Date: August 1, 2024
In January, I joined the Multicultural Ministries team as an independent contractor. Since then, it has been my pleasure to work with Ebonee Davis and Dean Joseph Thompson on Programming and Historical Research for Reparations. The last six months have been transformative. My time has expanded an already deep appreciation for the field of public history in so many ways, but I have especially appreciated my work with descendant families.
The research team has done a tremendous job unearthing the lives and stories of Black laborers at Virginia Theological Seminary across the eras of enslavement, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow in the United States. I have been privileged to meet and build connections with the descendants of those laborers as I have worked with Ebonee and Dean Thompson to onboard families into our programs.
From sharing stories about playing on campus as children to memorizing each branch of their family tree, these families are archivists who curate and carry the history of their ancestors in every space they occupy. It is through their collective endeavor to remember that we can paint a fuller picture of Black sociality at VTS. It is the presence and voices of the descendants that make the folders of the archives come alive. Every interaction has been sacred and magnifying.
At the same time, engaging in this work has not only reminded me of the beauty and sacredness of the archives but also of its absences and limitations. Though, there are names and stories that may never be found and histories we may never encounter, I hold on to these words from historian, Saidiya Hartman: “The only thing I knew for sure was that [they] did have a name and a life that exceeded the frame in which [they were] captured.” I am honored to encounter the rich history of Black Alexandria at VTS and to invoke the spirit of those named and unnamed who make this work possible.
Amoni Thompson-Jones