No need to travel far for black history sites

OK, so I will be the first to tell you that I don't know my black history like I should, especially when it comes to my hometown, the capital city of the commonwealth.

So when I received a chance to go on a brief tour with my old history professor at Virginia Union University, Dr. Raymond P. Hylton, I jumped at the opportunity.

Virginia Union

We started the tour at Virginia Union. Hey, don't call us homers for starting at our school, just read more.

The L. Douglas Wilder Library is a must-visit place VUU graduate or not because of the new history panels that chronicle the university from its inception in 1899 to now. The 15 panels were unveiled in October 2008, about 109 years after the first classes convened on Oct. 4, 1899.

It's chock-full of information, and you could spend quite a few hours going over the panels. They contain information about all of the school's presidents, such as Dr. William John Clark, VUU's third president, who helped Virginia Union become co-ed by merging with Hartshorn Memorial College, one of the earliest African-American women's colleges ever established.

Maybe the overlooked story of the "Richmond 34" will catch your fancy. About 200 VUU students marched from campus to downtown Richmond on Feb. 22, 1960, during the heart of the Civil Rights movement. Protesting at Thalhimer's lunch counters, 34 of the students were arrested. "It's an unsung story; we've got to tell it," Hylton told me. "There's such a thing as humility, but humility can sometimes be a sin. We have to tell the story. We're quite proud of our panels."

Within the library, Union also has an art museum full of 100to 200-year-old African artifacts.

Downtown churches

Richmond houses plenty of historic churches that may go unnoticed among all the renovations going on downtown.

Monumental Church sits downtown beside Virginia Commonwealth University-owned Old First African Baptist Church, which is located by the VCU's MCV campus.

Monumental houses a plaque for unsung hero Gilbert Hunt. Hunt saved seven or eight people from the deadly Richmond Theatre fire in 1811, but Hunt was not given his freedom until 20 years later. He is honored along with the 72 who were killed in the fire.

First African Baptist Church claims to have been organized in 1780, making it the oldest African-American church in Richmond. By 1802, the church had moved to its second, permanent location.

Other churches that have been around for ages include Sixth Mount Zion (read more about it below), Ebenezer Baptist (150 years and counting) and Sharon Baptist, established in 1887.

The Black Wall Street

From downtown we went back to Second Street, known as "The Deuce" back in the day; Jackson Ward, to most now. I've ridden through this section of town many times but knew nothing about what it meant to blacks.

Hylton cleared that up for me. Walking up and down Second Street, I soaked up the nostalgia through the architecture of the old buildings and through Hylton's words.

Close your eyes and you can imagine men in business suits, doctors, lawyers and the like heading to work in thriving Jackson Ward affectionately referred to as "The Black Wall Street" or "The Harlem of the South."

And picture women walking the sidewalks in their fancy outfits and big hats, going to places like the Hippodrome Theater to see Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong.

"All of those great artists played there," Hylton said. "They've been trying to restore it for a long time. Jackson Ward became an economic nerve center for African-Americans."

There are a lot of places like the Hippodrome, screaming for restoration. Eggleston Hotel is one. Located on Second Street across from the legendary theater, the hotel is where top performers used to stay, according to Hylton.

From there we took a left past Croaker's Spot restaurant to the Maggie Walker National Historic Site on Leigh Street.

We then found the St. Joseph's Bell Memorial Park in the 700 block of North First Street. The original bell of the first black Catholic church in the South is still suspended, with names of contributors on the bricks below.

The church's history is documented in a book by Peter Rachleff, "Black Labor in the South: Richmond, Va., 1865-1890."

From a spot right outside of the bell, you can see the old St. Luke Penny Saving Bank, the first bank led by a black female president, Maggie L. Walker. It's not a historic site; it's not kept up anymore. But it is still a wonderful memory that hopefully one day can be restored.

"Jackson Ward is under the radar," Hylton said. "It's a very endangered historical site. You get an echo of what it once was."

A little-known jewel

Hylton and I moved down to West Duval Street and found Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, a national historic site that I definitely didn't know about. I took some snapshots of the plaques on the outside of the building and a gentleman asked if we needed some help.

It was Benjamin Ross, the church's historian who was just about to depart. He showed us into the building and gave us a tour and two ears full of the church's 142 years before taking us down to the John Jasper Museum.

Sixth Mount Zion all started with Jasper, a former slave who started the church in 1867 in an abandoned horse stable. The constantly growing congregation eventually moved to its current location two years later and is only on its seventh pastor in 142 years.

And man, did Ross have some things in this room: hats of former church members; Jasper's pulpit set; Sunday school chairs; clothing; a 19th-century Bible; communion sets; and much more. Mount Zion even saves each funeral program to help keep a record of the lineage of the church.

It's quite a gem that may not be known by many. "Over the years our collection has grown and grown and grown," Ross said.

That about ended our two-hour tour, which didn't go farther than five miles and didn't burn a hole in our pocket. Everything was free, except for the few places that accept donations.

It was no problem for me, as I felt empowered and more informed knowing I live near a neighborhood rich in black history.

I'll definitely go back to Jackson Ward.

(Can be boxed as sidebar etc:)

Other spots in the general area:

The Black History Museum and Cultural Center, 00 Clay St., www.blackhistorymuseum.org, (804) 780-9093; Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $3-5 admission

Bill Bojangles Monument, at Adams and West Leigh streets. The monument marks the first traffic light in Richmond, donated by Bojangles for safety.

Tour contact info:

Sixth Mount Zion: Contact Benjamin Ross for a tour and/or to see the John Jasper Museum at (804) 648-7511, (804) 240-3559 or rossbc@verizon.net.

VUU Library: (804) 257-5822.

Monumental Church: 1224 E. Broad St. (between North 12th and College streets)

Old First African Baptist Church: At College and Broad streets, beside Monumental Church. The congregation is no longer housed there, but at 2700 Hanes Ave.