Around this time, African American organizations – including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP – emerged and flourished, looking for ways to fight for Black people’s rights.

“This is all happening when Jim Crow’s getting worse,” Mason said. “The Ku Klux Klan was rising and active locally by 1920, crosses are being burned, statues being erected, etc. It was front-page news in the Daily Progress. The newspaper reported on the Klan as if they were the Chamber of Commerce.”

Local activities of Black organizations were connected to national actions. The Holsinger exhibit includes commentary published by George W. Buckner, a civil rights activist and businessman who was born and raised in Charlottesville. In 1921, Buckner published a manifesto, “The New Negro: What He Wants,” in the local Black newspaper, The Messenger. It also was reprinted in the Daily Progress.

The Holsinger Studio portraits of African Americans who exemplified the virtues of the New Negro amplify Buckner’s words, Mason said.

In a tweet about the exhibit, Mason wrote, “For most of the 20th century, ‘Negro’ was the term that most African Americans preferred. That changed in the 1960s, when ‘Black,’ ‘Afro-American’ and ‘African American’ came into common usage. But early in the century, when the portraits were made, ‘Negro’ signified race pride.”

The Northside exhibit, which is free and open during the library’s regular hours, was originally planned for spring 2020, but the pandemic put it on hold. The Northside Library, located at 705 West Rio Road, is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.