Vinegar Hill Logo

JSAACC Liberation and  Freedom Days Reparations Run/Walk

Media Contact: Andrea Douglas
director@jeffschoolheritagecenter.org
434 260-8724 

The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center hosts first Liberation and  Freedom Days Reparations Run/Walk  

(For Immediate Release, Charlottesville, VA) The Jefferson School African American Heritage in  collaboration with the Liberation and Freedom Days planning committee, announces the first  annual Reparations Run/Walk to be held March 1-6, 2021. The event’s near nine-mile course causes participants to engage with monuments and site that suggest local African American  history. The course also includes five restaurants owned by African Americans. 

The event is a fundraiser to support six organizations led by African Americans that support the whole community through their direct services. Organizers hope to raise $45,000 to be divided equally to support 101.3 Jamz, African American Teaching Fellows, Albemarle Charlottesville  NAACP’s Youth Council, Jefferson School African American Heritage Center’s teacher training program, The Vinegar Hill Black business advertising fund, and We Code Too. 

Andrea Douglas executive director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center  explains “our use of the word reparations may be off-putting to some however, our intention is  to call attention to the unknown stories in our community and support businesses that are not  on the typical tourist circuit.” Douglas further asserts that the organizations to be funded were chosen because they represent important components of community—the media and our youth. The first because these organizations diversify our communal narrative and the latter  because our youth represent our community’s future.”  

Liberation and Freedom Days recognizes the fact that at the time of the Civil War, 53.3  percent of the residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle County were enslaved, an historical fact which remained little known until the 2016 work of the city’s Blue Ribbon  Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces (BRC). At the BRC’s recommendation, in 2017 the Charlottesville City Council proclaimed March 3 to be  Liberation and Freedom Day; Albemarle County began to recognize the day one year later. The Liberation and Freedom Days celebration commemorates the March 3-6,  1865, arrival of Union cavalry in the area, when town and university officials surrendered at the current site of the UVA Chapel, and thousands of enslaved residents took the opportunity to escape and follow U.S. troops as they continued their advance toward Petersburg, Virginia. 

Information about run/walk can be found at: https://runsignup.com/Race/VA/ Charlottesville/LiberationandFreedomDaysReparation6mileRunWalk 

###

About Us

Vinegar Hill Magazine is a space that is designed to support and project a more inclusive social narrative, to promote entrepreneurship, and to be a beacon for art, culture, and politics in Central Virginia.

Categories

Recent News

Past Publications

You May Also Like

Charlottesville High School Appoints New Interim Leader

Charlottesville High School Appoints New Interim Leader

Amidst a period of uncertainty at Charlottesville High School, Dr. Gurley, a representative of Charlottesville City Schools, has announced the appointment of Mr. Kenneth Leatherwood as the interim leader of the school. This decision comes following the resignation of...

Pin It on Pinterest