A CENTURY OF DISPLACEMENT of african american neighborhoods in charlottesville
The history of Charlottesville, Virginia and the land on which it is built, is closely bound to the stories of displacement and belonging faced by many of its historical occupants and current residents. The stories of our community are diverse, yet many share elements across centuries and continents, from the first occupants of Central Virginia, including the Monacan people, who were displaced by force, disease and other factors during the colonial period, to the lives of Charlottesville's African American residents, many of whom left the city in the period from 1890 - 1930 during a time of growing racism and racial violence, to our community of today, where many of the city and county's newest residents come from across the globe fleeing violence and persecution and seeking opportunity (as did the earliest settlers of the 13 colonies). Here many encounter a welcoming community, yet one that struggles to find affordable housing for its members, and which still struggles to embrace with equal candor and equal warmth and support its diverse constituencies.
The history of Charlottesville's African American community is replete with neighborhoods that were once vibrant communities that are no longer. One of the most comprehensive accounts of the African American experience of displacement in Charlottesville in the 20th century is told by James Saunders and Renae Nadine Shackelford in their book "Urban Renewal and the end of Black Culture in Charlottesville, Virginia. Here is an excerpt from that volume, used by permission of its publisher, McFarland.
"What indeed should have been done about Vinegar Hill with its historical vestiges that included living standards ranging from virtual shacks to well-constructed stately buildings? The city opted for total clearance. But Key suggests that selective renovation might have been a better approach.
I never did think that it was that bad. Of course, I know a lot of the houses were deteriorated in the area that's off of Main Street. And some of the houses on Main Street were not in the best repair. But there were some fairly good, what I considered good, buildings along Main Street that could have been brought up to certainly safe standards, if they were unsafe, without having to tear them down. There were other places back on Commerce and Williams Street, with some work could have been in good shape.
There were two churches torn down, one on Commerce Street and one on Fourth Street, that were removed in the redevelopment area. One on Fourth Street moved out on Preston Avenue not too far from Rugby Road. The other one, I'm not sure whether it continued to operate or not. But I think we could have rehabilitates a whole lots, with as much money. We certainly wouldn't have had as much vacant land.
In mentioning "vacant land," Key refers to the seven acres of the Hill that remained no more than a grassy slope, 20 years after the initial clearance had occurred. The fact that those acres were left empty so long has prompted some people to conclude that the city, in implementing urban renewal, was concerned about only one thin, removing blacks from the area. This is what Said Mason, a former teacher at Jefferson Schools, believes:
We had no choice. We didn't have any choice at all. If they had improved the homes we woud've stayed there. If the homes had been improved, we would've stayed there, because were were close to where I worked - the Jefferson School. We didn't own any property there. We were renting. We had go to. no compensation whatsoever. I feel the should have done something. You just don't uproot people like that. Even when you're renting, you don't do things like that. I worked at Jefferson School, and Jefferson School was right down the hill. That's where I was educated, so that speaks for itself. It was not convenient at all. A whole complete new world. My husband had to go out and find some place for us to go.
From Urban Renewal and the End of Black Culture in Charlottesville, Virginia: An Oral History of Vinegar Hill © 2005 [1998] James Robert Saunders and Renae Nadine Shackelford by permission of McFarland & Company, Inc., Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640. www.mcfarlandbooks.com
The history of Charlottesville's African American community is replete with neighborhoods that were once vibrant communities that are no longer. One of the most comprehensive accounts of the African American experience of displacement in Charlottesville in the 20th century is told by James Saunders and Renae Nadine Shackelford in their book "Urban Renewal and the end of Black Culture in Charlottesville, Virginia. Here is an excerpt from that volume, used by permission of its publisher, McFarland.
"What indeed should have been done about Vinegar Hill with its historical vestiges that included living standards ranging from virtual shacks to well-constructed stately buildings? The city opted for total clearance. But Key suggests that selective renovation might have been a better approach.
I never did think that it was that bad. Of course, I know a lot of the houses were deteriorated in the area that's off of Main Street. And some of the houses on Main Street were not in the best repair. But there were some fairly good, what I considered good, buildings along Main Street that could have been brought up to certainly safe standards, if they were unsafe, without having to tear them down. There were other places back on Commerce and Williams Street, with some work could have been in good shape.
There were two churches torn down, one on Commerce Street and one on Fourth Street, that were removed in the redevelopment area. One on Fourth Street moved out on Preston Avenue not too far from Rugby Road. The other one, I'm not sure whether it continued to operate or not. But I think we could have rehabilitates a whole lots, with as much money. We certainly wouldn't have had as much vacant land.
In mentioning "vacant land," Key refers to the seven acres of the Hill that remained no more than a grassy slope, 20 years after the initial clearance had occurred. The fact that those acres were left empty so long has prompted some people to conclude that the city, in implementing urban renewal, was concerned about only one thin, removing blacks from the area. This is what Said Mason, a former teacher at Jefferson Schools, believes:
We had no choice. We didn't have any choice at all. If they had improved the homes we woud've stayed there. If the homes had been improved, we would've stayed there, because were were close to where I worked - the Jefferson School. We didn't own any property there. We were renting. We had go to. no compensation whatsoever. I feel the should have done something. You just don't uproot people like that. Even when you're renting, you don't do things like that. I worked at Jefferson School, and Jefferson School was right down the hill. That's where I was educated, so that speaks for itself. It was not convenient at all. A whole complete new world. My husband had to go out and find some place for us to go.
From Urban Renewal and the End of Black Culture in Charlottesville, Virginia: An Oral History of Vinegar Hill © 2005 [1998] James Robert Saunders and Renae Nadine Shackelford by permission of McFarland & Company, Inc., Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640. www.mcfarlandbooks.com
For additional resources on the history of African American history in Charlottesville, and in particular our history of displacement, see the following:
Local History
Vinegar Hill, Pearl Street and McKee Block
Books:
James Robert Saunders and Renae Nadine Shackelford, Urban Renewal and the End of Black Culture in Charlottesville, Virginia: An Oral History of Vinegar Hill (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1998).
Vinegar Hill 1963, Life in the Neighborhood, Photographs by Gundars Osvalds, Foreward by Scott French, Essay by Kenneth Schwartz, Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.
Claudrena N. Harold and Louis P. Nelson, Charlottesville 2017: The Legacy of Race and Inequity, (University of Virginia Press, August 2018).
Articles:
Daniel Bluestone, “A Virginia Courthouse Square: Reviving the Colonial,” chapter in “Buildings, Landscapes, and Memory” – an academic case study that chronicles the history of “Court Square” and the wider area, including the decimation of the residences of African Americans on McKee Block across from the Court House between 1880 and 1910 and the demolition of African American Residences in Vinegar Hill ½ a century later in the 1960’s.
Oral Histories:
From Porch Swings to Patios: An Oral History of Charlottesville's Neighborhoods (1990)
http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/afam/raceandplace/oralhistory_porchswings.html
Guidebooks:
“More Than a Mall – A Guide to Historic Downtown Charlottesville” (February 18, 2013). Albemarle Charlottetsville Historical Society. Available online at https://issuu.com/uvaarch/docs/cvillemallbooklet
Websites:
The Vinegar Hill Project, see: http://vinegarhillproject.org/Welcome.html, a static website that includes useful information from an earlier collaboration between community and university groups, containing useful resources, particularly extensive mapping, on Vinegar Hill.
“History of Vinegar Hill,” see: http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/schwartz/vhill/vhill.history.html, website includes a short history of Vinegar Hill (with no attribution of authorship), that includes a bibliography and links to other articles.
Videos:
The World is Gone, Race and Displacement in a Southern Town, see: https://www.fieldstudiofilms.com/that-world-is-gone/ ****,
Albemarle’s Black Classrooms, a film by Lorenzo Dickerson’s Maupintown Media.
http://www.maupintown.com/albemarlesblackclassrooms.html
Local History
Vinegar Hill, Pearl Street and McKee Block
Books:
James Robert Saunders and Renae Nadine Shackelford, Urban Renewal and the End of Black Culture in Charlottesville, Virginia: An Oral History of Vinegar Hill (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1998).
Vinegar Hill 1963, Life in the Neighborhood, Photographs by Gundars Osvalds, Foreward by Scott French, Essay by Kenneth Schwartz, Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.
Claudrena N. Harold and Louis P. Nelson, Charlottesville 2017: The Legacy of Race and Inequity, (University of Virginia Press, August 2018).
Articles:
Daniel Bluestone, “A Virginia Courthouse Square: Reviving the Colonial,” chapter in “Buildings, Landscapes, and Memory” – an academic case study that chronicles the history of “Court Square” and the wider area, including the decimation of the residences of African Americans on McKee Block across from the Court House between 1880 and 1910 and the demolition of African American Residences in Vinegar Hill ½ a century later in the 1960’s.
Oral Histories:
From Porch Swings to Patios: An Oral History of Charlottesville's Neighborhoods (1990)
http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/afam/raceandplace/oralhistory_porchswings.html
Guidebooks:
“More Than a Mall – A Guide to Historic Downtown Charlottesville” (February 18, 2013). Albemarle Charlottetsville Historical Society. Available online at https://issuu.com/uvaarch/docs/cvillemallbooklet
Websites:
The Vinegar Hill Project, see: http://vinegarhillproject.org/Welcome.html, a static website that includes useful information from an earlier collaboration between community and university groups, containing useful resources, particularly extensive mapping, on Vinegar Hill.
“History of Vinegar Hill,” see: http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/schwartz/vhill/vhill.history.html, website includes a short history of Vinegar Hill (with no attribution of authorship), that includes a bibliography and links to other articles.
Videos:
The World is Gone, Race and Displacement in a Southern Town, see: https://www.fieldstudiofilms.com/that-world-is-gone/ ****,
Albemarle’s Black Classrooms, a film by Lorenzo Dickerson’s Maupintown Media.
http://www.maupintown.com/albemarlesblackclassrooms.html