U.S. Destinations : Virginia : African American History
Virginia
African American History

African American Heritage Driving Tour
150 E. Monroe St
Wytheville,  Virginia  24382
Phone: (276) 223-3355
Toll-Free: (888) 347-8307

The African American Heritage Driving Tour of Wythe County takes a closer look at this important segment of local history. The tour details what is presently known about this aspect of history and shows examples of places where people lived, learned and worshiped.Brief write-ups concerning some of the people who lived in the area are also included.

African American Heritage Guided Bus Tour
1015 E. Clay Street
Richmond,  Virginia  23219
Phone: (804) 649-0711

Explore four centuries of powerful history, from Richmond's slave trade to the contributions of blacks to the Revolutionary and the Civil Wars, the African American experience during Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era, and modern Richmonders Arthur Ashe and Douglas Wilder. The tour includes a trip through historic Jackson Ward, "The Black Wall Street of America," and a visit to the Maggie Walker Historic Site. $18 for adults; $15 for History Center members and children 6-18; children under 6 free. Advance reservations are required. Call for more information and to make your reservation. Tour dates include 11/13/04, 2/19/05 and 11/12/05.

African American Heritage Sites in Hampton
710 Settlers Landing Road
Hampton,  Virginia  23669
Phone: (757) 727-1102
Toll-Free: (800) 800-2202

Explore Hampton's rich African American heritage at more than a dozen sites. See "Freedom's Fortress," also known as Fort Monroe, where runaway slaves were protected during the Civil War. Or visit the Emancipation Oak where President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was first read to Hampton residents. Many of the sites are listed in the free Hampton Visitors Guide magazine, available at the Hampton Visitor Center.

African American Tours of Richmond LLC
3520 Skipping Rock Way
Richmond,  Virginia  23234
Phone: (804) 674-5593

Richmond's first and only specialty tours service that retraces, connects the dots, and shares the story of African Americans'arrival in America at the southern banks of the James River, their auction and sale in Shockoe Valley, the site of slavery laws' creation in Shockoe, the sites of the Richmond Gallows and Negro Burial Grounds, Jackson Ward, Lumpkin's Jail, the Freedmens School, site of the 1925 Tunnel Collapse and the personalities that rose above their circumstances to make Richmond great... from Henry "Box" Brown to Gabriel Prosser. Learn about the "bicentennial rains" that exposed Shockoe's secrets. Vehicular, virtual, video tours, and step-on guide service to suit your group. Jaynots hand-crafted designs to suit your decor & heritage taste. AfrAm Tours novelties... posters, air fresheners, jewelry pins. Open to enjoy 24/7/365

African-American Heritage Park
Duke Street on Holland Lane
Alexandria,  Virginia  22314
Phone: (703) 838-4356

Of twenty-one known burials on this site, six identified headstones remain and are in their original location. The park was designed to co-exist with the original landscape of the cemetery and preserves the interesting and varied plant life on this site. The park's innovative plan also sustains a wetland area that provides a home for mallards, painted turtles, beavers and crayfish in their natural habitat.The focal point of the park is a sculpture group of bronze trees called "Truths that Rise from the Roots Remembered" by sculptor Jerome Meadows. This formation acknowledges the contributions of African Americans to the growth of Alexandria. Other smaller sculptures throughout the park commemorate historic African American neighborhoods and the people known and unknown buried on this site.

African-American History Tour of Alexandria
201 King Street, Suite 302
Alexandria,  Virginia  22314
Phone: (703) 519-1749

The journey of African-Americans from an enslaved people to leadership is a journey of hardship and triumph. Alexandria is uniquely qualified to tell that story.

This walking tour is perfect for families, student groups, reunions, and group outings.

You'll see Market Square, where human beings of dark coloration were bought and sold. It is near a prosperous merchant's home who owned 30 slaves. Nearby is an abolitionist Quaker's shop, who said of slavery, “it sickens my heart to reflect upon it.” And African-Americans staged America’s first sit-in here.

Stops include Alexandria's Black History Resource Center, Franklin & Armfield Slave office, and African-American Heritage Park.

Join us for a compelling tour that reflects our country’s struggle to live up to the goal of "liberty and justice for all."

Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County ~ AAHA
4243 Loudoun Avenue
The Plains,  Virginia  21098
Phone: (540) 253-7488

African American Museum, History and Genealogical Resource Center also known as AAHA. Guided tours are available to adults for $5.00, students and seniors $2.00 per hour. The museum houses 18 exhibits focusing on Fauquier County and The African Americans from Slavery to the Civil Rights Movements. The Charcoal Gallery ~ include historic depictions of Fauquier's second and third generation of African American. The Reference Library contains over 1,600 titles and the Genealogy Center houses resources necessary to document Fauquier's and surrounding Counties early African Americans free and enslaved.

Alexandria Black History Museum
902 Wythe Street
Alexandria,  Virginia  22314
Phone: (703) 838-4356

The Alexandria Black History Museum documents the contributions of African Americans to Alexandria's history and culture from 1749 to the present. The building that today houses the Center was constructed in 1940 as the Robinson Library, the African American community's first public library. The Watson Reading Room is a non-circulating research repository focusing on issues of African American history and culture. The Center offers exhibitions, lectures and special events throughout the year.

Anne Spencer House and Garden
1313 Pierce Street
Lynchburg,  Virginia  24504
Phone: (434) 846-0517

Internationally acclaimed poet who was part of the Harlem Renaissance, Anne Spencer was the only black woman and the only Virginian included in the Norton Anthology of Modern American and British Poetry. On grounds is Spencer's writing cottage "Edan Kraal." Many dignitaries have visited here. Museum with artifacts, memorabilia, period antique furnishings. (House open by appointment.) The garden, which served as inspiration for much of her poetry, was restored in the 1980's and is open without charge.

Appalachian African-American Cultural Center
230 N. Leona St.
Pennington Gap,  Virginia  24277
Phone: (540) 546-5632

Housed in a building that was once a black public school, the Appalachian African-American Cultural Center contains African-American historical artifacts from the area. Oral history presentation available by appointment only.

Bedford City\County Museum
201 East Main Street
Bedford,  Virginia  24523
Phone: (540) 586-4520

The Bedford City/County Museum building was built in 1895 as a Masonic Temple. This is the only example of Romanesque Revival architecture in Bedford and is impressive with its multi-colored brick, stone archways, terra cotta ornamentation and bay windows. The museum showcases Bedford's history from early native American life through the War Between the States and into the twentieth century. It is also headquarters for the Bedford Genealogical Society and library. Closed on Mondays

Bedford Historic Meeting House
West Main Street
Bedford,  Virginia  24523
Phone: (540) 586-8587

Church building erected in 1838 as first Meeting House for Methodists in the town of Liberty. From 1886 it served a black congregation as St. Phillips Episcopal Church and was purchased by the Bedford Historical Society in 1970 and renovated. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. Tours by appointment. Available for Weddings.Rental fee

Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia
00 Clay Street
Richmond,  Virginia  23219
Phone: (804) 780-9093

Significant facets of African-American life in Virginia from Jamestown in 1619 until today are on display here. Located in the heart of the Jackson Ward neighborhood, the museum has a collection of nearly 5,000 artifacts and documents, art, and photography. Experience the history and culture of Virginia's African-Americans.

Black Soldiers Memorial (Civ. War)
Princess Anne Rd.
Norfolk,  Virginia  23504
Phone: (757) 441-2576

This Civil War monument to honor African American Union soldiers is a rare find in the South -- this is the only one. A column is topped with a black yankee soldier, sometimes called "Billy Yank." Both Civil War and Spanish American War vets are buried here.

Booker T. Washington National Monument Park
12130 Booker T. Washington Highway
Hardy,  Virginia  24101
Phone: (540) 721-2094

The park is the site of famed educator, orator, and presidential advisor, Booker T. Washington's birth, early life, and emancipation. Washington's ideas about education, race, and labor were shaped on this tobacco plantation. The park is one of the few places where one can see how slavery and the plantation system worked on a smaller scale. It provides a focal point for discussion about one of the most powerful African Americans in history and the evolving context of race in American society.Interpretive programs are available daily, weather-permitting. A quarterly calendar of events is available upon request. The park's visitor center contains exhibits on Washington's life and legacy and offers an audio-visual program interpreting his career and accomplishments.

Christiansburg, Historic Area
49 W. Main St.
Christiansburg,  Virginia  24073
Phone: (540) 382-4251

Established in 1792, Historic Christiansburg includes: Christiansburg Industrial Institute (140 Scattergood Dr.), a private primary school for African-Americans established in 1866 and once supervised by Booker T. Washington. Three buildings remain; one is now a museum. Cambria Historic District (500 Depot St.). Includes a railroad depot museum, collectibles/antique shop and specialty shops. Montgomery Museum and Lewis Miller Regional Art Center (300 Pepper St.). Exhibits on local history and contemporary art displays, including work of folk artist Lewis Miller.

Colonial Williamsburg
1 Visitor Center Drive
Williamsburg,  Virginia  23185
Toll-Free: (800) HIS-TORY

Colonial Williamsburg, the nation's largest living history museum, consists of 301 acres encompassing 88 original buildings and hundreds of other homes, shops and public buildings. Colonial Williamsburg operates the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and Bassett Hall. Visitors can enjoy 18th-century style dining Colonial Williamsburg's four dining taverns -- Chowning's, Christiana Campbell's, Shields and King's Arms Tavern. Guest accommodations are available in Colonial Williamsburg's Hotels -- the world-class Williamsburg Inn, the Colonial Houses, the Williamsburg Lodge and Woodlands Hotel & Suites and the Governor's Inn. Call for a copy of our Vacation Planner.

Fort Harrison
3215 East Broad Street
Richmond,  Virginia  23223
Phone: (804) 226-1981

Fort Harrison represented the strongest point on the Confederate line of defenses. From it, one could see all the way to the James River. However, in 1864 most of the Confederate forces were in Petersburg and here the Confederate defenders numbered barely 200. The Union attack pierced the fort quickly, with relatively few casualties.
On September 30, Robert E. Lee personally organized a major effort to recapture the lost fort. His attack also lacked coordination, and the well prepared Union defenders-some of them armed with multiple shot weapons crushed the Confederate effort and inflicted great loss on the attackers.

Generations: The Wickham Family Collections
1015 East Clay Street
Richmond,  Virginia  23219
Phone: (804) 649-0711

Hourly guided tours of the 1812 Wickham House, a National Historic Landmark, allow guests to explore aspects of life in the early 19th century. In the public first-floor rooms ornate decoration helped the Wickhams and their slaves present a picture of leisure and refinement. Exhibited on the second floor are artifacts from the descendants of the family that first inhabited the house. The self-guided Wickham House basement examines the slaves' private spheres.

Gilmore Cabin and Farm
11407 Constitution Highway
Orange,  Virginia  22960
Phone: (540) 672-2728

Experience the inspiring story of an African-American family becoming citizens and landowners after years of slavery. Gilmore Cabin and Farm is the freedman’s home of a former slave at Montpelier. George Gilmore, born a slave at Montpelier about 1810, built the cabin in 1872, after his emancipation following the Civil War. Over the last four years, Montpelier restoration crews and archaeologists have carefully researched, stabilized and restored the cabin, working closely with descendants of its builder. Gilmore Cabin and Farm is believed to be the first freedman’s site in the nation to be preserved and opened to the public to interpret the transition from slavery to freedom in this country.

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