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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.

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Help share authentic history by becoming a guide.

It’s Friday 6:21 pm EST — Sorry, we’re closed. Visit us when we’re open!

Contemporary Gallery

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.

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.

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

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

Performance

A Song for Coretta by Pearl Cleage

Time: Thursday, April 17, 2025April 17, 2025 - 12:00 AM - April 27, 2025 - 12:00 AM /
The play, set in 2006, and written as an homage to King as well as Rosa Parks, Dorothy Height, Diane Nash, and other iconic women, is a conversation between five Black women of all different backgrounds. Talking, as they wait in line to view Coretta Scott King’s body as it lay in state at Ebenezer […]
Culture & Heritage, Special Event

Liberation & Freedom Day Reparations Run 2025

Time: Saturday, March 1, 2025
Prolyfyck Run Crew and the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center are partnering to present this year’s Liberation + Freedom Day Run/Walk.  We are raising funds to support 101.3 JAMZ, African American Teaching Fellows, Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP’s Youth Council Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, Prolyfyck Run Crew, Tonsler League and Vinegar Hill Magazine‘s Black Business […]
Lectures

Evelyn Barbour Lecture: Joshua D. Rothman

Time: Thursday, February 27, 20256:00 PM - 7:00 PM /
On February 27 at 6PM, as part of our Evelyn Barbour Lecture Series,  Dr. Andrea Douglas will be in conversation with Joshua D. Rothman. Rothman is Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Alabama. A graduate of the University of Virginia, he is the author of three books […]
Special Event

Conversation & Book Signing: Pertelle Gilmore

Time: Saturday, February 8, 2025
On February 8 at 4PM Dr. Andrea Douglas sits down to talk with Pertelle Gilmore about his first-ever published book, The Unfolding: Evolution of the Apex Predator. The book, in the form of autobiographical poems and short essays of a former gangster, takes us through every dimension of the mind of a young Black male […]
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