Join us at the Library for a talk by historian Jody Lynn Allen on her new book, “Roses in December: Black Life in Hanover County from Civil War to Civil Rights,” the inspiring chronicle of a Black community in Virginia fighting for civil rights over the course of a pivotal century.
“Roses in December” presents a story of strength, courage and beauty found in difficult times and the most challenging of circumstances. Beginning in the era of Reconstruction and ending with desegregation, Allen chronicles the lives of newly freed people and their descendants in Hanover County, providing an unprecedented look at rural Black Virginians’ resilience after disfranchisement. In the century between 1865 and 1965, Black residents of Hanover County embraced liberty as they organized for education, employment and religious freedom, and built a community that flourished in the face of white retrenchment and day-to-day oppression. The book’s attention to local, community-level history offers an overlooked yet vital perspective of the Civil Rights Movement in the rural South.
A book signing will follow the talk. Jody Lynn Allen is an assistant professor of history and the Robert Francis Engs Director of the Lemon Project at William & Mary.
This is a free event, but registration is required. Limited free parking is available underneath the Library at 800 East Broad Street. For more information, contact Anne McCrery at anne.mccrery@lva.virginia.gov or 804.692.3568.
