Re: History
The Ealey Project
An accurate, first-hand account about Jackson Ward, Richmond and what was happening in Virginia and in the United States during the “Post Reconstruction” challenges and the “Civil Rights” movement.
Learn More
About the Project
What exactly is The Ealey Project?
The Ealey Project looks to honor and reveal the life and legacies of the Honorable Roland J. “Duke” Ealey, whose legal and political career spanned 6 decades from 1940 to the early 1990s and touched on several important issues and events of the 20th century:
- Desegregation of Richmond, Virginia courtrooms
- Brown vs Board of Education
- Interstate Highway System family displacement
- Massive Resistance and the Byrd Machine
- Voting Rights
- Poll tax litigation and campaigns
- Deeds of trust (real estate purchase and loan records), one with a title search to 1806
Learn More about The Ealey Collection
Starting with the Ealey Collection, which contains a wealth of legal and supporting documents from Ealey’s legal and political career, TEP will produce an accurate, first-hand account of Jackson Ward, Richmond, and what was happening in Virginia and in the United States during the “Post Reconstruction” challenges and the “Civil Rights” movement.
The Ealey Collection will educate, reveal, and display firsthand documents and artifacts to the public and remove some of the misinformation present in our American historical story about African Americans.
TEP will conduct and produce video oral and documentary historical accounts of living persons and existing organizations related to Duke Ealey’s significant work.
TEP will support research into the “Deeds of Trust” embedded within the Ealey Collection, using these primary source documents to disclose true stories of Richmond family displacement through eminent domain land grab by the Federal, State, and local governments in the 1950s as part of the Interstate Highway project. The plan is to research this material and give some firsthand identification to the displaced families.
The project will also create “pop-up” mobile historical exhibits that can be presented to various communities and institutions throughout the United States.
We also want to include these projects on our future website as an interactive website to share with the BIPOC community and beyond publicly.
TEP’s larger goal is to create a foundational platform to advance a larger, fuller, and more comprehensive American historical record of Jackson Ward and a more comprehensive historical record of African-American stories missing from our existing American historical narrative.
Partnerships
To enhance the chances of success with this project. TEP has forged several partnerships with key local, state, and national organizations.
• TEP finalized a contractual agreement with the Library of Virginia to properly preserve, archive, protect, and digitize the original Ealey documents.
• TEP has a collaboration with the Historic Jackson Ward Association (HJWA) to facilitate a strong Community Engagement program to support the Library of Virginia, to build trust and support for the project among the neighbors within Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood, and, ultimately, through the greater Richmond area.
Pictured: Aerial of Richmond during the construction of Interstates 95 and 64.
Oral History, Preserved
Did you or a loved one, neighbor, or friend live this history?
Overview
Our Goals
We will create a foundational platform to advance a larger, fuller, and more comprehensive American historical record about Jackson Ward and a more comprehensive historical record of African American stories missing from our existing American historical narrative.
The Ealey Collection
The Ealey Collection will educate, reveal, and display firsthand documents and artifacts to the public and remove some of the misinformation present in our American historical story about African Americans.
The Ealey Project
The Ealey Project will conduct and produce video oral and documentary historical accounts of living persons and existing organizations related to Duke Ealey’s significant work.
“DUKE”
Roland Ealey
“the essence of a citizen politician, a man with longtime, strong roots to his Richmond community and a heartfelt concern for the safety of his neighbors and the future of our children.”
—Former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder
Lawyer. Legislator. Civic Leader. Veteran. Teacher.
Roland “Duke” Ealey was a pioneering civil rights lawyer who led the fight to desegregate Richmond’s courtrooms, worked on the national Brown vs. Board of Education team, and served in Virginia’s House of Delegates.
Found History
The Ealey Collection
In 2018, new homeowners discovered a collection of files and papers related to the law office of Roland J. “Duke” Ealey. The collection spans six decades of legal work from 1940 – 1992. The discovered materials include communications related to Brown vs. the Board of Education; Interstate Highway System property owner displacement; integration of the Richmond court system, Massive Resistance; the Richmond Crusade for Voters; poll tax ligitation; the Prince Hall Freemasonry; and deeds of trust and title searches reaching back to 1806.
Now on deposit at the Library of Virginia, this significant collection will be professionally archived, digitized, and made publicly available for scholars, students, and members of the public to research this significant progress, contention, and change.
A small, Commited team
Officers
James Vigeant
President
Allison Merritt
Vice President
Sasha Finch
Treasurer
Paul Vigeant
Secretary/Clerk
Board of Directors
James Vigeant
Co-Chair
Janis Allen
Co-Chair
Cynthia Lowry
Paul Vigeant
Chad Wollerton
Contact Us