Browse Items (22 total)

This poem is titled with a racial slur to elaborate that it not only depicts slavery, but also speaks for black people generally. The poem is a description of enslaved blacks which calls them a "dead race." In discussing slavery, it contrasts their…

This comedic map of the University of Richmond campus features racist jokes. One can be seen in the captions around the gym, called "Jim," which refer to black athletic trainer Esau Brooks as "the Indian rubber man." Running to the gym is an "Indian…

This article examines the link between church and state, specifically related to the America Civil War. The article credits the participation of the South in the Civil War to strong Protestant views, pointing to the high number of Southern religious…

The narrator of this poem expresses his identity as part of a "colossal being" of black people, preferring the collective 'we' to the singular 'I.' He explores slavery as "the torture that was endured for years and still / Silently exists today"…

This poem by Frank Gaines is about a man incarcerated describing the misery of being behind bars. In the poem he writes that God made him for slavery on this earth, which depicts the imagery of slavery to describe imprisonment. In the poem he…

The Collegian article “Richmond’s Slave History Depicted,” published February 18th, 1988, describes an exhibit held at the Valentine Museum called “In Bondage and Freedom: Antebellum Black Life in Richmond.” The exhibit highlights the necessity of…

This article written in 1988 describes a new Valentine Museum Exhibition, titled "In Bondage and Freedom: Antebellum Black Life in Richmond." Judy Lankford, the Director of Development at the Valentine Museum, stated that, "Richmond would not have…

This "Old Piedmont Negro dialect" poem was written by a white male student masquerading as a black storyteller. Its title refers to the fictional central character, Nias, an enslaved black man who is characterized as an unintelligent, unhygenic, yet…

This poem, narrated by "the slave's dream and hope," attacks the idea of "good hair" as a superior, more acceptable alternative to natural black hair. It asserts that good hair should have been left on the plantations, and compares it to the song…

This book review, authored by James A. Sartain, analyzes "The Story of Tobacco in America," written by Joseph C. Robert, a Professor of History at the University of Richmond and former President of Hampden-Sydney College. The author of the article…