Virginia Humanities

06/23/2026

“The HBCU culture … you can’t put a price tag on that.”

In the premiere episode of our new video podcast “In Common,” Cheryl Mango and Lisa Winn Bryan reflect on the enduring culture and legacy of HBCUs, and why their value goes far beyond dollars and cents.

🔗 Watch or listen now: https://loom.ly/0A2J9ag

06/22/2026

What does freedom look like when told through the lives of extraordinary Virginia women?

Join us for “Bricks Without Straw: Virginia’s Finest,” a powerful performance by our Rosel Schewel Fellow Morgan Avery McCoy Harris. Through storytelling and multimedia, the production brings to life the stories of 10 remarkable women whose courage, leadership, and vision helped shape the commonwealth.

📍 University of Lynchburg
🗓 Monday, July 6 | 3PM
🎟 Free, registration required

Learn more and reserve your spot: https://loom.ly/5xI9PRo

06/18/2026

🎙️ Introducing “In Common” — a new video podcast exploring the stories, histories, and cultures that shape Virginia.

Through conversations with historians, artists, and community leaders, “In Common” highlights the experiences that connect communities across the commonwealth.

In our premiere episode, Cheryl Mango and Lisa Winn Bryan discuss the culture, currency, and legacy of HBCUs, and ask an important question: Is there room to critique an institution you love?

▶️ Watch the first episode and join the conversation: https://loom.ly/0A2J9ag

06/17/2026

Sign up for our next EntryPoint!

You probably already know that Virginian Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. But what role did Virginians play when it came to some of the other U.S. founding documents?

In this free, virtual webinar, join EV editor Patti Miller and three leading historians of the American Revolution to learn more about these founding documents and their unique relationships to Virginia. Register now, and join us at noon on July 1, 2026.

Register here: https://loom.ly/sIcRboU

06/15/2026

June is packed with opportunities to learn, connect, and explore Virginia’s stories. From author talks and exhibitions to community conversations and cultural celebrations, our grantees are hosting events across the commonwealth all month long.

Can’t make it in June? There’s plenty more on the horizon. Browse all upcoming grantee events and start planning your next outing: https://loom.ly/pc9GwWE

06/14/2026

Meet Brian Grim and Debbie Grim Yates, the siblings behind The Konnarock Critters, one of Southwest Virginia’s most beloved old-time bands. From learning fiddle and banjo as kids in the Blue Ridge mountains to passing those same traditions down to their own children, their story is a reminder of what roots really mean.

🎻 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/ylpwZ3I

06/13/2026

Your summer reading list is here! And it has something for every kind of reader 📚✨

is back with its annual reading recommendations, and this year four Virginia professors brought their best picks to the table.

Megan Doney explores the world of translated fiction, Austin Jersild uncovers Cold War history, Michael Carhart traces the story of early humans, and Matt Brent shares a speculative Japanese retelling you won't see coming.

🔗 Listen to the episode: https://loom.ly/lRdtUiY

06/12/2026

, the Fifth Virginia Revolutionary Convention ratified the Virginia Declaration of Rights. How did it presage the Declaration of Independence and its contradictions about slavery? Find out in our new Encyclopedia Virginia Blog:

https://loom.ly/ZMKVvVc

In a tumultuous season of revolutionary fervor, a Virginian took up a quill and parchment and committed words to paper that would echo across the thirteen North American British colonies and down through time, becoming one of the most imitated constitutional documents in American history.  It decla...

06/12/2026

What did the American Revolution look like in Loudoun County?

A new exhibit at the Loudoun Museum invites visitors to piece together the story of Loudoun during the Revolutionary era through the experiences of the diverse people who called the region home.

In our Q&A, Executive Director Carrie Christoffersen shares how exploring these stories helps us better understand the Revolutionary ideals of liberty, representation, and human dignity.

🔗 Read more: https://loom.ly/O601CD4

06/11/2026

, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five to draft a declaration of the United Colonies as “free and independent States.”

John Adams wrote in his diary that one reason he asked Thomas Jefferson to write the draft was because “he was a Virginian and I a Massachusettensian.” Jefferson spent the next few weeks of June drafting, sharing, and editing what would eventually become the Declaration of Independence. The image below is one of Jefferson's draft fragments at the Library of Congress.

🔗 Read more about the Declaration of Independence on :