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Aaron Eichorst shares his experiences growing up as a Mennonite and his complicated relationship with the Mennonite Church after coming out. He discusses the gay community in Charlottesville and several gay bars that are now closed, including the Silver Fox, Club 216, and Escafe. Aaron also describes his experiences as an art teacher and deciding when and how to be out with his coworkers and students.
Alan Cohn and Joe Montoya are a gay couple - one of the first to be legally married in Charlottesville in 2014. They discuss how they met and how they each grew into their identities. They moved to Charlottesville in 1991 for professional opportunities, and they describe their experiences with the Charlottesville queer community. They discuss the process of having a child via surrogate and the legal complications around custody, including the decision to get married as soon as it became legal.
Catherine Gillespie and Andre Hakes are a married lesbian couple who live in Charlottesville. In their interview, they discuss the process of adopting their child and their protracted fight for custody in the legal system. They were the first couple to get married in Charlottesville when it became legal in 2014, and their marriage followed years of activism around marriage that they describe. They also share their experiences of queer community in Charlottesville and discuss gender presentation and transgender issues today.
Charlene Green is a Black lesbian who came to Charlottesville in the late 1980s to attend the University of Virginia for graduate school. In her interview, she discusses her experiences coming out, especially as a Black woman at a women's college, and her experiences with the Black gay community in Charlottesville. Charlene has held a number of jobs in the Charlottesville area, including with Albemarle County Public Schools and the City of Charlottesville's Human Rights Commission, and she discusses her time in those roles.
Charley Burton is a Black trans man from North Garden, VA, just outside of Charlottesville. He tells his story of growing up in a rural Black community, then struggling with his gender and sexuality and recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Charley transitioned as an older person, and he discusses his transition process and his work creating community for other Black trans people in the Charlottesville area. He speaks about the murder of Sage Smith, a young Black trans woman in Charlottesville, and about becoming a Black man, especially after the Unite the Right rally of August 2017.
Claire Kaplan is a lesbian who worked in the Maxine Platzer Lynn's Women's Center at the University of Virginia for a long time. In this interview, she discusses her work at UVA, including her role in founding UVA Pride (the first group for LGBTQ+ employees at UVA). She also shares her story of coming out and her activism in Los Angeles before coming to Virginia. Additionally, she discusses her Jewish identity and her memories of the Unite the Right rally in August 2017. She describes the process of adopting her daughter with her wife and her experiences with the Charlottesville and UVA queer communities more broadly.
Oral interview of Michael Graetz, class of 1969, alum and former professor at UVA Law. Graetz discusses his time as a student and professor at the Law School.
It's Love Data Week! At UVA Library’s Research Data Services we help researchers understand how to keep their data organized and well-managed. For Love Data Week 2025, we talked to Kristen Schwendinger, Director of Research Integrity and Ethics at UVA’s Office of the Vice President for Research, to help us understand the intersection of data management and research integrity.
In this podcast, she provides research ethics advice that benefits all data stakeholders. There is a related blog post at UVA Library that includes links and associated resources.
This video shows an animated flythrough of the gardens and garden house at the Anne Spencer House, Lynchburg, Va.; 3D pointcloud data was collected with FARO Focus 3D laser scanners; data processed with FARO Scene v.2023.0.1; animation produced with Autodesk ReCap v.2024;
will rourk, wmr5a@virginia.edu, ORCID : 0000-0001-8622-5080
Summary:
Flythrough animation of 3D data collected on site at the Cabell Log House located in the Gospel Hill historic district of Staunton, Va, on 2024-03-21; in collaboration with the Historic Staunton Foundation (https://www.historicstaunton.org/) who own and manage this site; data collected with FARO Focus 3D lasers scanners, models X130, S70, S150; data processed with FARO Scene v. 2023.0.1;
Oral history interview with Robert “Bob” (Elmo) Schwartz, class of 1980, in-person, on June 21, 2024. Schwartz discussed his experiences as an openly gay student at UVA Law prior to the founding of Lambda Law Alliance; his work as treasurer of the undergraduate school’s Gay Student Union; and his memories playing for the North Grounds Softball League.
Flythrough animation of 3D dataset collected at the Old Stone Jail, Palmyra, Virginia during the Spring 2023 semester for ARH5600; data was collected by students of ARH5600 on 2023-02-08 (exterior), 2023-0210 (interior), and 2023-04-28 (attic); data was collected using FARO Focus 3D lasers scanners; data processed with FARO Scene v. 2023 and animation produced with Autodesk ReCap v. 2023;
Oral history interview with UVA Law Professor A. E. Dick Howard, class of 1961, the longest serving professor at the University of Virginia at his retirement in 2024. Howard discusses his time as a student at the Law School and his experiences teaching law over his sixty-year career.
Flythrough animation of 3D data collected at the Birdwood Mansion, east of Charlottesville; the data was collected with FARO Focus X130 3D lasers scanners; data was processed with FARO Scene v.2023.0.1 and edited with Autodesk ReCap 2024; the animation shows features uncovered in the basement during the renovation of the building including:
- a brick entry platform, original to the early 19th c. phase of Birdwood
- a masonry feature found in the late 19th c. coal room addition
- examples of hand riven lathe in the hallway of the original early 18th c. portion of the house
Animated flythrough of the 3D data collected at the Woolen Mills Chapel site in Charlottesville, Va, on 2024-03-22; data collected with FARO Focus 3D X130 and S70 laser scanners; data processed with FARO Scene v. 20223.0.1; data edited and optimized for animation output with Autodesk ReCap v.2024;
Oral history interview with Cordel Faulk, class of 2001, via Zoom, on March 13, 2024. Faulk discussed his education, his time at UVA as a law student, and his activities to recruit more LGBT+ students to UVA Law while working in admissions.
Oral history interview with Kenneth Williams, class of 1986, via Zoom, on March 11, 2024. Williams discussed his time as a member and president of UVA Law’s Gay and Lesbian Law Students Association, which later became UVA Law’s chapter of Lambda Law Alliance. He detailed events and activities during his tenure, including a successful campaign for the Law School to have an official sexual orientation nondiscrimination policy.
Oral history interview with Hillary Taylor, class of 2016, via Zoom, on March 7, 2024. Taylor discussed her time as a member and president of UVA Law’s chapter of Lambda Law Alliance, highlighting the group’s activities and events.
This is a flythrough animation of the 3D data from laser scanner data collection at The Mews, Pavilion III, Academical Village, University of Virginia. Data was collected at different periods from 2016, 2023 and 2024. Data was collected with FARO Focus 3D laser scanners and processed with FARO Scene v.2023. Data was imported into Autodesk ReCap for editing and optimization and for the purpose of creating this animation video.
Oral history interview with Chloe Fife, class of 2022, via Zoom, on March 4, 2024. Fife discussed her time as a member and president of UVA Law’s chapter of Lambda Law Alliance, highlighting the group’s events and activities, including a successful campaign for the installation of gender-neutral restrooms in the Law School.
Oral history interview with Michael Allen, class of 1985, via Zoom, on February 29, 2024. Allen discussed the formation and early activities of UVA Law’s Gay and Lesbian Law Students Association, which later became UVA Law’s chapter of Lambda Law Alliance.
Oral interview of Catharina Min, class of 1990, co-founder of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA), who discusses her time at UVA Law and the founding of APALSA.
Will Rourk, Megan Page, Charity Revutin, Amelia Hughes, Adriana Giorgis
Summary:
This is a flythrough animation of the 3D data captured at the Villa Almerico Capra Valmaran, aka Villa la Rotonda, in March 2019. Data was captured by University of Virginia Architectural History students under the direction of Andy Johnston and Will Rourk in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities at the University of Virginia and the de Valmarana family. The animation was created in Autodesk ReCap v.2023 by Will Rourk.
This is a video of aerial footage of the Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, aka Villa la Rotonda, Vicenza, Italy. This video was created by Shayne Brandon, Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities, University of Virginia Library. It was produced from aerial footage captured by a DJI Inspire 1 quadcopter with X1 HD camera. The footage was captured during field work by UVA Architectural History students performed in March 2019 under direction of Andrew Johnston, Worthy Martin and Will Rourk for their 3 Cavaliers granted project to 3D scan the Villa la Rotonda in Vicenza, Italy.
Diane Davis-Wagner was born Diane Davis in 1947 and grew up in Mount Herman, a Black working class neighborhood in central Portsmouth, Virginia. In this September 2023 interview, she discusses the psychological impacts of being barred from the all-white swimming pool and golf course as a child. She also discusses the experience of living near what she and her friends referred to as “the Holy Bridge,” the demarcation between the white neighborhood of Churchland and Mount Herman. As a young person, Davis-Wagner participated in civil rights activism with her mother, Helen Davis, supporting lunch counter sit-ins in Portsmouth. She witnessed Dr. Martin Luther King speak in Suffolk, Virginia. She attended I.C. Norcom High School, Virginia Union University, and Norfolk State, where she was one of the first graduates of the PhD program in social work. Later, Davis-Wagner became the second female president of the Central Civic Forum, which worked to elect Black local politicians and led the desegregation movement of the Bide-A-Wee golf course in 1987. She reflects on how her granddaughter enjoys the golf course today as an avid golfer. The interview includes Davis-Wagner’s observations on segregation’s continued legacy throughout the city and the uneven tax burdens levied on the city of Portsmouth today. Davis-Wagner also discusses how Norfolk State University has changed, and the impacts of the 2020 pandemic on her students.
Vernon Crump was born in 1929 in Portsmouth, Virginia, and has been a leader in civil rights work in the city since he was 25 years old. Crump’s roots in the area extend for generations. Crump’s great-grandfather, George Crump, was one of the founding members of the Zion Baptist Church, created by Black residents in 1865 just after the Civil War. In this oral history interview, Crump reflects on the city as it was transformed by WWII, recalling his mother’s experience serving white WWII sailors breakfast at the Portsmouth Shipyard, and his own memory delivering news about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As a young child, Crump worked as a shoe shiner in a white barber shop. Crump reflects on his time playing football and going to school dances in segregated schools in the 1940s and 50s, and his long and successful battles fighting workplace discrimination throughout his career with the Department of Disposal. In the 1950s and 60s, Crump led major voter registration campaigns with the Civic League in Portsmouth, which registered Black voters and later helped to elect the first Black man and woman to the City Council, the first Black judge, and the first Black Clerk of Court in Portsmouth. This interview, conducted with Crump’s son, Vernon Crump III also present, also includes Crump’s reflections on police violence and rising sea levels in the city of Portsmouth.
Helen Davis was born in Pennsylvania in 1927 and grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia. Her mother worked as a teacher and her father worked in coal mines in Pennsylvania and then later as a rigger at the Portsmouth Shipyard. In this September 2023 interview, Davis speaks about her experiences attending the all-Black Brighton School and living in a segregated city between the 1940 - 1960s. The interview touches on racial discrimination within the housing system, including her husband’s experiences being denied a home loan while he was serving in the Navy and working for the shipyard. Throughout her life, Davis worked as an advocate of racial justice issues, serving as a secretary for a Black civic league, leading voter registration campaigns and demonstrations, and supporting young activists’ work integrating the Portsmouth lunch counters and high schools. The interview also contains descriptions of the presence of the KKK in Chesapeake, Virginia, her memories of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, and her work on the school board in Portsmouth.
Keela Boose is an English Professor at Norfolk State University and a self-described “child of historically Black colleges and universities.” Born in Monroe, Louisiana, in 1958, Booses’s parents taught Education and Psychology at Grambling State University, Alabama State College, and later, Norfolk State. In this 2023 interview, Boose discusses the mentors who inspired her love of reading. She recalls the social and political contexts of Civil Rights-era Montgomery, Alabama, and her memories growing up in what was then a racially-mixed neighborhood of Campostella Heights in the Southside of Norfolk. Boose pursued college and graduate work at Alcorn State University in Mississippi and at Northern Illinois University. The interview was conducted in her home along the Elizabeth River, which her parents bought in 1966 and she later inherited. In the interview, she describes how sea level rise and the practices of developers buying rights to the water has impacted the shoreline of her neighborhood.
Randall Griffin was born and raised in 1967 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and spent time as a young child in Lanett, Alabama, where his mother’s family worked as sharecroppers. Griffin discusses his Cherokee roots in Standing Rock, Alabama, and his early memories of growing up in public housing in Tennessee. His father was a musician in Tennessee with a band called the Fabulous Battalions. Griffin joined the Navy and was stationed in Norfolk in 1986. Following his time in service, Griffin worked as a manager at a Fertilizer plant in Chesapeake when he lost his left hand in a workplace accident, which disabled him permanently. He later went on to work for the Parks and Recreation Departments in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth. In this oral history interview, Griffin discusses his experience often being the first Black person in these departments and his experience with workplace discrimination. He discusses the importance of rec centers in young people’s lives. This interview was conducted in the Cavalier Manor Recreation Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, where Griffin serves as the Recreation Program Specialist.
Lawrence Turner was born and raised in the southeast community of Newport News. In this interview, Turner describes how his life has been shaped by mentorship he has received within his community, and also the impact environmental racism in Newport News has had on his life. Turner recalls that for at least once a year between 2002 and 2018, sea level rising would impact residents' daily lives, including water lines coming up the third stair of his home during high tides when he lived in the Salters Creek area of Newport News. Turner’s interview contains descriptions of his mentors, teachers, and athletic coaches throughout his secondary education and college experience. Turner graduated from the Call Me MISTER (Men Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) program at Longwood University, in Farmville, Virginia. His work as a high school counselor at schools in Newport News and Mansassas empowered students both in athletics and in post-high school work and education. Within his numerous community advocacy roles, Turner has helped develop a Toxic Tour, highlighting sites in the southeast community of Newport News contributing to air pollution. This oral history also includes Turner’s reflections on Newport News interstate traffic, gun violence, and how it impacted his family and mental health.
Carl Poole was born in Germany in 1975 where his mother was stationed with the U.S. Army, and spent most of his childhood in Virginia before returning again as an adult. Poole’s great-aunt, aunt, and cousins grew up in Lambert’s Point in Norfolk, and he recalls seeing coal dust on the exterior of their houses as a child. Poole began working for the New Virginia Majority in 2022 on environmental justice advocacy.
Track 1: In this June 2023 testimony, Poole reflects on his year working at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, 15 yards away from the Norfolk Southern Coal Yard in Lambert’s Point, and the impact the dust had on him on a daily basis. This testimony includes descriptions of his cousins’ experiences with bronchitis. He also mentions how residents of Lambert’s Point were displaced through eminent domain when the city of Norfolk built a water reservoir, and how the community has been neglected in city services, including street cleaning. Poole describes gentrification caused by Old Dominion University, and reflects upon how residents in the area have not felt heard on issues of environmental hazards or housing justice.
Track 2: This oral history traces Poole’s family history, including his grandmother’s experience raising seven children in Norfolk’s public housing, many of whom went on to attend college and start businesses in the area. Poole discusses the white-led campaigns resisting integration in Norfolk public schools in the 1950s and 60s, as well as the impact busing had on the Black community. Poole reflects on his middle school years in a majority-white community in Indiana, and his experience returning to Hampton Roads to join the Army in 1994. The interview includes discussions of the Obama presidency, the Trump election, his organizing work in 2020, and his goals for Black civic involvement in Norfolk.
Lathaniel Kirts was born in 1988 and grew up in the Norview community of Norfolk, Virginia. In this oral history interview, he describes his experiences as an honor roll student in Norfolk public schools while he and his family were navigating homelessness. Kirts was granted a scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he studied political science and worked in public service. While serving as a Deputy Clerk in courtrooms in Richmond and in Norfolk, he witnessed the school-to-prison pipeline. This interview includes Kirts’s reflections on his work for Communities and Schools, an organization dedicated to providing social services and mentorship for students in K-12 settings, around housing and food insecurity, and his decision to attend seminary school at Virginia Union, where he graduated in 2015. Kirts is an active community advocate for protecting residents living next to CSX rail yards against coal dust pollution. He served as the Repair Lab Practitioner-in-Residence (2023-2024). This oral history was conducted at Pay First Church, the church that Kirts and his wife lead in Newport News.
Balogun, Arafat Yinka, Cantarella, Claudia, Cole, Montina, Fort, Ann, Lewis Lee, Tonya, Lewis, Shireen, Cleary Lofton, Deborah, Preston, Tracy
Summary:
Oral history interview with Virginia Law Women members and leadership from 1986 to 1992, including Arafat Yinka Balogun ’89, Claudia Cantarella ’91, Montina Cole ’91, Ann Fort ’91, Tonya Lewis Lee ’91, Shireen Lewis ’89, Deborah Cleary Lofton ’92, and Tracy Preston ’91. The group discusses student activism, the curriculum, and building community at the Law School.
Monét Johnson is a Norfolk resident and advocate working with New Virginia Majority, a nonprofit focused on economic and racial justice. She works as the Lead Organizer for Housing and Environment. Johnson was born in 1996 in Brockton, Massachusetts, and spent her summers as a child in Virginia before moving to Norfolk.
Track 1: In this oral history, Johnson discusses her experience growing up in a majority-Cape Verdean community in Massachusetts, her memories visiting her family in Virginia, and her organizing work during her college years at Framingham State University. Johnson describes her work at New Virginia Majority starting in 2020 fighting housing discrimination and combating environmental injustices, including rising sea levels and coal dust pollution in Norfolk.
Track 2: Johnson discusses the legal battle with the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority in 2021, where she was a plaintiff on behalf of residents of St Paul’s public housing. In 2020, New Virginia Majority sued the city for housing discrimination violating the federal Fair Housing Act on behalf of Black residents. The lawsuit alleged that the NRHA perpetuated systemic racism and segregation through redevelopment of St Paul’s and the resulting displacement of hundreds of Black residents. Johnson’s party, made up of the New Virginia Majority and several other civil right organizations, won the lawsuit on behalf of tenants. The interview also discusses Johnson’s experiences advocating with public housing residents for better flooding and facility management and safer accommodations for children and elders. Kim Sudderth is also present in this interview.
Billy Mercury, Lathaniel Kirts and Malcolm Jones grew up in the Park Place neighborhood of Norfolk in the 1990s, a historically Black neighborhood. The three reflect on their experiences growing up, changes in the neighborhood due to gentrification, as well as Kirts and Jones’s time working in the Department of Corrections.
Yugonda Sample-Jones is a resident and activist in Southeast Newport News.
Track 1: In this conversation, Sample-Jones describes her experience advocating for residents during the design process for the Choice Neighborhood Initiative, a federally-funded program aimed at supporting neighborhoods with HUD-assisted housing. Lifelong residents Millie Taylor and her cousin Raymond Wazeerud-Din join the conversation from Taylor’s porch on 20th Street in Newport News, discussing their decades of living in the area and environmental concerns through the generations.
This conversation with Sample-Jones takes place outdoors and on the site of the Choice Neighborhood Initiative, near the East End neighborhood of Newport News.
Track 2: This conversation takes place at the coal terminal in Newport News. Sample-Jones drives around with interviewer Adrian Wood and discusses the impact of the coal terminal on residents of Southeast Newport News.
Donquitta Clements is a resident and advocate in Southeast Newport News, where she was raised. In this interview, she discusses the impact of coal dust and other environmental pollutants on her family’s health. She also reflects on changes to the neighborhood through the Choice Neighborhood Initiative, a federally funded program through the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Ray Smith was born in Douglas Park, Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1954. His father worked in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and when the city of Portsmouth built the interstate in Douglas Park, his family and other residents were forced to relocate to the Mount Hermon neighborhood. When the city of Portsmouth announced the closure of I.C. Norcom, a historically Black high school in 1972, Smith and others organized a walkout in protest. I.C. Norcom was saved and eventually rebuilt in 1999, when Smith served on the school board. Smith became involved in city politics working for governor and presidential campaigns and served as the President of the Civic League, a community organization dedicated to improving conditions for the Portsmouth community of Cavalier Manor, of which he was a resident for 45 years. In this interview, Smith discusses the ways that recent tolls in Portsmouth have impacted Portsmouth residents and how the city dealt with Hurricane Isabel.
Ann Creasy lived in the Lambert’s Point/Park Place area while a student at Old Dominion University from 2011 to 2015. She describes sweeping her front porch to remove coal dust and prevent tracking it into her home. In this testimony, Creasy, who works for the Sierra Club on local environmental justice issues, also discusses spending time at the Whitehurst Beach near the coal piers as a student and seeing coal on the park benches and in the sand.
Javon Bennett was born in 1990 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and lives in Hampton, Virginia. Beginning in 2020, he started working as an organizer for New Virginia Majority on food insecurity, environmental racism, and housing discrimination issues. His work allows him to observe how the coal piers in Norfolk and Newport News impact the daily lives of residents.
Track 1: In this June 2023 testimony to the EPA, Bennett discusses how coal dust settles on windows, children’s clothing, garden beds, and cars in Lambert’s Point and the East End of Newport News. He discusses his own experience struggling to breathe during a hot summer day canvassing in Lambert’s Point, as well as the long term health impacts, including chronic asthma and bronchitis, and financial expenses that burden those he has met through his environmental justice work. He urges the EPA to visit these communities to witness these hazards first-hand.
Track 2: In this oral history, Bennett reflects on his experience growing up in the 1990s in Philadelphia and how his experience navigating trash pollution and discrimination within his classroom led him to his organizing work today. After moving to Newport News when his mother started a job at the shipyard, Bennett worked on environmental justice issues and for mutual aid organizations with Tidewater Tenants Rights. This interview includes his reflections on urban violence, houselessness, food insecurity, and the persistent costs of coal dust for residents living near coal piers in the Hampton Roads region.
Wayne Jones worked in the Norfolk area for over 46 years, including as a Lambert’s Point shipyard worker and as a civil servant worker with the Naval Base. In this July 2023 testimony directed to the EPA, Mr. Jones discusses the presence of coal dust from Norfolk Southern trains and how the dust impacts the groundwater, soil, air and as a result, the people in Lambert’s Point and the greater Norfolk Area. He urges the EPA to listen to community members and hold Norfolk Southern accountable.
This video contains the 2023 Spring semester final presentation for ARH5600/5612 3D Cultural Heritage Informatics, a class taught by Will Rourk as a collaboration between the UVA Library and the Historic Preservation Program in Architectural History. The class is sponsored by Andy Johnston, director of the ARH Historic Preservation Program. Students featured in this video include ARH5600 students Ari Calos, Austin Riggins, Boyang Li, Thomas Wyatt, Yara Mortada and Yizhuo Chen and ARH5612 advanced students Kelly O'Meara and MaryCate Azelborn. Featured team projects include the Long Meadow Farm Barn, Upper Bremo Barn and the Palmyra Old Stone Jail. Student final projects can be accessed from https://wordpress.its.virginia.edu/Cultural_Heritage_Data/arh-5600-5612-spring-2023/.
This is an animation from the 3D data collected by University of Virginia ARH5600 during Fall semester 2023; data was collected using FARO Focus 3D laser scanners, processed with FARO Scene v. 2022 and edited and optimized with Autodesk ReCap v. 2023; the animation shows sections through the barn at River View Farm, Ivy Creek Natural Area, Charlottesville, Va;
This is an animation from the 3D data collected by University of Virginia ARH5600 during Fall semester 2023; data was collected using FARO Focus 3D laser scanners, processed with FARO Scene v. 2022 and edited and optimized with Autodesk ReCap v. 2023; the animation is a flythrough of the Carr-Greer farmhouse at River View Farm, Ivy Creek Natural Area, Charlottesville, Va;
Animation of the barn at River View Farm, Ivy Creek Natural Area, Charlottesville, VA; data collected with FARO Focus 3D laser scanners by students of ARH5600:3D Cultural Heritage Informatics during the Fall semester of 2022; Data was processed with FARO Scene v.2022; Animation was rendered with Autodesk ReCap v.2023;
This is a rendered flythrough animation of the 3D data collected and processed for the former Midloch Plantation enslaved dwelling. Produced from 3d data collected with FARO Focus 3D laser scanners on 2023-03-28 and rendered using Autodesk ReCap Pro v. 2023.
As part of the annual Southeast Regional Seminar in African Studies (SERSAS) at the University of Virginia, Librarian for African American & African Studies Katrina Spencer gathered three panelists who represent diverse stakeholding positions in the publication of African writers, particularly within “Western” markets. While Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart has received countless, deserved accolades and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s profile continues to rise, what other names should we know and what trends should we be looking out for in terms of African writing? Nigerian writer Kenechi Uzor has established Iskanchi Press & Magazine to recruit quality works from African creators. Nigerian author Ukamaka Olisakwe’s success has led her to become a screenwriter. And Northwestern University’s Herskovits Library worker Gene Kanneberg, Jr. is keeping his finger on the pulse of pop culture with his writing, “Wakanda as the Window to the Study of Africa,” in the collection Integrating Pop Culture into the Academic Library (Melissa Edmiston Johnson, editor). Each of these players is creating a pathway for the representation of Africa and Africans, and together the four discuss the points at which their missions converge and diverge. The recorded session is sourced from the original virtual Zoom meeting.
The panelists made reference to a variety of opportunities, publishers, and publications in this recording. Below we provide a list of references for viewers’ convenience:
Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies Research Grant (https://www.library.northwestern.edu/libraries-collections/herskovits-library/herskovits-travel-grant.html)
Iskanchi Press & Magazine (https://www.iskanchi.com/)
Isele Magazine (https://iselemagazine.com/)
Olongo Africa (https://olongoafrica.com/)
The Enkare Review
Pidgin English
The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe
In Such Tremendous Heat by Kehinde Fadipe
An African Abroad by Olabisi Ajala
After God is Dibia by John Anenechukwu Umeh
Nsibidi (a writing system)
africanpoetics.unl.edu
Nnadozie Onyekuru
Ajami manuscripts
Chris Abani
Bakassi Boys
“Nigerian police detain goat over armed robbery” (https://www.reuters.com/article/oukoe-uk-nigeria-robbery-goat/nigerian-police-detain-goat-over-armed-robbery-idUKTRE50M4BM20090123)
This video is from the final presentation of ARH5600 : 3D Cultural Heritage Informatics, Fall 2022. Students featured in this video include Junyi Wu, Yunong Li, Kelly O'Meara, Dustin Thomas and Elena Wrobel. Their final projects can be accessed at https://wordpress.its.virginia.edu/Cultural_Heritage_Data/arh5600-fall-2022.
These are two recordings from 2022-09-07 made at the Bremo Enslaved Cemetery, Upper Bremo Farm, Fluvanna County, Virginia. The video includes two letters, one from Liberia to the former Bremo plantation written by Peyton Skipwith (1834) and the other coming from Lower Bremo former plantation to Liberia by Jack Creasy (1840). Both men were enslaved at the former Bremo plantations in the early 19th century. The Creasy letter is read by Horace Scruggs of the Fluvanna Historical Society and descendant of the Bremo enslaved. The Skipwith letter is read by Thomas Nynweph Gmawlue Jr, visiting student from Liberia participating in UVA Landscape Architecture class ALAR 8993 : Cultural Landscape Networks Across the Black Atlantic, lead by Professor Allison James. The readings were done as part of a collaborative field trip between ALAR 8993, ARH 5600 : 3D Cultural Heritage Informatics, lead Professor Will Rourk of the UVA Library and the Fluvanna Historical Society. Sources for the letter were provided by Tricia Johnson, executive director of the Fluvanna Historical Society. The source of the Creasy letter is from the Fluvanna Historical Society Bremo papers and the Skipwith letter is from UVA Library Special Collections.
Renee Hoyos is the former Environmental Justice director for Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), where she worked for 18 months between 2021-2022. This interview discusses her time with the agency, the limitations of the DEQ, and why she left her position.
Vincent Hodges is a social worker and worked as an organizer between 2021-2022 with New Virginia Majority, a nonprofit focused on racial and economic justice in Virginia. Hodges discusses his firsthand experiences working with residents in St Paul’s, a public housing complex in Norfolk. He discusses the state of public housing infrastructure, his concerns about working with Norfolk City Council for resolution, and his perspective on the political climate of the City.
Libra is UVA's institutional repository for scholarship. Depositing your work in Libra makes it available to the world while providing safe and secure storage. In this session, Winston Barham, Open Access Librarian, will provide the foundations for getting started in Libra with an eye towards OER deposits of text and media. In addition, he will introduce you to ORCID, a unique researcher identifier that you may use to connect your scholarship throughout your professional life. You will leave the session with concrete knowledge of how both Libra and ORCID can impact the sharing of your OER scholarship.
Creating a roadmap for your OER project work is a foundational step towards a well-structured project. In this session, we will discuss best practices for planning your OER project, how to set realistic and achievable goals, and ways to manage your workflow and communicate with collaborators in a streamlined and effective manner. This session is recommended for all those embarking on the creation of OER materials.
Video integration is an effective way to take OER creation to the next level. Creating videos in a manner that allows for reuse and remixing requires a mindful approach to planning, recording, and distribution. In this session, Learning Design & Technology’s Jessica Weaver-Kenney will discuss actionable steps to create reusable and adaptable video. This session is recommended for individuals interested in creating open video content.
Kim Sudderth is a community leader and advocate for racial justice with the Norfolk branch of the NAACP, and the first Black woman to serve as Vice Chair of the Norfolk Planning Commission, beginning in 2022. She was the Repair Lab’s inaugural Practitioner-in-Residence in 2021. Born in 1971, Sudderth grew up in Norfolk and spent some of her adult years in Virginia Beach before returning home to Norfolk.
Track 1: In this oral history, Sudderth discusses her childhood years growing up on the naval base near Ocean View in Norfolk, and her memories of her mother’s softball league. In her later adult years, Sudderth began advocating for environmental justice cases with Mothers Out Front. Sudderth shares her perspectives on power and change-making, and discusses the connected and widespread issues of housing and the environment, as well as the lessons she has learned through organizing.
Track 2: In this interview Sudderth discusses her experience with a representative of the city in conversation about the proposed downtown Norfolk seawall and the absence of structural mitigations for flooding for the predominantly Black Southside neighborhood, where she resides. Sudderth also addresses Norfolks’ Vision2100 document, a neighborhood planning guide created in response to forecasted sea-level rise and the resulting changes in the city’s geography.
An oral history interview with Dr. Claudette Dalton, conducted at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library on June 27, 2022. This interview is part of the Medical Alumni Stories Oral History Project, a joint effort of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library and the UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation.
Claudette Ellis Harloe Dalton lived in Charlotte, N.C., before attending Sweet Briar College. After graduation, she enrolled in post-baccalaureate courses at the University of Virginia in order to prepare for medical school. She matriculated at the UVA School of Medicine in 1970, the first year that UVA's undergraduate programs officially became co-educational. Dr. Dalton received her M.D. from the UVA School of Medicine in 1974, and she went on to an internship and anesthesiology residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
While working in North Carolina, Dr. Dalton remained involved with the UVA Medical Alumni Association, and in 1989, she was invited to join the faculty of the UVA School of Medicine as the Assistant Dean for Alumni Affairs. With this appointment, Dr. Dalton became the first woman to hold the title of Assistant Dean in the history of the UVA School of Medicine. She held several positions during her tenure at the School of Medicine, including: Assistant Dean for Medical Education, Assistant Dean for Community Based Medicine, Director of the Office for Community Based Medical Education, and Assistant Professor for Medical Education. During her time on the faculty, Dr. Dalton served on the School of Medicine's Committee on Women and helped to coordinate an annual Women in Medicine Leadership Conference on behalf of the School of Medicine. In 1993, Dr. Dalton presented the opening remarks at the UVA School of Medicine Graduation Exercises.
Dr. Dalton also served as the Chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) Ethics and Professionalism Committee, and she chaired the Southeastern Delegation to the American Medical Association from 2019-2021. In 1996, she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Society. In 2002, she was awarded the Sharon L. Hostler Women in Medicine Leadership Award. An active alumna of the UVA School of Medicine, Dr. Dalton has served on the Medical Alumni Association Board of Directors, as well as on the Medical Alumni Newsletter editorial board, and acted as Class Representative for the Class of 1974.
Antipas Harris is a community leader with the Urban Renewal Center, a faith-led community organization. Harris discusses his experiences working at a homeless shelter in Norfolk, including the impacts of flooding on people experiencing homelessness in the city. Harris reflects on his role as a faith leader and the changing nature of the city.
Cassandra Newby-Alexander is a luminary historian of Black culture in the Tidewater area of Virginia, and Dean of the HBCU Norfolk State University, beginning in 2018. Chinedu Okala is a celebrated artist and Associate Dean of NSU at the time of this interview. Newby-Alexander discusses her experiences from childhood to adulthood with flooding in the city, illustrating her experiences with historical context around the City’s restriction Black residents’ housing. Okala discusses the history of race in the US and the current political climate.
Creation of accessible materials is essential to compliance with UVA's standards and guidelines; moreover, it is critical to creating an inclusive and engaged learning environment for all students. Join us for this workshop, led by UVA Library's Accessibility Designer, Jack Kelly. He'll discuss guidelines and best practices for multimedia accessibility that will guide your OER project development. This session is recommended for those embarking on the creation of open instructional resources.
H5P is a digital toolset for authoring content online. Content creators can design interactive videos, presentations, quizzes, and much more. H5P is used for interactive content creation in OER, and this workshop will introduce instructors to H5P and provide examples of how it is being used to engage students. This session serves as an excellent starting point for those new to the technology and those who need a refresher on some of the key functionalities.
Oral history interview of Bobby Vassar and James Ghee, both class of 1972, took place on May 14, 2022, at the Law School during Reunion Weekend. Vassar and Ghee discussed their experiences as African American students at the Law School in the early 1970s, including reminiscences of professors and courses, as well as their experiences in the wider University and Charlottesville communities.
An oral history interview with Dr. Maurice Apprey, conducted on May 12, 2022. This interview is part of a joint effort of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library and the UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation.
Maurice Apprey was born in Ghana, West Africa. He received a B.S. in Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion from the College of Emporia, Kansas, and graduated in 1974. Dr. Apprey was one of a small number of students who trained under Anna Freud at the Hampstead Clinic in London, from which he graduated in 1979. After studying phenomenological psychological research and hermeneutics with Amedeo Giorgi at the Saybrook Institute in San Franciso, CA, Dr. Apprey received a Ph.D. in Human Science Research. He later pursued a doctorate in Executive Management from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
In 1980, Dr. Apprey joined the faculty of the UVA School of Medicine in the department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences. In 1982, he was appointed Assistant Dean of Student Affairs. His work with current and aspiring medical students continued for two and a half decades, and he was later appointed the Associate Dean of Diversity at the School of Medicine (in 1992) and the Associate Dean of Student Support (in 2003). During these years, Dr. Apprey was highly effective in increasing the number of students from under-represented backgrounds at medical school through initiatives like the Medical Academic Advancement Program (MAAP). He taught undergraduates, medical students, residents in psychiatry and psychology, and hospital chaplains, among others. In 2007, Dr. Apprey was invited to become Dean of the Office of African-American Affairs for the University of Virginia. He accepted and served in that role until his retirement in 2022.
Alexander Fella is a professor of Anthropology at Christopher Newport University. This conversation focuses on Fella’s writing and research on rent, section eight housing vouchers, evictions and home ownership in Norfolk.
Skip Styles lives in Norfolk, Virginia and is retired from his position as Director of the environmental nonprofit Wetlands Watch, located in Norfolk, Virginia, where he served from 2006 to 2023. The conversation is about the initiatives Styles pioneered through Wetlands Watch, including rolling easements and riparian buffers, that aim to reduce the harm of sea-level rise in Hampton Roads.
An oral history interview with Dr. Barbara Hasko Curry, conducted at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library on April 29, 2022. This interview is part of the Medical Alumni Stories Oral History Project, a joint effort of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library and the UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation.
Barbara Ann Hasko Curry of Silver Spring, Maryland, graduated from high school in 1967 and entered the University of Virginia School of Nursing, finishing with a B.S. in Nursing in 1971. Her interests in the health sciences inspired her to return to UVA to complete the prerequisite courses needed to apply for medical school. In 1973 she was admitted to the UVA School of Medicine, and she graduated from the medical school in 1977.
After graduation, Curry completed an internship at Dartmouth Affiliated Hospitals in Hanover, NH, and a residency at Providence Medical Center in Portland, OR. Dr. Curry became board certified in Emergency Medicine in 1981 and joined the Billings Clinic in Billings, MT, in 1990. After the merger of the Billings Clinic and Deaconess Medical Center, Dr. Curry served as Chair of the Emergency Department at Deaconess Billings Clinic. (“Deaconess” was then dropped from the name in 2005.) In 2007, a state-of-the-art Emergency and Trauma Center opened at the Billings Clinic. Dr. Curry lives and continues to practice in Billings, MT.
Johnny Finn is an Associate Professor of Geography and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology at Christopher Newport University. In this interview, he connects his research on redlining in Hampton Roads to Norfolk’s city planning efforts in the face of sea-level rise.
Invited speaker Leonardo Flores examines the impact of digital divides in the United States on the emergence of electronic literature as a practice and field, ending with a call for a more expansive term such as "digital writing" to help diversify the field. Professor Flores' talk was part of the Scholars' Lab speaker series at the University of Virginia, April 6, 2022; recorded via Zoom in the presence of a live audience.
This movie is an animated flythrough of the 3D point cloud data documentation of the Pine Grove Rosenwald School, Cumberland County, Virginia, ca. 1917. Data was collected by ARH 5600 Fall 2021 class students Zhang Jie, Natalie Chavez, Matthew Schneider, Chris MacDonnell. Equipment used included (2) X 130 and (1) S120 FARO Focus 3D laser scanners. Data was collected in support of community preservation efforts - more info at https://www.ammdpinegroveproject.com/.
Oral history interview of Sujaya Rajguru, class of 2022, via Zoom, on March 28, 2022. Rajguru discussed VLW programs and activities supporting women law students’ education and career interests, as well as VLW administration issues.
Sharon Johnson is a lifelong resident of Norfolk, Virginia. She has lived in the Bruces’ Park neighborhood in midtown since 1954.
Track 1: This interview discusses Johnson’s life and family, including her grandfather who was a Black contractor in Norfolk in the early part of the 20th century. It takes place in Johnson’s historic home, built by her grandfather.
Track 2: In this oral history, Johnson describes her memories of downtown Norfolk in the 1950s, and key moments including President Kennedy’s assassination and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. Johnson graduated from Maury High in Norfolk in 1970, and reflects on the changes precipitated by integration, and her observations on race and discrimination while she lived in Boston. She discusses her participation in marches in Washington with the Service Employees International Union. The interview also includes a walking tour with Johnson as she describes the changes that have occurred in the neighborhood since the 1980s.
Oral interview of Carolyn Ikari, class of 1993, via Zoom, on March 15, 2022. Discussion of Ikari’s tenure as president of Virginia Law Women (VLW) and VLW programs and activities of that period. Discussion of feminism at the Law School in the ‘90s and the relative lack of ethnic and cultural diversity at the time. Reminiscences of the Law School and Law School life in the ‘90s.
