Ivy Talk - God’s Acre: Learning from African American Cemeteries

In her talk and book, "Hidden History," Lynn Rainville travels through the overlooked African American cemeteries of central Virginia to recover information crucial to the stories of the Black families who lived and worked there for hundreds of years. This illustrated lecture will present information from these historic graveyards to reveal attitudes towards death, religion, and the family. The talk will conclude with suggestions for how to re-locate, preserve, and share information about these sacred sites.

Lynn Rainville received her B.A. from Dartmouth College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She has spent the last two decades studying Virginia’s historic cemeteries, enslaved communities and their descendants, segregated schools, poor farms, and Virginia's role in World War I. Her grant-funded research has produced numerous articles and books. After 15 years as a college professor, Dr. Rainville founded an institute for public history and historic preservation at Sweet Briar College and, later, served as the Dean and chief academic officer. In 2019 she moved to Lexington to begin a new chapter in her career as the Executive Director of Institutional History and the Museums at Washington and Lee University, where she is also a professor of Anthropology.

This talk is free and will be offered on Zoom, but registration is required here: https://app.donorview.com/6pNnv