PALMYRA, Va. (AP) - Pages of books and museums are filled with documents and artifacts from historical moments, to give people a snapshot of another time. Behind those items are people who grew up during the Great Depression, lived through the Jim Crow South, or who remember stories from their once-enslaved grandparents.
But before long, those memories slip away, and small, everyday moments are lost to history.
Housed in a cottage built in the 1700s, the Fluvanna County Historical Society cares for more than 100 boxes of documents and artifacts spanning the county’s history. This month, the society is trying to collect artifacts that tell the story of the county’s African-American community for a new museum exhibit at the Old Stone Jail Museum, according to Tricia Johnson, director of the historical society.
“History is a thing that took place - it was tangible, it was real - it was the everyday lives of the people who lived here,” said Johnson. “And I think we owe it to all the former people who have lived in this community to preserve as much as we can of what their everyday lives were like, of what extraordinary events might have taken place, because their lives were important - whether you were white or African-American, you contributed to this society and county we have today.”
Johnson was inspired to put the new exhibit together while working on a publication about Rosenwald Schools, which educated African-American students in Fluvanna and elsewhere from 1921 to 1958. As she was interviewing people, she became dismayed at how few records the historical society has about the county’s black community.
“We have boxes and boxes and boxes of old papers, photographs and ephemera from Fluvanna County’s history, which is just incredible,” Johnson said. “In all of those archives, we have exactly two boxes that pertain specifically to African-American history.”
“For a long part of Fluvanna’s history, the population was at least 50 percent African-American - it’s not anymore, but for a long time it was,” she said. “So, it seems like 50 percent of our collection should be African-American.”
Johnson said a fire was lit in her to do the exhibit after interviewing a 100-year-old woman who remembered walking across the aqueduct over the Rivanna River from Point of Fork Arsenal to the school in Columbia every day to see her teacher, Miss Lydia.
“Miss Lydia made her feel important and valued,” Johnson said. “On the last day of school, the students found that Miss Lydia had decorated the classroom by draping honeysuckle around the room, so that it would smell sweet and the children’s memories of school would be sweet and they would want to come back in the fall.”
“How sad would it be if we didn’t know about Miss Lydia,” she said. “If we didn’t understand that this African-American woman came here and taught these children that they were worthwhile and thought to give them sweetness at the end of the school year with honeysuckle vines? That to me was just precious.”
On Aug. 28, the historical society will host a gathering to celebrate local black history and collect documents and artifacts that illustrate that history in Fluvanna. The society will accept donations, loans and/or digital scans of items to put in its archives and in the exhibit, Johnson said.
“The elders who are alive today, who still have family photographs and who can tell you who’s in those community photographs, they’re fast slipping away,” she said. “That information and those memories are just too precious to let slide.”
And when Johnson asks for any documents or photographs, she means any and everything. The society is looking for items from any aspect of life, including school, church, work, or home. The artifacts can come from all periods of history, including slavery, the Jim Crow era and the civil rights movement.
“You think about the different aspects of life in a rural community, we’re talking about school - if you have an old desk or a teacher’s bell or you have an old reader that you’d like to give to us or lend us,” Johnson said. “Or if you have political buttons or pamphlets from the civil rights movement, or clothing, particularly a Sunday dress, hat and gloves.”
“I think some people think, ’Well, I’ve got this thing in my house, but it’s not historic,’” she said. “You’d be surprised what makes up history. We want to encourage people to look at their photographs, their church things, or school things, with a different eye.”
The society wants to open the exhibit this spring, and Johnson said she hopes it will be a catalyst for discussions among residents and pinpoint an important part of the community.
“African-American history in this county was for a long time at least half of the history here,” Johnson said. “When they were enslaved in this community, they did the work and they’re the ones who built the original economy. After emancipation, many of the former slaves stayed here in this community.”
“I hope that people are as fascinated by the African-American history in this community as I have been,” she said. “I hope that they are able to appreciate how important the African-American contribution has been to this community and this country.”
For those who cannot attend the event Aug. 28, Johnson said anyone with donations or artifacts may contact her at (434) 390-1218 or coldhollowfarm@yahoo.com. The Fluvanna County Historical Society is at 14 Stone Jail St. in Palmyra, next to the Old Stone Jail Museum.
“The history is deep here and it’s rich,” Johnson said. “At times it’s joyful and sometimes it’s tragic and heartbreaking. Some history makes us uncomfortable, but that’s not an excuse not to look at it and not remember it in order to honor the people who lived that history.”
“This exhibit is going to be a celebration of the African-American community - but part of that is we’re going to take an unflinching look at what some of that history was here.”
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Information from: The Daily Progress, https://www.dailyprogress.com
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