Jim Crow

How A Black Filmmaker Changed Movies From The Edge Of Appalachia

One of America’s pioneering filmmakers had nothing to do with Hollywood but nevertheless left his mark on the emerging industry. Oscar Micheaux was a homesteader, who then turned his attention to making movies in the early 1900s. He was a Black man who made movies for Black audiences at a time when they weren’t allowed into mainstream, white-only theaters. And for several pivotal years in the 1920s, he operated out of Roanoke, Virginia.

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Us & Them: America’s Civil Rights Champion

Before he became the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall spent decades using the law as a tool for social change. On Us & Them, Trey Kay hosts a community conversation on Marshall’s legacy — featuring excerpts from Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect — and asking what his civil rights victories mean today, as hard-won reforms face renewed challenge.

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New Book Explores Little-Known History Of Black-Owned Hotel In Harpers Ferry

A Jefferson County author's new book unveils the history of Thomas and Lavinia Lovett, a Black couple who in 1890 opened Harpers Ferry's iconic Hill Top Hotel.

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Novel by Virginia Native Explores Life During the Jim Crow South

The novel “The Boys Who Woke Up Early” looks at the Jim Crow south in a fictional county along the border of Virginia and West Virginia in 1960. Author…

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