Fifty years after the Student-led Sit-Ins: Where are we now?

Virginia Union University students wait to be served at the Woolworth's department
store lunch counter in downtown Richmond, February 20, 1960.
This image is Courtesy of the Valentine Richmond History Center.

VCU Libraries Black History Month Lecture

Fifty years after the Student-led Sit-Ins: Where are we now?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
7:30 p.m.W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts
922 Park Avenue
Richmond, VA

In February 1960, African American students and others began to participate in sit-in demonstrations at lunch counters throughout the South. These protests against segregation in public facilities received national attention and precipitated the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which extended voting rights, outlawed racial segregation in schools, the workplace, and in public facilities. Join us for a panel discussion exploring the legacy of those protests including the state of Black America and race relations 50 years after the student-led sit-ins.

Panelists:

Jenny Jones, PhD., Associate Professor of Social Work, VCU
Napoleon Peoples, PhD, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, VCU
Jill Rowe, PhD., Assistant Professor, African American Studies, VCU
Shawn O. Utsey, PhD., Associate Professor of Psychology and Chair of African American Studies, VCU

Moderated by Njeri Jackson, PhD., Associate Professor of Political Science and Special Assistant for Diversity in the Office of the Provost, VCU

Free and open to the public. Parking is available for a fee in the West Main Street and West Cary Street parking decks.

If special accommodations are needed, please call (804) 827-1165 or (804) 827-1163 prior to February 5, 2010.

http://www.library.vcu.edu/bhm/events.html

Renaissance Richmond: Finding Architectural History and Following Historic Preservation in Richmond, Virginia

Visit the site above to watch a short film on
the history of the 800 block of Cathedral Place by Jessica Bankston.

Jessica Bankston's blog, "Uncovering 811-819 S. Cathedral Place, Richmond, VA: Chronicling discoveries on the historic row across from Cathedral of the Sacred Heart," is now "Renaissance Richmond: Finding Architectural History and Following Historic Preservation in Richmond, Virginia" - Jessica writes that since she has completed research on that topic, "...I anticipate future coursework in this field, and additional research topics as well. I am broadening this blog to embrace this future research as well as my general appreciation for and interest in the architectural fabric that makes our city so rich and beautiful."

Visit the site Here.

- Ray.

Three new books uncover Richmond’s architectural past.

Fresh History

Three new books uncover Richmond’s architectural past. by Edwin Slipek Jr.

[Today's issue of Style Weekly has an article about three new books on Richmond history in its Arts and Culture section by Edwin Slipek, Jr. Here's the introduction]:

Three new soft covers that share the common thread of Richmond architectural history are available at local booksellers. The authors’ respective approaches to history are comparable to phases of matter in chemistry: solid, liquid and gas.

One author, T. Tyler Potterfield, in “Nonesuch Place: A History of the Richmond Landscape,” uses solid evidence — literally the actual landscape of the capital city — in his examination of Richmond’s physical development. With the configuration of the natural topography as his point of departure, he describes how various hills and valleys became streets, parks and cemeteries.

In their colorful book, “Greetings from Richmond,” Ray Bonis and Tom H. Ray use something much more fluid — 250 postcard scenes of Richmond and its environs — to create an often-changing snapshot from 1888 to the 1950s of many of Richmond’s best-known landmarks.

Finally, in “Memory Lane: Richmond, Va., Vol. 3,” author R. David Ross uses something altogether invisible (but equally potent a force in the telling of history) — his memory — as the basis for his slim volume. Although dozens of architectural history books have been published in recent years examining Richmond’s physical past, each of these works seems fresh.

Read the entire article at
Style Weekly Magazine.

Bruce Springsteen and friends, VCU Franklin St. Gym, Richmond - Feb. 14, 1973.

[Click for larger view]

Here's an image of Bruce Springsteen and members of the E. Street Band at a sound check at the VCU Franklin St. Gym, February 14, 1973. Springsteen and his band opened for for Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks.

By the time Springsteen and the E Street Band played this 1973 show, the New Jersey rocker had played nearly 30 shows in Richmond with at least four of them at VCU.

From left to right are Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici on keyboards, Springsteen, Vini Lopez on drums, and Garry Tallent. Image was taken by Jeff Crossan, a student then at U of R. For more information about that particular show at VCU, visit BruceBase HERE.

- Ray B.

Happy New Year from Thalhimer Brothers, 1888.

(From the Jan. 5, 1888 issue of the Richmond Dispatch
Visit the Chronicling America site and search Richmond
newspapers for the city's history in print.)