News & Events |
January 30, 2024. Archeologist and historian Kathy Liston examines the life and death of Joseph Holmes in her essay ‘‘Lynching a Legislator: The Joseph R. Holmes Story.‘ Born into slavery, Joe Holmes was elected at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of...
Charlotte, Essay |
By KATHY LISTON Following the defeat of the Confederacy, the Reconstruction era (1865-1877) saw the power structure across the South upended. With growing resentment, whites saw Black men being elected or appointed to positions of authority. In his memoir, Mississippi...
News & Events |
October 17, 2023. In the past few months, the Racial Terror website underwent a thorough revision to update its content and expand the historical information we have about lynching in Virginia. In particular, all of the entries about each lynching victims have been...
News & Events |
September 14, 2023. Beginning in 2021, James Madison University and the Library of Virginia started a collaboration to retrieve, digitize and transcribe more than 300 pages of primary source materials documenting lynching in the commonwealth from 1866-1932. The...
News & Events |
In collaboration with JMU Libraries and the College of Education, we are releasing a set of lesson plans for K12 schools in Virginia that can be used to understand lynching in Virginia and its legacy. Social Science and English teachers are invited to peruse these...
