July 6, 2023 Helice Jones and Alice Cannon will present the story of the Free Union Fire of 1896 One White man died in a fire  in Free Union on a cold January night in 1896 and four Black Men fell under suspicion for his death.  One was hanged, one sent to the penitentiary for 18 years, one sentenced to five years in prison and one testified to the untrue

June 1, 2023 The film explores the ten distinct yet overlapping African-American Communities in Fluvanna County, all of which are anchored by Baptist churches that were founded during America’s reconstruction period. As these sacred places provided refuge, they also became the gate keepers of African-American culture. The film also offers insight into the history of education in the region, shares stories and experiences of attendees of the schools, shows the

May 4, 2023 One Shared Story is a nonprofit educational organization founded in 2018 to preserve, protect and promote hidden history. In addition to making resources available to community partners by providing training and through hosted Omeka services, the organization uses the online mapping platform – ArcGIS. These shared best practices and technology resources allow our friends and neighbors to develop and control shared access to precious historic artifacts and

April 6, 2023 Jalane Schmidt and UVA Graduate Student Researchers This presentation investigates the significance of Charlottesville’s Court Square as an Antebellum site of enslavement. Led by Jalane Schmidt, Director of the University of Virginia’s Memory Project and a team of graduate student researchers, the project uncovers the critical role that the Albemarle County Court played as both an arbiter of enslavement and an instrument of dehuminization. By revealing the

March 2, 2023 A Way to Keep from Losing Our History Joanna Green, Archeologist – Cemetery Preservation for the Community Services Division of Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources will discuss the debut of the DHR online tool to record Virginia cemeteries and will give a presentation on Virginia Burial Law. Robin Patton and Gloria Gilmore will talk about the “cemetery days” that One Shared Story has organized working through African-

February 2, 2023 Scot French, a longtime member of the UVA-Charlottesville research community, will discuss his collaboration with Lenora McQueen on their Morven Summer Institute class, ARH 4500/AAS 4559 Morven’s Enslaved and Descendant Communities. The place-based course, to be offered again this summer, includes guided student research, field trips, and collaboration on a final digital project. French is a digital public historian specializing in the study of cultural landscapes associated

January 5, 2023 For our first meeting of 2023, we will hear from three of our members:  Erik Irtenkauf about the updated CVHR website, Jane Smith about her Daily Progress article and obituary website, Edwina St. Rose about the Daughters of Zion website.

December 1, 2022 – IN PERSON @ the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center Worthy Martin will discuss IATH and its collaborations in local history. The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) was founded in 1992 with the primary mission of transforming faculty scholarship through collaborations to make effective use of computationally mediated methods. Most often, this mission is accomplished through the IATH Fellows Program in which faculty

November 3, 2022 Lucille Stout Smith will give an Overview and Pictorial History of the Covesville Historic District The Covesville Historic District is a village that developed in response to a religious settlement, transportation routes, and a successful apple-growing climate. It became a village in 1828 and was initially settled in the 1740’s by Scotch-Irish and German immigrants from the Shenandoah Valley. In 2005, the community was listed on the

October 6, 2022 Our October topic was rescheduled to December. Instead a group discussion was held where members shared updates on their various research projects. Worthy Martin will discuss IATH and its collaborations in local history. The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) was founded in 1992 with the primary mission of transforming faculty scholarship through collaborations to make effective use of computationally mediated methods. Most often, this