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Beloved Community Virtual Tour

The virtual tour is still under development.
​We are seeking additional funding to create videos highlighting eight more locations.
Please click here to financially support the creation of this tour.  

​Introducing our virtual tour!

​Tour Tutorial

​This video is a brief tutorial on how to navigate our virtual Charlottesville Racial History Tour.

​Court Square

​This video gives an overview of how Court Square came to be, and a brief examination of some of the ways our shared history has been remembered, ignored, or forgotten. Narrated by Sarah Kelley, DeTeasa Gathers, Jalane Schmidt, Diane Brown Townes, Valerie Washington, Lyall Harris, and Kathy Spaar.

​Slave Auction Block

This video, narrated by Sarah Kelley, gives an overview of the Slave Auction Block, the original site of where local slave owners, including Thomas Jefferson probably, would come to buy or sell slaves. Until recently there was a plaque on the sidewalk to mark it. ​

​​John Henry James

DeTeasa Gathers narrates the history of the lynching of John Henry James and the significance of this historical marker. John Henry James was accused of assaulting a white woman, and was lynched by a white mob in broad daylight. ​

​​"Johnny Reb" Statue

​Lyall Harris gives an overview of the history of the "Johnny Reb" statue as well as its removal on Sept. 12, 2020. ​In 1909, the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected the “Johnny Reb” statue in front of the Albemarle County District Court to honor the Confederate soldiers who fought during the Civil War.

​​Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Statue

Jalane Schmidt narrates the history of the public dedication of this statue in 1921, and how city government displaced McKee Row, a Black neighborhood, in order to install this statue in a whites-only park. ​

​Robert E. Lee Statue 

Jalane Schmidt gives an overview of the installation of the Robert E. Lee statue and its role in the Lost Cause narrative. Schmidt narrates how Charlottesville high school student Zyahna Bryant's call for the removal of Confederate statues led to the white supremacist rally on August 12, 2017, and the removal of the Lee (and other Confederate statues) in 2020. ​

​​UVA Rotunda

Lyall Harris briefly narrates the history of the University of Virginia and the Rotunda. The video also highlights the role enslaved laborers played in building the university, and how their contributions were recognized only recently. ​

​Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at UVA

​DeTeasa Gathers (who co-chairs the Descendants of Enslaved Communities at the University of Virginia) describes the features of The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. The memorial honors those enslaved African Americans who built and worked at the University of Virginia.
For more info, please visit our VIRTUAL TOUR page

Support Us!

Donate Online
​​Online donations are made through Virginia Organizing by clicking the button below.
​Please be sure to designate it for "Beloved Community Cville"
*Virginia Organizing is officially registered with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209.  
​You can write to this Department for all relevant financial statements and procedures regarding the solicitation of contributions.
Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
The Beloved Community Cville Tour is made possible in part by Virginia Humanities
​ and the Democracy Initiative’s Memory Project at the University of Virginia.
We partner with Light House Studio in creating videos for the tour sites.