Photo of a memorial for the victim of the Unite the Right rally.

Archivist Report on Aug. 11 and 12, 2017

All the articles from the University of Virginia's student newspaper covering the "Unite the Right" rally, and the grief, activism, and reforms it sparked.
Robert E. Lee statue

The Fight Over Virginia’s Confederate Monuments

How the state’s past spurred a racial reckoning.

Racism, Medievalism, and the White Supremacists of Charlottesville

The weekend's demonstrators were the latest in a long line of American racists to ally themselves with an imagined Middle Ages.
Violence during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017.

The Battle of Charlottesville

What happened in Virginia was not the culminating battle of this conflict. It’s likely a tragic preface to more of the same.
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What Would Jefferson Say About White Supremacists Descending Upon his University?

Jefferson had a complicated relationship with white supremacy.
Richard Slotkin.

“A Theory of America”: Mythmaking with Richard Slotkin

"I was always working on a theory of America."

Charlottesville’s Lee Statue Meets its End, in a 2,250-Degree Furnace

The divisive Confederate monument, the focus of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally, was melted down in secret and will become a new piece of public art.
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Extremism in America: Out of the Shadows

According to experts who monitor the radical right, the white supremacist ideology that police say drove the Buffalo gunman has begun moving into the mainstream.
Statue of Robert E. Lee on his horse.

Reëxamining the Legacy of Race and Robert E. Lee

The historian Allen C. Guelzo believes that the Confederate general deserves a more compassionate reading.

An Oral History of Trump’s Bigotry

His racism and intolerance have always been in evidence; only slowly did he begin to understand how to use them to his advantage.

Pokémon Go, Before and After August 12

Gaming in the shadow Charlottesville's "Unite the Right" rally.

White Nationalists Held a Race Rally in Charlottesville. The Location Was No Coincidence.

The region was at the epicenter of eugenic policy-making in the first half of the 20th century.
Violence during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017.
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Charlottesville Was About Memory, Not Monuments

Why our history educations must be better.

Violence and Free Speech

Does our approach to the First Amendment need to change in the wake of this summer's violence in Charlottesville?

When Speech Meets Hate

A legal expert offers a First Amendment analysis of the summer’s violent rallies.

Historic Alexandria Church Decides to Remove Plaques Honoring Washington, Lee

The memorials to the two parishioners will be relocated to a new place of “respectful prominence.”

Making Sense of the Violence in Charlottesville

Was the white-nationalist march better understood as a departure from America’s traditional values, or viewed in the context of its history?

An Intimate History of Antifa

"Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” by Mark Bray, is part history, part how-to.
Violence during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017.

America's Deadly Divide - and Why it Has Returned

Civil War historian David Blight reflects on America’s Disunion – then and now.

Charlottesville: Why Jefferson Matters

Annette Gordon-Reed explores the ways in which the many paradoxes of Jefferson make him a potent figure for racists and anti-racists alike.