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Celebrate our 10 year anniversary!
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Some thought we wouldn't make it. But we have emerged as one of the leading cultural institutions in our region. Be a part of the next 10 years.
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.
It’s Tuesday 1:36 pm EST — We’re open. Come visit us!
Daily: 1 pm – 6 pm, Sat 10 am - 1 pm
Mon, Sun - Closed
Sally Hemings University Connecting Threads
Sally Hemings became Thomas Jefferson’s property when she was a toddler and he was a newlywed. Fourteen years later, she would be in Paris, pregnant with his child, and free under French law. Sally Hemings exercised the full extent of her limited agency to craft a legacy of liberation for her descendants. Her son Madison wrote that his mother negotiated “extraordinary privileges” in exchange for returning to Virginia slavery. Taking Hemings’ role as an enslaved seamstress seriously, Sally Hemings University Connecting Threads interrogates the ways in which aesthetic practices (art, craft gestures) can operate within and alongside liberatory strategies.
The Sally Hemings University Connecting Threads exhibition encapsulates the semester-long work of the students of Sally Hemings’ University, a higher-level English course offered at the University of Virginia that interrogates how aesthetic practices can operate within and alongside liberatory strategies. The course is taught by Dr. Lisa Woolfork who is an artist and English professor at UVA and Tobiah Mundt, a local fiber artist and founding member of the Charlottesville Black Artist Collective. SHUCT artists have read several works by phenomenal scholars and artists such as Audre Lorde’s The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House, Kevin Quashie’s Black Aliveness, and Jocelyn Johnson’s My Monticello.
Picture Me As I Am | Mirror and Memory in the Age of Black Resistance
Of the over 1000 photographs taken at the Holsinger Studio 600 of these were portraits of African Americans. This subset, of which this exhibition presents a small selection, date between the late 1890s and the first two decades of the Twentieth Century. Away from the white gaze, these commissioned portraits suggest the aspirations of people distanced two to three generations away from enslavement. They were instructed by Black teachers who firmly understood the importance of education as a tool of freedom. They were guided by preachers who sermonized Black attainment from their pulpits. They were also exposed to newspapers with coverage and mastheads that delivered a sentiment of Black liberation. Consequently, the environs that inform these images are emulated in the self-consciousness embodied by their subjects.
The title Picture me as I am is taken from Frederick Douglass’s “Lectures on Photography”. It is curated by Andrea Douglas and Jordy Yager. Special thanks is owed to Lauren Broussard, JSAAHC Trailblazer Museum Studies Intern, for her help in researching the exhibition. Picture me as I am is made possible through the generous support of the Jefferson Trust, the UVA Holsinger Studio Project, JSAAHC Board of Directors and the annual fund.
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Some thought we wouldn't make it. But we have emerged as one of the leading cultural institutions in our region. Be a part of the next 10 years.
Season tickets available for 2024-25
JSAAHC’s Charlottesville Players Guild is on a mission to make sure every Black artist knows what it is like to create within a completely Black space.
New class begins Saturday, September 16, 2023 and continues each Saturday until October 28!
Public history is fun! We invite you to help us make Charlottesville our open air classroom. Learn local history and African American art history on Saturdays from 9am to 12pm. Apply to become a community guide today.
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.
Gallery available Tuesday through Friday 1pm–6pm and Saturdays 10am–1pm
Guided tours of our permanent and contemporary exhibitions are available for groups of 10–30 adults. Book your tour or view tour dates and time availability on our calendar.
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.
233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Heritage Center
Tuesday – Friday 1.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Saturday 10 am – 1 pm
Closed Monday & Sunday