RICHMOND, VA’S BLACK EXPERIENCE

The story that keeps shaping a country

Enter the Richmond region, and into the heart of the Black story that shaped this country. This is the 360-degree picture of America. Black arts and culture, businesses, community and history are woven into our fabric, in a place where one in four African Americans has ancestral roots. We are home to the Harlem of the South; home of Maggie Walker, the first woman in the U.S. to charter a bank; and a destination that every American needs to experience to fully understand our nation.

Richmond is the site of National Geographic’s image of the year: the iconic visual of a space reclaimed by the community as Marcus-David Peters Circle. This image of George Floyd projected over a confederate general has sparked meaningful – and essential – conversation, both on site and across the world. On RVA’s Arthur Ashe Boulevard, artist Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of War is a 27-foot testament to the classic equestrian monument, featuring a modern young African American man. The Mending Walls mural project uses public art to foster understanding and to encourage the meaningful and necessary dialogue that is moving Richmond forward. The Manchester Slave Trail and Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia compel thought and revelation. Sites honoring Maggie Walker, Oliver Hill, Barbara Johns and others exude a sense of resilience and the power to overcome. (Note: Many of these attractions can be experienced outside.) And our Black culinary experience is as diverse as Richmond itself, with more than 70 restaurants expressing culture through exceptional cuisine.