Join us at the Library for a free screening of the VPM documentary feature film Raised/Razed followed by a discussion with filmmakers Lorenzo Dickerson and Jordy Yager moderated by cultural organizer and public historian Justin Reid. The film explores the lasting effects of Urban Renewal on Vinegar Hill, a large African American neighborhood in the heart of Charlottesville. For nearly a century, Vinegar Hill—like hundreds of Black communities across America—thrived as the center of business, education, religious and cultural life before being destroyed by the federally backed and locally executed Urban Renewal program.

The film weaves original audio interviews of former Vinegar Hill residents from the early 1980s with modern-day interviews with their descendants to bring the neighborhood back to life as it existed at its height and to take viewers into the homes, classrooms and businesses of community members. This story also draws connections between Charlottesville’s Vinegar Hill and the demolished Hayti neighborhood in Durham, North Carolina, to show how Urban Renewal irreversibly transformed the lives of people across the country. Raised/Razed leaves us with the question of repair and what can be done to reckon with this history. 

For more information, contact Elizabeth Klaczynski at elizabeth.klaczynski@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3536.

This is a free event. Registration is required.