The John Marshall House has brought together area scholars and public historians in a virtual panel discussion to explore how the city of Richmond evolved between 1800 and 1830, and likewise, how Richmond’s free Black and elite white populations developed their own visions for the roles and future of Black people in the city.

Moderator:
Meika Downey, MA, Education Manager, John Marshall House, Preservation Virginia

Panelists:
Elvatrice Belsches, MA, Public Historian

Ana Edwards, MA, Public Historian, Sacred Ground Project

Nathan Hall, MA, Richmond National Battlefield Park

Dr. Ryan Smith, PhD, VCU Dept. of History

This program and all the work Preservation Virginia does across the Commonwealth is supported by donations from people like you. A donation of $10 or more is suggested if you are able. Click HERE to donate today! https://preservationvirginia.org/support/donation/

Register on Zoom HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zfsFiVFvRb-BJtkSmb4GOA

Panelist Biographies

ANA EDWARDS, M.A., PUBLIC HISTORIAN, SACRED GROUND PROJECT 

Ana Edwards is a public historian living and working in Richmond, Virginia. A native of Los Angeles, Edwards holds a bachelor of arts in Visual Arts from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona and a Master of Arts in History and Graduate Certificate in Public History from Virginia Commonwealth University. Edwards and her husband, Phil Wilayto are two of four co-founders of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality (2002) and she serves on the editorial board of The Virginia Defender newspaper which the group established in 2005. She chairs the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project, founded in 2004 by the Virginia Defenders to promote the reclamation and memorialization of the African and African American history of Shockoe Bottom, once the epicenter of the U.S. domestic slave trade. Edwards lectures on Gabriel’s Rebellion, race and racism, slavery in the Atlantic world and early America, public memory, historic landscapes, and the role of public history in social justice advocacy. Ana’s work has been published in two academic journals, two books, and documentaries about Gabriel’s Rebellion, Richmond’s African Burial Ground, and Union spy Mary Richards Bowser. She was a Mellon Foundation graduate research fellow at the American Civil War Museum for a recently opened exhibition, Southern Ambitions, and is currently involved in an interpretive planning project for The Valentine (Richmond history museum), and occasionally makes art.

ELVATRICE BELSCHES, M.A., PUBLIC HISTORIAN 

Elvatrice Belsches is a Richmond-area public historian, archival researcher and filmmaker.  She is currently the author of eight biographical entries for the African American National Biography (Oxford University Press) and the three-part series, When Freedom Came for the Richmond Free Press (2015). She has served as a guest curator for the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of VA, and as the researcher and writer of the narration, for the documentary, The Life and Times of Elizabeth Keckly (2014). Belsches was also honored to serve as an in-studio researcher on Steven Spielberg’s motion picture, Lincoln (2012).

RYAN SMITH, PhD, VCU DEPT. OF HISTORY

Ryan K. Smith received his PhD from the University of Delaware. He joined the Department of History at VCU as a member of the faculty in 2004. He has published three books, including _Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries_, which will be released by Johns Hopkins University Press in November.

NATHAN THOMAS HALL, RICHMOND NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD PARK (NPS)

Nathan Hall is a writer, public historian, and filmmaker from Richmond, with an undergraduate degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a master’s degree in history from Louisiana State University. He presently works for the National Park Service at Richmond National Battlefield Park and the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site.