THIS WEEK'S EVENT & NEWS SUMMARY
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Placemaking: A Workshop on Indigenous/UVA Relating
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TODAY, May 10-12 | Global Grounds at Hotel A
This late breaking event brings together academics, community-based activists, and others working on indigenous issues to reflect on the current state of UVA/Indigenous relations. All are welcome to attend. The event focuses on the importance of placemaking to the flourishing of indigenous peoples, as well as to all human and other than human beings. It also addresses ways in which indigenous place making projects must contend with the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and related hegemonic placemaking projects.
Participants are invited to engage with UVA’s past, present and future relationships to indigenous placemaking and especially ways that UVA can respectfully and usefully contribute to indigenous actions to protect, restore and elaborate new space-making practices. Individual sessions relate these organizing concerns to specific topics, ranging from built space, food sovereignty, caring for country, public health, and
community organizing. They also engage systemic threats to indigenous lifeways, with particular emphasis on oil pipelines.
Lunch and drinks will be provided each day. Dinner for participants and a musical gathering open to the larger community is planned for Friday evening.
If you would like to learn more please contact Dave Edmunds: dse7r@virginia.edu. We hope to see you at some or all of these events.
The Organizers:
Dave Edmunds (Global Studies)
Karenne Wood (Virginia Indians Program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities)
Guy Lopez (UVA Alumni, Crow Creek Dakota)
Virginia Busby (UVA Alumni)
Phil Gover (UVA Alumni)
George Mentore (Anthropology)
Jim Igoe (Anthropology)
Mark Sicoli (Anthropology and Linguistics)
Margo Smith (Kluge-Ruhe)
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Saturday, May 11 | 2-4 pm | Trinity Episcopal Church, 1118 Preston Ave
Please join us for the next monthly gathering of the Charlottesville CTTT group scheduled for Saturday, May 11. We will begin by introducing a dialogue process that promotes honest and constructive conversation for each participant. Then we will use this process to share our experiences and practice listening deeply to each other. If you are ready to have the clumsy, courageous conversations on race, we hope you will join us!
Members of CTTT are committed to addressing the Legacies and Aftermaths of Slavery through
- Facing History through acknowledging, and sharing personal, family and community histories of race with openness and honesty
- Making Connections to others within and across racial lines in order to develop and deepen relationships
- Healing Wounds by exploring how we can heal together through dialogue, reunion, apology, and other methods
- Taking Action by actively seeking to heal the wounds of racial inequality and injustice and to support racial reconciliation between individuals, within families, and in communities
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The Festival of Cultures
Saturday, May 11 | 10am-4pm | Booker T. Washington Park
Come and celebrate the cultural and linguistic diversity of our local community. The Sixteenth Annual Festival of Cultures will be a day of free family-friendly fun with all-day entertainment: music, dance, song, and storytelling. Enjoy hands-on cultural crafts activities, visit cultural exhibits, food, and artisan vendors. The Festival is a gathering place whose mission it is to create a space where all can meet, share in, and learn about each others' cultures. Here you can take a passport and "travel the world in a day". The Festival if organized by the Thomas Jefferson Adult and Career Education (TJACE) Program at Piedmont Virginia Community College with the involvement and support of many other individuals and organizations. It provides an opportunity for building bridges of communication between new Americans and established residents, and between different cultures residing in our community. This year the Festival is in Washington Park on Preston Avenue in Charlottesville, near downtown and on bus line #8. This event is FREE and open to the public.
For more, visit: http://www.festivalofcultures.org/
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Soul Suppers: Cora Harvey Armstrong
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Saturday, May 11 | Dinner/Doors 5:30 // Show 7:00 PM | Mount Zion’s First African Baptist Church (105 Lankford Ave., Charlottesville)
Introducing Soul Suppers, a new monthly concert series featuring Masters of American Roots Music. Our mission at The Front Porch is to bring people from all walks of life together through music. Soul Suppers is designed to help us do just that, through sharing meals and music with neighbors and new friends. Tickets are $25; dinner is included! A home-cooked, family-style supper is served at 5:30 pm and music starts at 7 pm.
Please support the spirit of this series by buying your tickets early! This helps us make sure we have enough food for everyone. We can guarantee dinner for all tickets purchased up to two days prior to the concert. We have a block of Pay What You Can tickets available that will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. Please reach out to us at info@frontporchcville.org to secure a PWYC ticket if needed.
Born and raised in King and Queen County, Cora began taking piano lessons at the age of five. She had the gift of being able to play by ear and was taught to read music as well. Cora and her sisters Clara and Virginia sang for many years with their mother, the late Eva Elizabeth Harvey and were known as The Harvey Family. After the death of their parents, the sisters and nieces Clarissa and Ruthy, continue singing and praising God. Having majored in music at Virginia State University, where she greatly contributed to the historic legacy of the VSU Gospel Choir as director, Cora for more than forty years has been a favorite Gospel Music performer at festivals and celebrations around the country and abroad. She has toured and lectured on Gospel Music in Japan, she’s performed in several cities in and around Europe with Stellar Award Winner, Min. Earl Bynum. She is currently a student at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Divinity at Virginia Union University and working to gain a Master of Divinity Degree. Cora has become a sought after artist, pianist, psalmist and preacher.
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Jamelle Bouie | Simply: The Black Towns
Exhibition Dates: Saturday, May 11 - Saturday, July 13 | Opening Reception: Saturday May 11, 6 pm | Artist talk: 7pm | Jefferson School African American Heritage Center
Most know Jamelle Bouie for his cultural and political criticism in Slate, The Nation, The Daily Beast and most recently, as columnist for the NY Times and political analyst for CBSNews. If you follow him on Instagram, you also know that he is a photographer, primarily of the American landscape. In his first exhibition ever, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center presents a series of images taken by Bouie on a recent trip to Oklahoma to photograph the remains of African American towns founded after Emancipation. Oklahoma in this period boasted the largest number of such spaces with the most well known being Tulsa. In 1921, the area known in Tulsa as Black Wall Street, was burned to the ground by armed white rioters. The Cities that Bouie represents are not as infamous as Tulsa, however like Tulsa they were formed when African Americans left the South in droves to escape the oppressions of the aftermath of enslavement. There were more than fifty towns created by these people of which only 13 remain. Bouie captures the remnants of these largely agricultural places in haunting, yet stately images of buildings and streets.
The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Robert Mosolgo and Albemarle Magazine.
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Phyllis Leffler: The Jewish Community of Charlottesville, Before and After August 2017
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Monday, May 13 | 7pm | CitySpace
Author and Historian Phyllis Leffler will talk about the history of Central Virginia's Jewish community, including the earliest Jewish families and merchants, like David Isaacs and Nancy West who helped to make Main Street the epicenter of commercial life in the region. She looks at the founding of the Synagogue; the civic and economic roles of Jewish leaders; the coming of Eastern European Jews in the 20th century; and so powerfully connects the dots between that history and the tragic events of August 2017 in Charlottesville.
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Citizen Artist Salon: Creative Strategies for Commemorative Justice
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Thursday, May 16 | 6pm | U.S. Department of Arts and Culture
This interactive online video call kicks off a partnership with 400 Years of Inequality: A People’s Observance for a Just Future, with whom we are calling on communities across the country to engage in place-based observances of the 400th anniversary of the 1619 arrival of the first Africans trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean and sold into bondage in the U.S.
To gear up for these observances, the May 16th Salon will feature artists Arielle Julia Brown, Free Egunfemi, Havanna Fisher, and Robert Sember, offering tools, resources, and tips for Citizen Artists who want to activate place-based creative observances for truth-telling and collective healing.
This Citizen Artist Salon, hosted by the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture in partnership with 400 Years of Inequality: A People’s Observance for a Just Future, will explore how anyone can activate place-based creative strategies for truth-telling and collective healing. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the 1619 arrival of the first enslaved African ancestors trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean and sold in the U.S. Presenters Arielle Julia Brown, Free Egunfemi, Havanna Fisher, and Robert Sember will offer tools, resources, and tips for Citizen Artists interested in bringing about what Richmond-based tactical urbanist Free Egunfemi has termed “the Commemorative Justice movement” to resurrect deliberately submerged narratives through arts-based observances in their own communities.
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Alan Taylor: Early Education in the American Republic
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Friday, May 17 | 7pm | CitySpace
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor will discuss his forthcoming new book about the history of public education in the early American Republic, what those evolving experiences at places like The College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia say about the American experience and identity.
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Queen Charlotte Day Celebration
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Sunday, May 19 | 2:00-4:00pm | The Bridge PAI 209 Monticello Road
What is Queen Charlotte Day?
Queen Sophia Charlotte, Born May 19, 1744, was the wife of King George III of the United Kingdom. She is the City of Charlottesville’s namesake.
Queen Charlotte was a patron of The Arts, an amateur botanist, and a patron of orphanages and hospitals. Perhaps most relevant, she is widely believed to have African ancestry, leading many to claim Queen Charlotte as the first Black Queen of Great Britain.
Queen Charlotte Day provides an opportunity for us to celebrate Black women throughout our community and throughout history who shape our world. It’s a chance to honor a once-forgotten aspect of our city’s rich history. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the “queen” in all of us.
Food, Music, Art, Poetry and Costumes. Put on YOUR Crown or decorate your natural crown and come and join the celebration!
Sponsors: Queen Charlotte Society, The BRIDGE and the University of Virginia FRALIN Museum of Art
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We the community members of Charlottesville come together this summer in a spirit of healing and unity for a variety of events that educate, inspire, and honor people in our community in order to move towards economic and racial justice.
Charlottesville City Council has designated the second weekend of August (and August 12 when it falls during the week) for the annual Unity Days. In this inaugural year, events will take place from May through August with each month having a specific theme:
May: Our community’s history of race relations
June: Breaking down institutions of oppression
July: Honoring community and neighborhood leaders making change
August: Four days of activities focusing on education, honor, inspirations, and solemn remembrance
These events will take place at venues throughout the community including Market Street Park, Court Square Park, the Downtown Mall and Fourth Street.
The city-sponsored, community-driven events focus on the theme of unity, and include musical performances, speakers, conversations, children’s activities, films, exhibits, festivals, faith-based gatherings, and more.
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Do you have a student who loves history? Is interested in learning more about local African American history and teaching others about it? Would be excited to be in front of a crowd?
Let them know about the Trailblazers program at the Jefferson School African American American Heritage Center! The JSAAHC seeks African American students 16 to 21 years old to train as community tour guides this summer from June 17 to August 9. Students will become knowledgeable about local and national African American history, art history, museum education, and public speaking techniques. Trailblazers will also lead activity sessions for participants (fourth through sixth graders) in a Charlottesville’s Parks and Recreation summer camp and complete a research project that will influence how two JSAAHC exhibits opening in September 2019 will be presented to the public.
This is a paid position and a great opportunity for motivated students to gain experience with public history institutions and research methods. Please direct any questions to education@jeffschoolheritagecenter.org or 434-260-8723.
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One Shared Story – Summer Intern Opportunity – Spatial Data and Digital Archives
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One Shared Story is a new non-profit organization working in the central Virginia area to reveal hidden histories. We are seeking part-time, temporary student workers to help us establish our technology systems. We are developing a digital archive using the Omeka S platform and are looking for someone who can help us configure sites for our cooperators and to develop guidance documents for users of the sites that will be uploading and tagging items. We also maintain an ArcGIS Online organizational site and are looking for help curating existing datasets, georeferencing historic maps, and assistance with implementation of a Hub site.
These internships are supported through Heal Charlottesville grant funds at a rate of $10 per hour. This work will be primarily independent and accomplished through remote access. Periodic meetings with the project director will be held in Charlottesville.
Interested students do not have to demonstrate experience specific to the tasks required but should be interested in digital archive and/or spatial data platforms and show proficiency in researching and applying technology to solve problems. This internship offers the potential to develop new skills while advancing the work of a local non-profit.
Interested parties should contact Robin.Patton@onesharedstory.org or call 540-894-1049.
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By Dana Goldstein | Original Publication: The New York Times | Published May 2019 | Photo by Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times
"The 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education approaches on May 17, but fights over school segregation, rather than decreasing, are becoming more common. Cities like New York and San Francisco are debating how to assign students to schools in ways that foster classroom diversity, and school secession movements — in which parents seek to form their own, majority-white districts — are accelerating.
A new report from U.C.L.A. and Penn State outlines the changes in school segregation since the landmark Supreme Court ruling named after Oliver Brown, a black father who sued to enroll his daughter, Linda, in an all-white elementary school blocks from their home in Topeka, Kan.
The court’s unanimous 1954 ruling declared separate educational facilities “inherently unequal.” But the case is one of several major civil rights rulings, alongside those on voting rights and housing discrimination, that have been substantially weakened by more recent decisions.
Today, the decreasing white share of the public school population across the country may lead some to believe that schools are becoming more integrated. But the reverse is true, according to the report. The percentage of intensely segregated schools, defined as those where less than 10 percent of the student body is white, tripled between 1988 and 2016, from 6 to 18 percent..."
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By: Bryan Mckenzie | Original Publication: The Daily Progress | Published May 2019
"The Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Board voted to continue notifying immigrations officials of release dates for jailed undocumented immigrants providing officials have filed immigrations detainer on the specific inmates.
The move, approved by a 7-to-4 vote, directs ACRJ officials to continue the jail’s current policy.
The vote upset several people in the audience, who hurled profane epithets and shouted at board members before leaving the meeting room, located inside the jail on Avon Street Extended. The audience members had shown up to support eliminating Immigrations and Customs Enforcement notifications..."
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Race and Place Charlottesville New Episodes
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Each weekday in February we are releasing a new episode of "Race and Place in Charlottesville," which follows UVA Professor Louis Nelson as he gives a tour of the history of race and racism in Charlottesville, starting with Jefferson's era on Grounds and leading toward the Downtown Mall, site of the August 11-12 rallies. The research-based tour is motivated by Jesus' command to love our neighbors.
Please feel free to share the tour with your community! You can use this link: https://www.studycenter.net/race-place-cville
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#RunTheseStreets 4 Miler
Saturday June 29th | 8:00 AM | Charlottesville
Come Join We Code, Too, and our community partners as we host our Inaugural #RunTheseStreets 4 Miler on Saturday June 29th at 8:00 AM in Charlottesville, VA!
The goal of the run is to encourage jogging, running, walking, and overall physical fitness within traditional African American communities and neighborhoods within the city. We are also looking to highlight the beauty of those same neighborhoods by running through the two traditional African American communities, the African American cemetery, four of the six public housing sites, several Black owned businesses, and beginning and ending the run at the first Black school in the city, the Jefferson School (Now known as the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center).
The run is open to all, and we hope to bring about awareness to these pillars in the community while also raising funds to continue to teach computer and digital skills to African American and LatinX youth at our summer academy, as well as Digital Skills to ex-offenders through our “Digital Skills” program at the Office of Aid and Restoration!
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TO SIGN UP FOR THE RACE, SPONSOR A PARTICIPATE, OR DONATE TO THE CAUSE — PLEASE CLICK HERE
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TO VOLUNTEER TO HELP OUT WITH THE RACE — PLEASE CLICK HERE
#RunTheseStreets
1st Harambee Family Events
January-December 2019 | Various Times | Various Locations
Charlottesville, VA - Harambee Family Events is a calendar that highlights African American Cultural Activities in Charlottesville and surrounding areas. The calendar, created and designed by author, award winner, Mr. Alex-Zan, presents 18 events from January 2019 - December 2019.
The Harambee (Swahili - All Pull Together) culture events objectives are to inspire and unify area citizens to communicate more effectively and create/maintain a positive environment for change and civility. The calendar also strives to strengthen family relations and culture awareness, particularly African Americans who have experienced a lack of inclusion in many area events.
The Harambee Family Event Calendar will be distributed throughout Central VA. - schools, churches, businesses, clubs/organizations and social media to name a few. The calendar sponsors are: (CAT) Charlottesville Area Transit, Wegmans, Blue Ridge Graphics and Carter Myers Automotive.
To view the calendar, visit: Alex-Zan.com
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UCARE is a coalition of community and university members, founded with the goal of understanding and addressing racial harms that may be seen in the community and at the university, in areas such as housing, employment, health, education, the justice system, and more. UCARE has connected community and university groups and individuals. We have prompted changes in how UVa understands and represents its history. We have called attention to and prompted action addressing racial disparities in student admissions and faculty recruitment as well as in conditions of workers, including support for a living wage. But we have much more to do; the quest for racial equity is a long ways from being over. We are grateful to Westminster Presbyterian Church for their financial support the last two years. And we are pleased that the W. W. Kellogg Foundation has offered us a grant for two years. Among other items, this will allow UCARE to convene Charlottesville Acts for Racial Equity (CARE). Stay tuned for ways you can be involved in 2018.
If you have community events of interest please email us at ucarestaff@gmail.com.
You will reach UCARE project manager Frank Dukes.
And, as always, if you have ideas for funding sources to support this work, please contact us at that same address.
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Submissions
Please submit information about someone or an organization that have positively impacted the community. Submit at UCAREStaff@Gmail.com.
Deadline: Every Thursday
Feedback
Please share your opinions about the new design of the newsletter to us at UCAREStaff@Gmail.com.
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