Thursday, May 2, at 4 o’clock IN PERSON at Jefferson School African American Heritage Center Using GIS maps, both old and new, Dede will illustrate the historical significance of rural Black churches and cemeteries in Albemarle County; sites that represent the resilience and endurance of African American communities through periods of emancipation, segregation, and civil rights struggles. She aims to underscore the significance of preserving rural Black churches and their

Thursday, April 4 , at 4 o’clock IN PERSON at Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Andi will discuss her research – and that done by the esteemed Brian Sheffey – and present not only the predominant family names with ties to Birdwood and the Garth family but also include information about the plans for the property as well as for how descendants of the enslaved community will be engaged

March 7, 2024 On Zoom: While the field office records of the Freedmen’s Bureau are the most commonly reviewed and include registers of freedmen, labor contracts, and correspondence, the records of the Assistant Commissioners are less frequently examined yet are equally rich in historical detail. This presentation will highlight the “Assistant Commissioners ” who were responsible for the administration of Bureau activities in each state, and their records contain a

February 1, 2024 Students working on the Memory Project will present their findings about James Fife’s Oak Lawn on February 1 at 4:00 on zoom for CVHR. For over a century, the stories of the enslaved people who lived and labored on the Fife estate, Oak Lawn, have been obscured, despite the fact that they constitute the majority of people to ever reside on the plantation. The purpose of our

January 4, 2024 Virtual – Sam Towler will discuss researching local records that are held locally. Jon Zug, Clerk of the Albemarle Court, will explain the archiving project the County is working on and how this will affect researching the records currently held at the courthouse. Jean Cooper will talk about the Census records and how to get the most out of researching them.

December 7, 2023 In December, we will gather to share what we have been working on in an informal exchange and to enjoy tasty treats.

November 2, 2023 Many of the people enslaved by John Hartwell Cocke of Bremo between1803 and 1865 could read and write. Separated from their families and community by forced migrations, they wrote letters back to Bremo. This exhibit features those letters, alongside artifacts connected to their lives. The exhibit is the result of collaboration between descendants of the men, women, and children enslaved at Bremo, a descendant of John Hartwell

October 5, 2023 LaToya Gray-Sparks is the new Community Outreach Coordinator at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR). During this presentation, LaToya will highlight her work on documenting and mapping landscapes of erasure and how this influences her work at DHR. She will also address the challenges and opportunities for community engagement in historic preservation.

September 7, 2023 Ed Brooks will speak to the truth of the Esmont community existing today as the name of a former plantation that merged into a very prosperous segregated community that boomed from its unique natural resources and equally faded as those resources diminished. Simultaneously, it’s nearby African-American neighbors was becoming noted as one of the more progressive communities in all of Albemarle County. What has that culminated into

There is no meeting August 2023.