The jefferson school african american heritage center will identify, map, and interpret the history of african american land ownership and residential life in central virginia from 1744 through 2020

The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center was awarded a $220,369 Project Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program. The Center will identify, map, and interpret the history of African American land ownership and residential life in Central Virginia from 1744 through 2020 by analyzing over 400,000 pages of property records using citizen science crowdsourcing tools. Records will be mapped and incorporated into exhibitions and K-12 curricula for two local school systems. The project examines the legalized displacement of African Americans through eminent domain, urban renewal, and racial covenants, and how this connects to contemporary inequities. Oral histories will deepen understanding of the community's foundation and legacy of African American landscapes and spaces. The grant period is from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025.

Staff and volunteers will analyze more than 400,000 pages of property, land, and public records using tools developed for citizen-science crowdsourcing projects. Records will then be mapped, and the project team will incorporate this documentation of the geographic history of the region's black community into exhibitions as well as the k-12 curricula of two local school systems. The project will examine the mechanisms that allowed for the large-scale legalized displacement through eminent domain, urban renewal, and racial covenants of african americans, as well as how this history connects to contemporary life outcomes and social inequities. This historical analysis will then be combined with oral histories, deepening the community's understanding of its foundation and the legacy of african american landscapes and spaces.