There was a time when Richmond was synonymous with the trans-Atlantic slave trade. As time went on, it didn’t get much better with associations with the Confederacy, as a foundational city for Jim Crow segregation, as the sacred home of Confederate memorialization, and the hotbed of Massive Resistance to school desegregation.
Lost in all that is that Richmond was also a national leader in racial reconciliation efforts after the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Marvin T. Chiles, assistant professor of African American History at Old Dominion University, addresses that topic in his Feb. 8 talk at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. Based on his new book, “The Struggle for Change: Race and the Politics of Reconciliation in Modern Richmond” (University of Virginia Press), the talk focuses on what Richmond did right and how it needs to build on it today.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, cities across the nation enacted urban revitalization projects to help repair their economies after suburban flight and deindustrialization. Richmond was one of the few cities where Black political and white economic leaders advertised and organized revitalization projects to heal race relations. “The most vivid example is the affirmative action pacts and required equal representation at the highest levels of urban revitalization projects,” Chiles recalls. “Also, Richmond grassroots groups rallied together to help end redlining, compelled local banks to provide mortgage loans to working-class Blacks in the ‘80s, helped expand public transportation in poor Black communities, and created various programs to help with wealth creation among the city’s poorest residents.”
In the 1990s and 2000s, Richmond’s neighborhood organizations, along with the museum community and nonprofits, celebrated the city’s Black history. This was done with neighborhood organizations compelling residents to explore its history of slavery through newer Black landmarks and statues. Museums began diversifying their exhibits, leading to the erection of the American Civil War Museum.
Chiles’ inspiration for writing “The Struggle for Change” book came from growing up in the ‘90s and 2000s as Richmond was reconciling its racial issues. “Then I learned of Richmond’s racial past in college and was confronted with [its] reputation as a racist city,” he says, adding that during his research, he was surprised to learn that Richmond had so many movements going on that focused on healing race relations. “So, I sought to understand if Richmond had truly changed, and to what extent that had happened and why?”
His goal was to give credit to Richmonders for trying to tackle the racial issues plaguing themselves and America in the 21st century. “It’s also intended as an inspiration for the many locals in the public and private sector by showing them that they aren’t alone in wishing to make Richmond a city without racial issues,” he says. “In fact, they’re building on the efforts of those who dealt with worse racial strife than they are today.”
In the last few decades of the 20th century, the city tried to “fix” its image using an alliance of Black political and white business leadership to encourage economic growth. This was followed by interracial grassroots groups hosting conferences and traveling the nation and globe to display the interracial harmony that had arisen from the grassroots activism in the 1990s and 2000s.
“Traditionally, white public history institutions began allying with Black history groups to openly display the city’s past with slavery and Jim Crow, all while using it to discuss current racial issues,” Chiles says. “Much of what Richmonders did was on display for non-residents to show that the city was no longer completely riddled with the racism of slavery, Jim Crow, Massive Resistance, and white flight.”
Unfortunately, the city’s measures unintendedly reinforced racial disparities – inequity in wealth, housing, and education – that existed before them. Before the reconciliation movement of the 1970s, Richmond’s Black residents lived in a struggling city with poor housing and an underfunded school system ill equipped to train kids for the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century. Improving the city’s image led to many businesses and people moving to Richmond in the late 20th and early 21st century.
But as people and entities came in, gentrification displaced many working and underclass Black people.
“These same displaced people were still largely unable to access the knowledge-based economy that provided the middle-class lifestyle that many Richmonders enjoy because the city’s middle and high schools remained repositories for the area’s struggling Black students,” he says. “As race relations got better, the issues dividing the races actually remained and, in some cases, got worse.”
But Chiles is hopeful there are ways to address the systemic issues that continue to plague Richmond. He’s convinced that that having all-hands on deck would go a long way toward fixing systemic issues that result in poor race relations.
“If I had to put my finger on one thing, it begins with residents helping city schools develop local talent to the degree that they can compete for the knowledge-based managerial and administrative jobs that buttress Richmond’s economy,” says Chiles. “Richmonders must rally together to end it.”
“Racial Reconciliation in Modern Richmond” with Dr. Marvin Chiles takes place on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. The event will also available through live streaming at VMHC’s Youtube and Facebook pages. Tickets here.
