Category Archives: history

Tredegar Hosts “Refugees From Slavery” Thursday

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The American Civil War Museum at Tredegar is hosting a talk on Thursday at 6 pm entitled “Refugees From Slavery” as part of their ‘Foundry Series’.

From the FaceBook event page:

What do Dadaab, Kenya and Zatari, Jordan have in common with the U.S. Civil War? Present-day refugee camps share important similarities with Civil War contraband camps. Discover how men, women, and children who fled from slavery to contraband camps influenced emancipation, the progress of the war, and the redefinition of U.S. citizenship.

Featuring:

Chandra Manning, Ph.D., Georgetown University.
Dr. Manning’s most recent book, Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War, about Civil War contraband camps, won the Museum’s 2016 Jefferson Davis Award.

Program Partners:
ReEstablish Richmond
CWS Richmond Refugee Resettlement
Artist Alfonso Perez Acosta

For more info and tickets, click here.

Michael Folland, Medal of Honor Recipient

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Reporter Mark Holmberg does another story on one of Oregon Hill’s most famous progeny, Michael Folland, Vietnam war hero.

Excerpt:

In the military, the formerly wild Mike found “his niche,” his nephew said. Mike had a fiancée as he went off to war. He made corporal and was apparently hoping to make a career out of it when he smothered the grenade.

Nearly 45 years later, nephew Chip gets choked up talking about it. “I actually talked to one of the guys that was in the ambush . . . he gave up everything” for them.

Chip Folland’s son, Ryan Holland, joined the military and wrote to me that his great uncle “is a source of great pride for me in my own military career.

There are others who have reached out with their remembrances, including a woman whose brother went through basic training and to Vietnam with Mike Folland. People who want to you to know that Mike Folland is worth remembering.

Tom Robbins On Monroe Park

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From local history buff Fred Rogers:

Tom Robbins, the well known novelist (author of several published works including “Another Roadside Attraction” and “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”) is a 1959 graduate of Richmond Professional Institute (VCU’s Monroe Park campus predecessor). During his last year at the school he served as editor and writer of the RPI student newspaper, the Proscript. His column that school year was entitled “Robbin’s Nest” and then “Walks on the Wild Side.” Robbins was concerned about the future of Monroe Park, threatened by corporate and political interests, to write about the park in the March 12, 1959 issue of the student paper. Below is an image of his column about Monroe Park. Here’s the link to the issue (download the file as a PDF):

http://dig.library.vcu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/rps/id/3165/rec/444

John Banister Tabb

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This post comes courtesy of Hollywood Cemetery’s FaceBook page:

John Banister Tabb was an American poet who received national and international recognition for his poems.
At the age of 17, he joined the Confederate Navy as a blockade runner, bringing supplies from Bermuda and Nassau to the Carolinas. He was eventually captured by Union troops and imprisoned at a Federal prison camp in Maryland. There he met fellow prisoner, Georgia poet-musician Sidney Lanier. Bound by their talents in music and poetry, Tabb and Lanier shared a life-long friendship.
Tabb went on to become a Roman Catholic priest and a professor of English. His poems were widely published in various prestigious magazines, and he became one of just two American writers admitted to the Oxford University Press Garland Series of Epigrams (1916).
He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Section 20, Lot 62 following his death in 1909. One of his poems is engraved on his tombstone:
If life and death be things that seem
If death be sleep and life a dream
May not the everlasting sleep
The dream of life eternal keep

The Boss At Monroe Park

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Re-post from neighbor Todd Woodson in the Fans of Monroe Park FaceBook group:

There was a free show in Monroe Park on June 1, 1969 including the Richmond debut of the band Child featuring a young Bruce Springsteen. They did 3 songs before, as I recall, they got shut down by police at the urging of the residents of the Prestwould. The songs played were Voodoo Child, Jennifer and Crown Liquor. This photo, courtesy of BruceBase was supposedly taken of the Boss at Monroe Park at the 1969 show. They would return to Monroe Park on July 18, 1971 as the Bruce Springsteen Band…

The Foundry Market At Tredegar This Sunday

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The American Civil War Center at Tredegar Iron Works is hosting ‘The Foundry Market’ from 12 pm to 4 pm this Sunday (and also June 11).

From event description:

The American Civil War Museum’s Foundry Market is an artisan craft fair with an emphasis on handmade, local products. We’ll have vendors from across the state, demonstrations of craftsman at work, and food trucks.

Bring the whole family down for a Sunday at Historic Tredegar and imagine what our bustling ironworks might have been like 150 years ago.

PARTICIPATING VENDORS:
Beego Handmade
Flourish Creative
Grid+Love
Liberatus Jewelry
Matthew Pellman
Morris and Norris
MudLOVE
New Custom
Nicholas Creek Forge
PaperFreckles
Paper Rose
Petite Shards Productions
Renan Banjos
Robin’s Egg Jewelry
Ruby Belle Adornments
Sew Brave Designs
The Bird & Elephant
The Timbered Wolf
The Wild Wander
thimbleberry

….and more!

‘Dirtwoman’ Documentary Benefit

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There is documentary being filmed for one of Oregon Hill’s most infamous progeny and Richmond’s most famous drag queen, Donny Corker, aka ‘Dirtwoman.’ In order to raise funds and capture memories, the Sound of Music studio, now in Scott’s Addition (1710 Altamont Ave.), will be holding ‘Dirtwoman Toast’ on Sunday, May 21, at 7 pm. The admission cost is $10.Part of the proceeds will go to producing the documentary and part of them will go to Corker to help defray medical cost hardships.

Excerpts from recent Style article:

Everyone over a certain age has a Dirtwoman story. Corker’s antics as Richmond’s most well-known 400-lb. drag queen are legendary, from the 1993 pin-up calendar to running for mayor, to his years as Mrs. Claus at the annual Hamaganza. Just as noteworthy is Corker’s pre-Stonewall role-modeling: He’s been unabashedly out as gay since he was a teenager.

In the works is a documentary about Dirtwoman that began 15 years ago on the occasion of Corker’s 50th birthday with an event at Caffeine’s featuring go-go boys, drag queens and people sharing their own Dirtwoman tales. Now at 65 and with major health issues, Corker’s life story is on track to finally be completed by local video producer, Jerry Williams.

“This is the culmination of my 45 years as a video producer and director,” Williams says of the passion project. “I’ve never had a story that I was willing to commit a year of my life to making, but this is it.”
…
For those who missed Dirtwoman’s glory years, the Toast is also an opportunity to hear anecdotes from a life so colorful that even John Waters’ biggest star, Divine, was a fan. And for those curious about how the name Dirtwoman originally came about, let’s just say it involved some inappropriate behavior in the back seat of a cop car and leave it at that.

From the FaceBook event page:

The TOAST is being held to compile stories from Donnie’s fans for the documentary. Everyone who attends will be invited to spend a few minutes on stage with Donnie to pay tribute and share their favorite memories. There will also be a special “private” studio for people who would prefer not to go on stage. People are encouraged to bring any pertinent photos or other memorabilia.
To have an idea of timing, Williams requests that people who want to speak, please email him at TVJerry@TVJerry.com.

The Foundry Series- Combat, Racial Violence & Resilience

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Quite a title, right? The American Civil War Museum at Tredegar is hosting this event Thursday evening:

Following the Civil War and Emancipation, Union veterans and African American civilians faced physical and mental challenges that put their resilience to the test in new post-War environments.

Gather for snacks, drinks, and socializing at 6pm, talks begin around 6:30pm.

Featuring:

Never Get Over It: What Night Riding Meant to African American Families
Kidada E. Williams, Ph.D., Wayne State University
From 1868-1871, armed southern white men raided African American communities, holding families hostage and subjecting them to torture, rape, and assassination. Using victims’ testimonies before Congress, Kidada E. Williams presents the story of how survivors understood the consequences of this violence, specifically how it unmade their families and compromised their ability to fulfill their visions of freedom.

Sublimity,Terror and Love: Veterans and the Psychological Impact of War
Stephen A. Goldman, M.D., FAPM, DFAPA, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, American Psychiatric Association, and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Tools of war have undergone significant technological advances since the American Civil War, but the experience of battle and its effects on the combatant remain strikingly similar and profound in our time. The multifaceted psychological impact of war includes not only combat stress reactions, but also emotional resilience and successful societal reintegration. Explore the great influences, positive and negative, of combat and military service on veterans’ lives, and what has been learned throughout history about treating those who’ve been under fire. Following a remarkable group of severely wounded Union soldiers and sailors, discover how their powerful warrior identity spurred commitment to Reconstruction and racial equality, and sustained their collective belief in the causes for which they had fought.

Program Partners
Black Minds Matter Project
YWCA Richmond
Virginia War Memorial
Virginia Veteran and Family Support

Cost: $10.00, $8.00 members