The Story of His Life and Work: Public History at The Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial (1945-1956)

dc.contributor.authorEvers, Sara L.en
dc.contributor.committeechairTaylor, Jessicaen
dc.contributor.committeememberQuigley, Paulen
dc.contributor.committeememberHicks, Daviden
dc.contributor.departmentHistoryen
dc.coverage.countryUnited Statesen
dc.coverage.countyFranklin Countyen
dc.coverage.stateVirginiaen
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-01T19:03:28Zen
dc.date.available2023-06-01T19:03:28Zen
dc.date.issued2023-05en
dc.description.abstractIn 1945, Black leaders gained political and financial support from the governments of Virginia and the United States to establish the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial at the site of Washington’s birth in Franklin County, Virginia. The Memorial organization undertook public history work that emphasized Washington as a significant figure in United States history and provided needed education services to Black Southerners. In pursuit of their goals staff, of the Memorial navigated the political and social context of Jim Crow Virginia; this thesis discusses how the history of Booker T. Washington was represented during the founding and operation of the Birthplace Memorial (1945-1956), a time of upheaval in Virginian race relations.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralMemorials are spaces of remembrance which signify the values of the society in which they are constructed. In 1945, a group of Black leaders established a memorial to Booker T. Washington at the site of his birth in Hardy, Virginia. The establishment of this memorial was a remarkable feat in the historical context of its creation. Memorial founders gained support from white elites in the Virginia and federal governments during the Jim Crow Era, a time of legal and social discrimination against African Americans. This thesis explores the work of the public historians at The Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial as they gained support for its establishment, developed programming to meet the needs of the local African American community, and represented the history of Booker T. Washington.en
dc.description.degreeM.A.en
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/115287en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectPublic Historyen
dc.subjectBooker T. Washingtonen
dc.subjectJim Crowen
dc.subjectCivil Rightsen
dc.titleThe Story of His Life and Work: Public History at The Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial (1945-1956)en
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineHistoryen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameM.A.en

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