RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – A new exhibition that highlights a pivotal, yet little-known chapter of the history of Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood opens at the Library of Virginia on July 14, 2025. The exhibition, titled “House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History,” is presented in partnership with The JXN Project, which was co-founded by Dr. Sesha Joi Moon and Enjoli Moon, and will examine the story of the first known Black homeowner in Jackson Ward, Abraham Peyton Skipwith, and his descendants.

The public is invited to a free opening reception on July 17, 2025, from 4 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., featuring guided tours and a panel discussion presented by Dr. Moon, co-founder and executive director of The JXN Project; Dr. Gregg D. Kimball, former director of the Library’s Public Services & Outreach division and senior consulting historian for the Shockoe Institute; Barbara C. Batson, exhibition coordinator; Catherine Fitzgerald Wyatt, education and outreach manager; and Ashley Ramey Craig, community engagement and partnerships specialist. The panel discussion will explore the origins of The JXN Project and the exhibition, the historical importance of Jackson Ward, the legacies of its destruction, and the future of The JXN Project.

Using archival records, maps and photographs from the Library’s collection, “House to Highway” will shed light on Skipwith’s journey from enslavement to becoming a free, successful businessman and owner of one of Richmond’s oldest documented homes, known as the Skipwith–Roper Cottage. The last known residents of the cottage were forced to leave when it was lost in the 1950s Richmond–Petersburg Turnpike construction, which displaced over 1,000 families, destroyed schools and businesses, and tore apart the Jackson Ward neighborhood. The Skipwith-Roper story echoes the legacy found in other Black American communities across the nation, including Bronzeville in Chicago, Hayti in Durham, and Sweet Auburn in Atlanta.

“It began with a simple question — ‘Who is the Jackson in Jackson Ward?’ In October 2020, this inquiry led me to the Library of Virginia and little did I know, but those seven words would help to unearth some of the hidden histories of the nation’s first historically registered Black urban neighborhood,” said Moon. “Now, four years later, ‘House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History’ serves as an opportunity to share the untold story of Abraham Peyton Skipwith as ‘The Founding Father of Jackson Ward.’ Through this exhibition, Skipwith’s life, lineage and legacy as the first known Black homeowner in Jackson Ward will be used to tell the Black American experience as part of the commemorative activities for the 250th anniversary of the singing of the Declaration of Independence — and my hope is that the exhibition will help to encourage future community collaborations as so many more untold stories are waiting to be found in the Library.”

The exhibition will be on view in the Library’s Exhibition Gallery from July 14, 2025, through Feb. 28, 2026, Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Following eight months at the Library, “House to Highway” will be reinstalled at the reconstructed Skipwith–Roper Cottage at The JXN Haus to open in April 2026 as part of the U.S. Semiquincentennial.

The Library and The JXN Project have also collaborated on exhibition-related educational and public programming scheduled for this fall.

“We’re pleased to offer additional opportunities for the public to be engaged in learning about this significant part of Richmond’s and our nation’s history,” said Librarian of Virginia Dennis T. Clark. “The JXN Project’s extraordinary work on bringing to light Skipwith’s powerful story aligns with our efforts to share stories of famous and ordinary citizens who are part of the Commonwealth’s rich, complex history.”

In addition to the opening reception, upcoming exhibition-related activities include: 

Walking Tours of Jackson Ward With Gary Flowers
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, 10 a.m. to noon
Register at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/14805763.

Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, 10 a.m. to noon
Register at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/14805783.

Local historian and radio personality Gary L. Flowers will provide free 20-stop walking tours of Historic Jackson Ward in the downtown section of his hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Attendees will learn about historic educational, economic, religious and social institutions that inspired the names “Black Wall Street” and “The Harlem of the South” for this neighborhood that served as an early model of Black capitalism in the United States. Tour participants will meet in front of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia at 122 West Leigh Street.

Virtual Book Talk With Richard Rothstein | “The Color of Law” and “Just Action”
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, noon to 1 p.m.
Register at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/14805280.

Richard Rothstein will present a free virtual talk on his books “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” and “Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law.” In “The Color of Law,” Rothstein argues with exacting precision and fascinating insight how segregation in America — the incessant kind that continues to dog our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife — is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state and federal level. “Just Action” describes how we can begin to address this situation and provides dozens of strategies that local groups can pursue to redress segregation in their own communities.

Rothstein is a Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

“House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History” Symposium 
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Register at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/14480337.

The Library of Virginia will host a free symposium inspired by the exhibition “House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History.” This day-long event will explore themes highlighted in the exhibition, including urban renewal, historic preservation and Black history. Presenters include Calvin Schermerhorn, professor of history at Arizona State University and author of “The Plunder of Black America”; Warren Milteer, associate professor of history at George Washington University and author of “Beyond the Shadow of Slavery: Free People of Color in the South”; and John Finn, associate professor of geography and chair of the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology at Christopher Newport University.

Additional sessions will include a workshop on historic preservation led by Latoya Gray-Sparks, community outreach coordinator for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and a discussion on grassroots historic preservation efforts presented by Viola Baskerville, former Virginia Secretary of Administration and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and Ana Edwards, a public historian and assistant professor of African American history at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virtual Presentation: Mapping Inequality With Robert Nelson
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, noon to 1 p.m.
Register at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/14805581.

Robert K. Nelson will present a free virtual talk on “Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America,” a digital resource hosted through the University of Richmond. Nelson directed the project and has been responsible for most of the development of the web application. The project features interactive versions of 1930s redlining maps produced by the federal government.   

The “House to Highway” exhibition is presented with generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities with additional support from the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond, Virginia Humanities and 12 On Your Side, as well as the Mellon Foundation for exhibition programming. Learn more at edu.lva.virginia.gov/house-to-highway/.

Find related images here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/jbrxc2qf7zmpczqb4ewug/ABUc04x0PSb0enSYebsqcmo?rlkey=aajf1iphqee7jacjhymd9s4dp&dl=0.

ABOUT THE LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA 
The Library of Virginia is the leading source of information on Virginia’s history, government and people. The Library’s collections, containing more than 134 million items, document and illustrate the lives of both famous Virginians and ordinary citizens. Our online resources draw nearly 2 million website visits per year, and our on-site records, exhibitions and events bring in thousands of visitors annually. The Library is located in downtown Richmond near Capitol Square at 800 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219. Learn more at www.lva.virginia.gov.

ABOUT THE JXN PROJECT
The JXN Project (JXN) is a historic preservation nonprofit organization committed to recontextualizing the origin story of the nation’s first historically registered Black urban neighborhood, also known as Jackson Ward, in the evolution of the Black American experience. Visit thejxnproject.org to learn more.