Richmond historian and author Viola Baskerville will present the lecture on Thursday, May 7.

(Black PR Wire) Historian and author Viola Baskerville will present “The Black Boatmen of Central Virginia” on Thursday, May 7, at Historic Sandusky. The free lecture, which begins at 7:30 p.m., will be held at Sandusky’s visitor center. It is sponsored by the Potter Lecture Fund.

The event offers a preview of Baskerville’s forthcoming book, “The Black Boatmen of the James River.” The book tells the little-known story of free and enslaved boatmen of the 18th and 19th centuries who piloted flat-bottomed batteaux on the treacherous James River and, in doing so, helped “build Virginia’s commercial empire.”

Baskerville, a Richmond native, has degrees from the College of William & Mary and the University of Iowa College of Law. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bonn, Germany, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Richmond.

She is president of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Greater Richmond, Virginia Chapter and a member of the National Society Descendants of American Farmers and the Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage.

In 2020, the Virginia Museum of History and Culture recognized her as one of “Today’s Agents of Change.”  

Baskerville has served on Richmond’s city council and the Virginia House of Delegates and was Virginia’s secretary of administration from 2006 to 2010.

She has been involved in numerous community and preservation projects, including among others, saving the Historic Richmond Community Hospital, placing the Arthur Ashe Monument on Richmond’s Monument Avenue, and establishing the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial at the Virginia State Capitol.

“This is such an overlooked part of our Central Virginia history, but it’s very important and we’re excited to bring Viola to Lynchburg,” said Greg Starbuck ’14 MA, ’19 MA, Sandusky’s executive director.

Historic Sandusky, a nonprofit house museum owned and operated by the University of Lynchburg, is located at 757 Sandusky Drive in Lynchburg. For more information about Baskerville’s lecture and other events, email info@historicsandusky.org or call 434.832.0162.

Source: University of Lynchburg