“Visions of Progress: Portraits of Dignity, Style and Racial Uplift” is an exhibition at the University of Virginia that showcases portraits of African American people photographed by Holsinger Studio in the early 1900s.
“It is inspiring to our school-aged children who are majority-minority. So it gives them something to aspire for when they look and see, Black female-owned businesses, Hispanic family-owned businesses Middle Eastern family-owned businesses,” Harrisonburg City Councilman Chris Jones said.
“If you don’t remember your history, then things will go back to the way they were,” Walter Brown explains. “This was a central gathering point, if you stop to think about in the 50s you had your home, your school, your church and this was the neutral gathering point.”
“It was brand new. Something brand new to the area, Black culture didn’t have. So when it was built in our area, it became very special,” Buddy Stewart explains.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/JJM6XT57HZAPHDLPMBNZHDIYUA.jpeg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/KZPO2OAYARD4VE2K252JL7VOGM.JPG)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/KZB5CW6KB5FFTP4WJAXMPWC2VA.jpeg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/Z7QTNIWTDJALVCELKOTD46JWPE.JPG)