What's in a Name: Confederate Street Re-naming in Alexandria, Virginia
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Streets named after Confederate generals and others—overdue for a change.
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On to Richmond!
/Last night, I made a brief “trip report” to members of the Civil War Roundtable of the District of Columbia about a CWRDC-organized day trip to Richmond. About 10 of us boarded the train at Washington or Alexandria for what turned out to be a great day.
Here’s what we did:
Walked about a mile along the James River and Kanawha Canal. The canal (like the C&O and Alexandria Canals further north) was built in an attempt to circumvent the falls on the James River. The railroad pretty much doomed the canal system.
Visited Brown’s Island and its striking statuary. Used during the Civil War as a munitions site, it is now a recreational area with a huge Cinco de Mayo festival setting up when we were there.
Took a wooden boardwalk across the river, which has quotations in its flooring with different perspectives on the Federal entry into Richmond in April 1865.
Toured the American Civil War Museum on the grounds of the former Tredegar Iron Works, the largest such facility in the Confederacy.
Learned more about how enslaved and free Blacks, immigrant Whites, and true-believing White secessionists experienced the period.
Visited the “White House of the Confederacy” where Jefferson Davis and his family lived from 1861 to 1865.
Walked about 10,000 steps in total (various people’s step-counters gave slightly different accounts) to return to Richmond’s Main Street station for a 4:57 P.M. train home.
See below for a sampling of photos taken by me and other members of the group:
A Conversation with Brenda Mitchell-Powell, Author of Public in Name Only: The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In Demonstration
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Brenda Mitchell-Powell sheds light on an early civil rights sit-in—for equal access to the public library in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1939.
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A Conversation with Diana Parsell, Author of Eliza Scidmore: The Trailblazing Journalist Behind Washington’s Cherry Trees
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A conversation with Diana Parsell about the subject of her new biography and about the ups and downs of bringing the book to life.
Read More"For mercy’s sake, don’t let anybody see this letter": Sarah J.C. Whittlesey
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The letters of an Alexandria woman’s letters reveal her interior life.
Read MoreCampobello Island, Looked at from Two Countries
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A three-hour international trip from Lubec, Maine (USA), to Campobello Island, New Brunswick (Canada)
Read MorePilgrimage to Montgomery with the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project
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My account of the Oct. 6-10 pilgrimage from Alexandria, Virginia, to Montgomery, Alabama, with the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project.
Read MoreA Conversation with Meg Groeling, Author of First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North’s First Civil War Hero
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Read about Col. Elmer Ellsworth’s short but eventful life, which ended in a heroic death in Alexandria.
Read MoreBehind the Written Word: Q and A with Katy O’Grady
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Looking at scripts used by Japanese and Chinese women centuries ago, Katy O’Grady wondered how our brains can look at little shapes and instantly transform them into concepts.
Read MoreSeeWorthy: Alexandria Archaeology's Big Finds
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Surprises lay underneath the Alexandria waterfront.
Read MoreAlexandria Canal: A Bet on TRADE and PROSPERITY
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From an aqueduct across the Potomac, 7 miles to Alexandria—but someone had to pay for it all.
Read MoreBlack History Month Beginnings
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Imagining the creativity and scholarship coming out of Carter Woodson’s “home office” on Ninth Street NW in Washington, DC.
Read MoreA Gravestone Set Right: Julia Wilbur in the Avon, New York, Cemetery
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Julia Wilbur’s final resting spot in Avon, New York, is definitely more restful now.
Read MoreHarriet Jacobs in New York State
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Two short articles summarize the roughly two decades that Harriet Jacobs lived in New York State—New York City and Rochester (part 1) and Cornwall (part 2).
Read MoreMore on Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial
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A bit more background about a recent article I published on a civil rights action—in 1864 Alexandria, Virginia.
Read MoreThe Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay
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Lesson of the Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay—ships built in a hurry are not a great idea
Read MoreAlexandria African American Heritage Park
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Field trip: Alexandria African American Heritage Park
Read MoreHarriet Jacobs and Imogen Willis Eddy: Surprise Discoveries All Around
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After (or before) you’ve read my article in the Cambridge Day about Harriet Jacobs and Imogen Willis Eddy, here are a few bits that could not make it in the original article.
Read MoreNapoleon Bonaparte Marshall and William Taylor Burwell Williams: African American Educators and Harvard Graduates (Class of 1897)
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In their own words: Two Black alumni from the Harvard College class of 1897.
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