Arts & Culture

The recent discovery of a Fort built by Spanish Conquistadors in what is now North Carolina, almost half a century before Jamestown was settled by the British, is causing some to rethink American history. A Blacksburg historian says southwestern Virginia played a much larger part than many people realize.  

Next month, as it does every year, the Virginia Military Institute will honor ten cadets who were killed at the Battle of New Market - boys who were not supposed to fight, but ended up filling a gap in the confederate line. 

They and 237 other cadets get credit for winning that battle and keeping union troops out of the Shenandoah Valley.  Now they’re the subject of a surprising film - written and produced by a man with no movie-making experience.    

Students of American history learn about the Civil Rights movement in this country – about marches and sit-ins in places like Birmingham and Selma, but at Virginia Commonwealth University there’s a new project underway – an online display of photographs from one of many other cities where such protests took place. 

VCU is hoping the public can help identify participants and share details of what went on. 

The University of Virginia recently unveiled a surprising work of art – a painting by one of Germany’s best known graffiti artists -- on four panels of the Berlin Wall.

A University of Virginia Professor is celebrating a rare victory today – winning a Pulitzer prize for the second time. 

Alan Taylor’s latest book – The Internal Enemy -- tells the story of 3,400 slaves who escaped from Virginia and Maryland plantations to British ships off the coast during the War of 1812.

“I found some important documents, including some letters written by these former slaves, telling dramatic stories of their night time escapes, fighting on behalf of the British as marines and sailors and nurses and laundresses and guides and pilots.”