and the Forging of American Democracy.”

Along the...

Time Period

1877 to 1924

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

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:

Two people hold an ornately frame painted portrait of two people in early 1900s dress

From 1912-37, the Rosenwald schools program built 5,357 schools, shops, and teacher’s homes across 15 Southern and...

Time Period Chapter

A Century of Foreign Wars

Virginians were engulfed by the many wars that spanned the twentieth century and touched every generation.

Media

A Chat with Willie and Woody

On August 10, 2016, veteran Richmond Times-Dispatch sports columnist Paul Woody, and Hall of Famer Willie Lanier gave a Banner Lecture.

Virginia...

Media

A Fiendish Murder: The Sad Saga of Charles and Susan Watkins

On April 22, 2020, historian John Long gave a virtual Banner Lecture that examined the trial of Charles Watkins for the murder of his wife, which was...

Article