Two digitized photographs and a digitized postcard from VCU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives will be featured in inaugural exhibitions at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is slated to open September 24 in Washington, D.C.
Here is an excerpt from the VCU News announcement, “Three pieces from VCU Libraries’ collections to be displayed at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture.”
The three images that will be displayed at the museum include:
A digitized photograph of the Robert R. Moton High School for African Americans in Prince Edward County, which was built in 1953 following a student-led strike in protest of segregated and inferior school facilities. After the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, white segregationists in Prince Edward County chose to close public schools rather than integrate them. The schools were closed from 1959 to 1964. During this period, provisions were made to educate white children in the county; none were made for black children. The image is part of VCU Libraries’ Edward H. Peeples Prince Edward County (Va.) Public Schools Collection.
A 1978 photograph of Sixth Mount Zion Church from VCU Libraries’ Jackson Ward Historic District collection. The church was saved from demolition in the 1950s when construction of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, which later became part of Interstate 95, cut a swath through Jackson Ward, effectively bifurcating a historically African-American neighborhood in Richmond.
A postcard of Sixth Mount Zion Church from VCU Libraries’ Rarely Seen Richmond digital collection of postcards of vintage Richmond postcards, mostly between 1900 and 1930.
To learn more about the National Museum of African American History and Culture, visit them in person during opening weekend or check it out online.
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