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  is entering into its second community engagement phase. In this phase we are asking Charlottesville to help determine where a work of public art could be located in our community. We hope that you will participate by completing a short survey about your park usage. It only takes 3 minutes to complete. 

Our goal in the next year is to focus on our area’s parks as cultural landscapes. Through research, guided tours, and community conversations we will continue to educate ourselves about the role public art can play in shifting centers and changing minds.

Swords Into Plowshares is a project of our Center For Local Knowledge which hopes to use research to further social justice. 

We are hiring! We are looking for a researcher to get us to our next milestone. Click here for job description.  All applications should be sent to localhistory@jeffschoolheritagecenter.org

Help us plan for the future by taking our survey.
Help share authentic history by becoming a guide.

It’s Wednesday 6:30 pm EST — Sorry, we’re closed. Visit us when we’re open!

Contemporary Gallery

Please purchase a ticket before you arrive.

Nic(o) Brierre Aziz: Haiti Across the Water

1 June  – 31 August, 2024
Nic(o) Brierre Aziz is a Haitian-New Orleanian interdisciplinary artist and curator born and raised in New Orleans, LA. His current practice is deeply community focused and rooted around the utilization of under discussed personal and collective histories to reimagine the future. His work is also very centered around the Caribbean Diaspora and he is interested in Blackness as an experience, construct and capitalist tool. The exhibition features works produced in the last five years that critically consider such things as history, migration, white supremacy and the lives of Black males. About his practice Aziz asserts that he “seeks to create work from the dark matter that uplifts and heals, while exposing truths that enable us all to tread down a more collectively harmonious path of liberation.” Aziz is the recipient of several artist residencies and fellowships and most recently, was selected as a 2020 Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellow and a 2021 Joan Mitchell Center Artis-in-Residence. The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of a private collection, Yale School of Art, and the JSAAHC Annual Fund.

Beyond Boundaries: The Sculpture of Alice Wesley Ivory

14 September  – 14 December, 2024
 

Curated by Katherine Slaughter 

In the 1960s when Alice Ivory(1931-1999) began to make sculpture, she was arguably an anomaly. While Black women had been part of the sculptural canon since the early 20th century, when Edmonia Lewis received international acclaim for her work in marble, none would create diminutive anthropomorphic work such as Ivory’s. A native of Albemarle County, Ivory attended the Albemarle Training School before receiving a degree from Virginia State University. She began welding objects in 1957 while studying at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received a degree in art education. A prolific artist, her body of work includes almost 100 objects mostly rendered in copper and brass and are of subjects that were familiar to the artist–”birds, fish, insects, etc.” Beyond Boundaries consists of nine works by Ivory and a portrait by Francis Brand of Ivory posing with two works–an eagle mounted on a pedestal and a dog that stands at the artist’s feet.

Beyond Boundaries: The Sculpture of Alice Wesley Ivory is a collaboration between the JSAAHC and the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. It is made possible through the generous support of the Joseph and Robert Cornell Foundation and the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center Annual Fund.

Become a Member

Join today and be part of our vision for 2023 and beyond!

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

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

Daily 1.00 pm–6.00 pm

Location

233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903

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Upcoming Events

Culture & Heritage, Special Event

2024 Kwanzaa Celebration

Time: Saturday, December 14, 20244:00 PM - 7:00 PM /
On December 14 we will gather to celebrate the holidays by learning about Kwanzaa. Granville “Buster” Braxton will play an opening drum call before a libation is poured. Buster will play some of his original music while you shop for those last minute presents. There will be a kids crafts table where they can make […]
Culture & Heritage, Special Event

Veterans Day

Time: Monday, November 11, 20244:00 PM - 7:00 PM /
On November 11 at 4pm, we will screent he movie Red Tails, which is the story of the creation of what would be come the Tuskeegee Airmen. Following the movie we will have a talk with veterans Frank Walker and Reginald Lewis. This event is free and open to the public.
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