On Thursday, February 13, 2025, the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation co-hosted Dr. Alex Long in a joint presentation titled, Victory Stadium:  How a Lawyer, a Minister and 20 Football Players Helped End Segregation in Virginia and Professional Sports in the Logan Gallery on the campus of Roanoke College in Salem, VA. 

Based upon his article to appear in the next Journal of the Historical Society of Western Virginia, Dr. Alex Long, professor of the of the University of Tennessee College of Law, spoke to 70 people about an event in August of 1961 when the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Colts were scheduled to play a pre-season football game at Victory Stadium in Roanoke, Virginia. However, at that time, a Virginia statute required that seating for the contest be segregated. In response to the decision by local organizers and officials to sell tickets to the game on a segregated basis, a local civil rights lawyer and a local minister worked together to bring national attention to the injustice of the law by organizing the first successful civil rights boycott of a professional sporting event.

Following his presentation, Dr. Long held a Q & A session followed by a ‘meet and greet complemented with light refreshments.   

A Zoom recording was made of Dr. Long’s presentation for the convenience of those unable to attend. It will be available for viewing until February 2026.

https://roanoke-edu.zoom.us/rec/share/dQpeO8DQsvGFbv9M5Xb90NFEPjpSoIayIY3km_19tFDRxl4AlLDUaYSFIep8WTdk.VJ7x0XmQqOLlf18N   Passcode: R9+c#c.G

This event was a joint presentation of the Historical Society of Western Virginia, Roanoke College Anthropology Concentration, Roanoke College Center for Studying Structures of Race, Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation, and Salem Museum and Historical Society.

Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation is thrilled to announce an engaging series of history-based lectures taking place during Ferbuary 2025 that you will not want to miss!!

Mark your calendars now for these thought-provoking events!

Thursday, February 13, 2025 @ 7PM
Victory Stadium:  How a Lawyer, a Minister and Twenty Football Players Helped End Segregation in Virginia and Professional Sports with Alex Long

In August 1961, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Colts were scheduled to play a pre-season football game at Victory Stadium in Roanoke, Virginia. However, a Virginia statute required that seating for the contest be segregated. In response to the decision by local organizers and officials to sell tickets to the game on a segregated basis, a local civil rights lawyer and a local minister worked together to bring national attention to the injustice of the law by organizing the first successful civil rights boycott of a professional sporting event.

Based on his article in the next Journal of the Historical Society of Western Virginia, Professor Alex Long of the of the University of Tennessee College of Law will deliver the talk on February 13, 2025 at 7pm in the Logan Gallery on the campus of Roanoke College. The talk is free and open to the public.

Parking for this event is available in the following Roanoke College parking lots: P10, P11, P14 and P28.

This event is a joint presentation of the Historical Society of Western Virginia, Roanoke College Anthropology Concentration, Roanoke College Center for Studying Structures of Race, Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation, and Salem Museum and Historical Society.

If you are unable to attend in person, you can also view Dr. Long’s presentation via livestream/zoom.  

Hope to see you there!

February 20, 2025 @ 6PM
Uncovering & Honoring Hollins Community History

Join researcher and Hollins alumina Brittany Flowers and learn about the Hollins Community Memory Project, a research initiative dedicated to preserving and honoring the history of families from the Hollins Community — a community whose ancestors were enslaved by Hollins University’s founder and those closely associated with the institution. Through their resilience and labor, these individuals helped build and shape the university while creating a rich, historic community of their own.

Attendees will gain insight into the project’s collaborative and respectful approach to ethical storytelling practices, emphasizing accountability, transparency, restorative research.

This event is a joint presentation between the Christiansburg Institute, Inc. and Roanoke Public Libraries.

February 27, 2025 @ 6PM
Virginia Untold

Join Library of Virginia librarian, Peter North, and the Gainsboro Branch Library to celebrate Black History Month with a lecture on Reconstruction in Virginia after the Civil War and and exploration into Virginia Untold, the Library of Virginia’s African American narrative. This event is a joint presentation between the Roanoke Public Libraries, Library of Virginia, and Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative.

Please join us for a journey through time as we explore these pivotal moments in our history with our esteemed speakers. Each lecture promises to provide fascinating insights and open up discussions about their relevance today.

We can’t wait to see you there

The 2024 Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation Kegley Preservation Awards were presented before 50 attendees during the Foundation’s Annual Meeting and Awards Reception held on Thursday, November 21, 2024 in the sanctuary at the new Belmont Lofts located at 825 Stewart Avenue SE in Roanoke, Virginia.  

These awards presented annually recognize notable examples of historic preservation, rehabilitation, stewardship, education, advocacy, and restoration projects that have maintained or added to the Roanoke Valley and surrounding area’s historical, architectural, and/or cultural heritage.  They serve not only to commend the winners’ hard work, but to also promote public awareness of the values of older structures, the importance of individual historical efforts, and the significance of education and environmental work in our community.

“Recognition of people, programs and projects that help to promote good stewardship and preservation of these resources is an important part of achieving the mission of the Foundation,” explained Alison Blanton, Awards Committee co-chair. Blanton noted that this year’s list has a wide variety of nominees from private and public renovation projects to Lifetime Achievement awards to heritage education.

Visit the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation Kegley Preservation Awards webpage for additional information including previous years’ Kegley Preservation Award winners.

SAVE THE DATE as YOU are cordially invited to attend the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation Annual Meeting & Kegley Preservation Award Presentations on Thursday, November 21, 2024 beginning at 6:00 PM.

Belmont Lofts
825 Stewart Avenue SE
Roanoke, VA
6:00 PM

Light refreshments will be available

Everyone Is Welcome

Hope to see you there!

The Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation, Inc. regularly publishes a bi-annual newsletter that shares historic, cultural, and natural preservation-related information and activities taking place throughout the Roanoke Valley, the surrounding counties and their municipalities.

We hope you will enjoy our most recent issue:  

2024 Summer Focus on Preservation Newsletter

Visit our website’s Newsletter page for a comlisting of past newsletters.

Only July 5th, 2024, the Claytor Memorial Clinic building in Gainsboro, a historic site known as one of Southwest Virginia’s earliest Black family-owned medical clinics, received official recognition from the state with a new historical marker. Founded by Dr. John B. Claytor Sr. in 1948, in memory of his late wife Roberta Claytor, the clinic provided crucial healthcare services at a time of racial segregation.

The unveiling ceremony also underscored the challenges faced by the Claytor family during Roanoke’s urban renewal period, which threatened their clinic and nearby properties with eminent domain. Despite legal battles, the Claytors prevailed, leading to legislative changes that curtailed localities’ use of eminent domain. Jordan Bell, a Gainsboro historian, emphasized the community’s responsibility to preserve and restore the clinic, noting its symbolic importance in revitalizing the entire Gainsboro area. Vice Mayor Joe Cobb echoed these sentiments, calling for city support in restoring the clinic as a focal point of community resurgence.

Despite this honor, the future of the clinic, closed since the 1990s, remains uncertain. Efforts by the Claytor family to secure funding for restoration, including a proposal to use federal pandemic relief money from Roanoke City Council, were ultimately unsuccessful. The city had intended to repurpose the site as part of a community hub for small business development and healthcare, but negotiations faltered.

The new marker, located in the cul-du-sac next to the clinic, marks the culmination of a year and a half of efforts led by Nelson Harris, former City of Roanoke mayor and local historian. Funds for the state marker were raised by the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation from the proceeds from their annual Scavenger Hunt and Pub Crawl.

This marker is part of Roanoke’s growing collection of historical markers, with a significant focus on acknowledging overlooked Black histories.

On June 25th at the Dumas Center auditorium located at 108 Henry Street NW in Roanoke, VA, the Gainsboro Branch Library hosted Defiant Libraries: Virginia Lee and the Secrets Kept by Good Bookladies, a lecture and book event honoring the legacy of librarian Virginia Lee. A lecture by Laura Helton, assistant professor at the University of Delaware and author of Scattered and Fugitive Things: How Black Collectors Created Archives and Remade History, highlighted Virginia Lee’s clandestine fight against access restrictions on Black readers and Black literacy during Segregation in Roanoke.

Following Helton’s lecture, a panel discussion was held and moderated by Nelson Harris, with special guests Dr. Curtis Reeves, Jr., Dr. lvin and Virginia Schexnider, family of Virginia Lee, and Carla Lewis, former librarian of the Gainsboro Branch Library.

Exclusive event book sales will be by Book No Further.

This is one interesting lecture you will not want to miss, so SAVE THE DATE!!

A grassroots effort seeks to turn a crumbling school building into a bustling community hub

The Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation, Inc. regularly publishes a bi-annual newsletter that shares historic, cultural, and natural preservation-related information and activities taking place throughout the Roanoke Valley, the surrounding counties and their municipalities.

We hope you will enjoy our most recent issue:  

2024 Spring Focus on Preservation Newsletter