IATH NEWS

Launch of Black Virginians in Blue

April 5, 2021

The official launch of the "Black Virginians in Blue" (BVIB) project will be marked by a two-day 2021 Signature Conference by the Nau Civil War Center. IATH has been providing technical development and support for the project, which is studying Black Virginians from Albemarle County, Virginia, who served in the Union army or navy during the U.S. Civil War. The BVIB team has been creating a database of 256 men who enlisted and served in dozens of different regiments in multiple states, chronicling their experiences before, during, and after the war.

The conference takes place over two evenings, beginning on April 13 at 7pm with a Zoom webinar. Elizabeth Varon, Langbourne M. Williams Professor of History at UVA, and William Kurtz, the managing director and digital historian at the Nau Center, will demonstrate the project’s web site and discuss its findings. Day two begins on April 14 at 7pm, also on Zoom, and will feature a conversation between Nau Center Director Caroline E. Janney and historians Holly Pinheiro, Amy Murrell Taylor, and Emmanuel K. Dabney about their research on the African American experience in the U.S. Civil War. Registration is required.

The John L. Nau III. Center for Civil War History was founded in 2015 with a gift of $13 million to the UVA College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. It serves as a preeminent academic center for scholars, archivists, and students studying the American Civil War. BVIB is one of three projects that is utilizing digital tools to study both familiar and forgotten resources.