EDUCATING THE COMMUNITY
Community Guides
Apply to become a community guide today.
Come join our upcoming Community Guides program!
About Our Center
Located in the Jefferson School City Center, The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center’s mission is to honor and preserve the rich heritage and legacy of the African-American community of Charlottesville-Albemarle, Virginia and to promote a greater appreciation for, and understanding of, the contributions of African Americans and peoples of the Diaspora locally, nationally and globally.
The Center features a permanent historical exhibit, a rotating contemporary art gallery, and a robust calendar of events, all of which combine to highlight Charlottesville’s African American history and culture of the African diaspora.
Swords Into Plowshares Releases RFQ
Over the past seven years, the Swords into Plowshares project has shaped the national conversation around toppled Confederate statues by modeling a community-engaged process of creative transformation. Through a juried process, up to five applicants will be selected as semi-finalists to receive $10,000 to develop a proposal for the creation of a significant public artwork crafted from the melted remains of Charlottesville’s former Robert E. Lee statue. The RFQ is the first step in the process of commissioning an artist and team to design, fabricate, and install this new work(s) of art.
It’s Thursday 5:12 am EST — Sorry, we’re closed. Visit us when we’re open!
Contemporary Gallery
Kori Price: 807
18 January-23 April, 2025
807, a photography exhibition by Charlottesville based artist, Kori Price, explores location as an anchor for memory. Through documentation of both the physical and her imagined metaphysical spaces and items left behind by her grandparents and uncle after their deaths, Price converges reality with an interpretation of the afterlife.
Veronica Jackson: A Constellation of Blacktivists
10 May – 9 August, 2025
Exhibition opening 10, May | 6-8 pm
The exhibition consist of two bodies of work, Jackson’s Blacktivists series, which she began in that considers the lives of 12 Black women activists and her Constellation of Blackness that uses the broadside format to articulate words by Audre Lourde and others that speak to the triumph of Black womanist self-accultalization.
Become a Member
Become a Member!
As a JSAAHC Member you’ll receive:
- Free admission to exhibits and events.
- Discounts on workshops, lectures, and programs.
- Invitations to members-only events.
- Discounts in Alumni Room Museum Shop and Café
- And much more.
Spotlight Events & Programs
HONORING OUR HISTORY
Center for Local Knowledge
By appointment Tuesday through Saturday & every third Saturday 10am–12pm
The Center for Local Knowledge promotes the study of Charlottesville and Albemarle County local histories and fosters a deeper understanding of our community’s lived environment.
PRESERVING OUR LEGACY
Exhibitions
Gallery hours: Tuesday - Friday, 1pm–6pm; Saturdays 10am–1pm
Our permanent and contemporary exhibitions together suggest the continuum between our past and our present.
Help us plan for the future by taking our survey.
Help share authentic history by becoming a guide.
Covid Policy: Due to limited space in exhibition galleries and our desire to keep us all safe, visitors must now obtain a general admission ticket to visit. Groups are limited to no more than eight people. Groups must obtain a timed group ticket.
Hours:
Business hours 10 am -6pm;Exhibtion hours 1pm-6pm; Museum Shop and Cafe hours 9am-1pm
Location
233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Upcoming Events
Culture & Heritage
Juneteenth 2025
Time: Saturday, June 14, 20259:00 AM - 3:00 PM / Jefferson School City Center Lawn
Also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Liberation Day, Juneteenth commemorates the day that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas were finally emancipated. This year’s festivities occur on June 14, from 9-3 pm.
Class, Special Event
We Gather to Breathe and Move Saturday, April 26
Time: Saturday, April 26, 20259:00 AM - 10:00 AM / JSAAHC Dance Studio RM 213
Join the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center's friends and family to breathe, meditate, and move as a community. Find a space of respite and connection during this time of uncertainty.
Hours
Heritage Center
Tuesday – Friday 1.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Saturday 10 am – 1 pm
Closed Monday & Sunday
Jefferson Heritage African American Center © 2020. All Rights Reserved