Lindsey Bestebreurtje is a Curatorial Assistant with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This interview is based on her new book, Built by the People Themselves: African American Community Development in Arlington, Virginia, from the Civil […]
Virginia
The Author’s Corner with Cara Rogers Stevens
Cara Rogers Stevens is Associate Professor of History at Ashland University. This interview is based on her new book, Thomas Jefferson and the Fight against Slavery (University Press of Kansas, 2024). JF: What led you to write Thomas Jefferson and the […]
The Author’s Corner with Marvin Chiles
Marvin Chiles is Assistant Professor of African American History at Old Dominion University. This interview is based on his new book, The Struggle for Change: Race and the Politics of Reconciliation in Modern Richmond (University of Virginia Press, 2023). JF: […]
Historian Jane Kamensky is the new president at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
Kamensky comes to Charlottesville from Harvard University’s history department. Here is the press release: CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the private nonprofit that owns and operates Monticello, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jane Kamensky, Ph.D., as […]
The Author’s Corner with Dennis Todd
Dennis Todd is Professor Emeritus of English at Georgetown University. This interview is based on his new book, Patriarchy in Peril: William Byrd II and Slavery in Early Virginia (University of Tennessee Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write […]
The Author’s Corner with Aniko Bodroghkozy
Aniko Bodroghkozy is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. This interview is based on her new book, Making #Charlottesville: Media from Civil Rights to Unite the Right (University of Virginia Press, 2023). JF: What led you to […]
The Author’s Corner with Travis McDonald
Travis McDonald is Director of Architectural Restoration at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest. This interview is based on his new book, Poplar Forest: Thomas Jefferson’s Villa Retreat (University of Virginia Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Poplar Forest? TM: […]
Historian Barbara Fields on the 1619 Project
Here is the Columbia University historian on how to think historically about 17th-century Virginia:
The Author’s Corner with Travis A. Rountree
Travis A. Rountree is Assistant Professor of English at Western Carolina University. This interview is based on his new book, Hillsville Remembered: Public Memory, Historical Silence, and Appalachia’s Most Notorious Shoot-Out (University Press of Kentucky, 2023). JF: What led you […]
Virginia will commemorate “Green Book” locations
The Negro Motorist Green Book (or simply Green Book) was an annual guidebook that included businesses–hotels, restaurants, etc.– friendly to African American travelers. Last month Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin signed into law a bill that designates surviving Green Book locations […]
University of Virginia changes its name!
Watch UVA go all in for April Fools Day (with an endorsement from historian Chris Gehrz): Thanks for stopping by. If you want to learn more about CURRENT, check out our home page and our About page. We are supported […]
The Author’s Corner with Alison Bell
Alison Bell is Professor of Anthropology at Washington and Lee University. This interview is based on her new book, The Vital Dead: Making Meaning, Identity, and Community through Cemeteries (University of Tennessee Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write The Vital Dead? […]
William & Mary’s monument to the enslaved
More and more colleges and universities are coming to grips with their connections to slavery. Here is historian Jody Lynn Allen at Perspectives on History: In the 1930s, William & Mary (W&M) constructed a four-foot brick wall around the oldest […]
“The moral arc of the universe not only bends toward justice, but takes an occasional twist toward irony as well”
The Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia will decide the fate of Richmond’s Robert E. Lee monument. Here is Michael Paul Williams at Richmond.com: The prophesy that John Mitchell Jr. issued about the Robert E. Lee monument continues […]
Glenn Youngkin’s Virginia history
Washington Post writer Dana Milbank got his hands on a 7th grade Virginia history textbook used in the commonwealth’s public schools from the 1950s through the 1970s. Here is a taste of his piece: Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin opened a tip line so […]
No Virginia, Frederick Douglass did not debate Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas debates
A delegate of the General Assembly of Virginia wants better citizenship education for the students of the Commonwealth. Earlier this week Wren Williams proposed a bill (House Bill 781) to amend the Code of Virginia to strengthen “student citizenship skills.” […]
Another time capsule is found in Richmond’s Robert E. Lee monument
They have been looking for this thing since September. Here is ABC News: After a time capsule found last week proved to be a letdown, another one has been found in the pedestal of a now-removed Robert E. Lee state […]
What will happen to the Robert E. Lee statue that once stood in Charlottesville, Virginia?
The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center will melt it down and turn it into a new piece of public art. Here is Eduardo Medina at The New York Times: The City Council of Charlottesville, Va., voted on Tuesday to […]
Kamala Harris featured in Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s “Souls to the Polls” initiative
Here is Yahoo News: Hundreds of churches across Virginia are set to air a political ad starring Vice President Kamala Harris — a move that has raised eyebrows regarding the legality of bringing political campaigns into houses of worship. Between […]
Where is the Robert E. Lee time capsule?
The 1887 time capsule was supposed to be buried under the recently removed Richmond, Virginia Lee monument. Here is Gregory Schneider at The Washington Post: Robert E. Lee lost his lofty perch — but he’s trying to hold on to […]