This Week in Virginia History
Sure, Virginia history includes big moments, big battles, and big names. But the richer history is full of smaller events occurring in the fullness of time. The disenfranchised, the nonconformists, and just regular people making Virginia history. Week in, week out. This Week in Virginia History explores those stories, curated by Nathan Moore and culled from the vast archives at Encyclopedia Virginia.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 2 minutes
- Episodes
- 125
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2023
Week of Jan 26: Forced sterilization patient Carrie Buck dies
Episode Notes
People don’t much like to talk about the dark history of eugenics these days. But less than 100 years ago, Virginia lawmakers passed the “Eugenical Sterilization Act” in a drive to prot…
Week of Jan 19: Patsy Cline skyrockets to fame
Episode Notes
“Crazy.” “I fall to pieces.” “Walking after midnight.” All classic Patsy Cline songs that may have been unknown today if not for a televised talent show competition.
Week of Jan 12: A Virginia author's book is banned
Episode Notes
At the beginning of the 20th century, Richmond native James Branch Cabell was a little known author, even though he had already published eleven books. So nobody really expected his twe…
Week of Jan 5: The British are Coming!
Episode Notes
Many Virginians know that the city of Richmond burned at the end of the Civil War. But that wasn’t its first time being destroyed by fire. That blaze happened during the Revolutionary W…
Week of Dec 29: Claudius Crozet was born
Episode Notes
Born in France and an engineer in Napoleon's army, Claudius Crozet eventually found his way to Virginia, where he became the chief engineer of the Blue Ridge Railroad Company. The compa…
Week of Dec 22: George Washington resigns from the army
Episode Notes
December 23, 1783 was an emotional day for George Washington. Crowds cheered for George Washington as he rode to Annapolis, Maryland. Despite their enthusiasm, Washington had one goal i…
Week of Dec 15: Maggie Walker passes away
Episode Notes
The second greatest leader since Booker T. Washington. The wealthiest African-American woman in the whole country. A supporter of educational and social work. Newspapers glowingly descr…
Week of Dec 8: Virginia militias defeat the British
Episode Notes
Revolution was brewing in Virginia. Royal governor Lord Dunmore took a number of actions that sparked civil unrest, and local militias began to muster. It all led to a battle at a Norfo…
E1 Week of Dec 1: John Brown executed for treason
Episode Notes
Guilty of conspiracy. Guilty of inciting an insurrection. And guilty of treason. So were the charges against John Brown after his failed raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. The…
Week of November 24: Fluvanna women demand an end to slavery
Episode Notes
Nat Turner’s 1831 rebellion horrified white Virginians and scared all of the slaveholding south. Anti-slavery debates erupted in the Virginia Legislature -- and afforded women their fir…
Week of November 17: Shrady agrees to make Robert E. Lee statue
A century ago, the so-called City Beautiful movement was all the rage. The goal was to make cities nice-looking with parks and monuments to by-gone eras. Stockbroker and philanthropist Paul McIntire …
Week of October 28: The burning of UVA's Rotunda
It was a Sunday morning in late October. Families were walking to church services. University students were slowly rousing from their beds. One early-rising scholar ambled across the UVA Lawn and saw…
Week of October 21: Albemarle County elects an African-American man for the first time
After the Civil War, southern states were required to re-write their state constitutions before being admitted back to the union. Virginia counties held elections for representatives to send to the s…
Week of October 13: A Female Civil War Spy in Richmond
It looked like a regular custard dish. Just a nice dessert to give to a friend. But it contained a compartment for secret messages -- a very nice feature for someone smuggling secret information from…
Week of September 29: The Wreck of Old 97
This week in 1903… The wreck of the Old 97 inspired a popular ballad. For nearly a century, country crooners from Woody Guthrie to Johnny Cash have sang about the wreck of the Old 97. But what was th…
Week of September 22: Virginia's first African-American member of congress
This week in 1890… the U.S. Congress seated John Mercer Langston, Virginia’s first African-American representative. A year and a half after the election was stolen from him, Langston won his appeal a…
Week of September 15: Virginia's governor closes schools rather than integrate
This week in 1958… Virginia Governor J. Lindsay Almond ordered the closure of Lane High School and Venable Elementary in Charlottesville.
Week of September 8: The murder (probably?) of Ambrose Madison
This week in 1732… Fourth U.S. President James Madison never wrote about his grandfather Ambrose. Which is surprising because Grandpa Ambrose was murdered by his slaves. Or so the court said.