In a 2004 interview with the Washington Post, Ricky Haynie of Haynie Farms in Virginia mentioned, “You know what my gravest fear for Black people is?” he asks. “That we’ll end up on reservations. That we won’t own any land.” The first Africans to arrive in Virginia in the early 1600s were displaced from their home communities. This would begin a long history of Black Virginians being forcefully displaced for centuries to come.
Most recently, the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism examined Black communities displaced by institutions of higher education in Virginia. Expanding more broadly statewide to include multiple categories of displacement, over a three-month period, each region in Virginia was examined for the total displacement of Black communities, such as Black neighborhoods, including businesses and religious organizations. Of 133 total jurisdictions in Virginia, 76 communities in 38 localities were noted as having Black communities that were displaced.
Virginia displacement instances were grouped into the following eight geographic regions: Eastern, Hampton Roads, Central, Northern, West Central, Southside, Valley, and Southwest. During the urban renewal effort alone, an estimated 7,996 families of color were displaced in Virginia.
In the Eastern region, one displacement was revealed when 50 black families in Onancock were forced to leave in response to a race riot in 1907. The Hampton Roads region suffered 17 displacements, most notably from urban renewal, with Norfolk experiencing the brunt of the hit, with over 4,000 families displaced. Additionally, the Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown displaced 600 black families in The Reservation community.
The Central region of Virginia encountered 14 displacements. The Vinegar Hill community in Charlottesville was forcefully removed for development, resulting in the closure of more than 30 black businesses and the displacement of over 600 Black families. The Gospel Hill community was displaced for an addition to the University of Virginia Medical Center. In Richmond, the construction of Interstates 64 and 95 displaced over 7,000 residents in the Jackson Ward community. Further, in Richmond, grave robbers took newly buried bodies from Black cemeteries to supply Virginia Commonwealth University and other medical schools with cadavers.
In the Northern region, 14 black communities were displaced; notably, the Queen City community was removed to build the Pentagon, and the Willard community was displaced to build Washington Dulles Airport.
The West Central region revealed nine displacements. In Blacksburg, the previous Black community of Newtown was displaced by a fire station, commercial development to support Virginia Tech’s increasing student enrollment, and road construction. In Roanoke, the Northeast and Gainsboro communities were razed in to construct the civic center and Interstate 581, with over 24 churches, 200 black businesses, 1,000 graves, and 1,600 homes affected.
In the Southside region, eight Black communities were displaced. In Mecklenburg County, a Black cemetery was relocated to support the commercial development of a Microsoft data center. Currently, two Black cemeteries in Pittsylvania County are being relocated to accommodate economic development. In the 1990s, the Wilson Family Cemetery in Callahan Hills was built over by a home.
The Valley region suffered ten displacements of Black communities. In Lexington, home to several Confederate memorials, the historical burial ground for Black people was acquired by the city, and houses were built over the burials in the 1940s. Black remains were supposed to be relocated to the Evergreen Cemetery, but evidence of the reburials was never substantiated.
Finally, in the Southwest region, three Black communities were displaced. Bristol is a city that shares both Virginia and Tennessee as home. On the Virginia side, the Black Bottom community, also known as Front Street, was displaced through urban renewal. On the other side of the state line in Tennessee, 59 families from the Five Points community were displaced.
Despite the numerous displacements statewide, two of the oldest Black spaces remain intact. The Pocahontas Island (peninsula) community in Petersburg formed in 1752, fought off displacement efforts in the 1970s, and remains today. The Tucker Family Cemetery in Hampton remains undisturbed and houses the bodily remains of the first-born African American, William Tucker, whose parents, Isabella and Antony, landed in Hampton in 1619. Many locations have issued public apologies for their roles in displacing Black communities, and yet some Black communities are still fighting not to get displaced today.
Jeff Bennett is a native of Danville. Besides freelance writing, Bennett works as a business consultant for transportation and emerging technology companies. Bennett resides in Alexandria and holds an undergraduate degree in English from the Virginia Military Institute.
