Episode Summary:This episode looks at communities that have suffered neglect from official history, and the example of African American landmarks and burial grounds in Virginia. Some families and communities have pushed to reclaim their place and spaces, often using tools employed earlier by the Federal Writers’ Project. Project workers often consulted landmarks and cemetery headstones to present a fuller picture of local history. In southern states, the Writers’ Project encountered the Lost Cause, the effort emerging after the Civil War that aimed to rewrite the war’s meaning and origins in slavery. The myth shaped the environment for white writers of the WPA Guide to Virginia, and it continues to hold influence even today. Yet the field research underlying the WPA guide – the details the federal writers uncovered in records, interviews and landmarks – as well as another Project publication, The Negro in Virginia, provide a way to untangle the Lost Cause myth. We probe that history with poet Kiki Petrosino as she researches her family’s Virginia history, and with historians at the Library of Virginia, the Alexandria Black History Museum and the University of Richmond.Speakers:Audrey Davis, historianJulian Hayter, historianGregg Kimball, historianKiki Petrosino, poetAlton Darden, Helping Hand Cemetery trusteeMaurice Darden, Helping Hand Cemetery trusteeDolores Peterson, Helping Hand Cemetery trusteeLinks and Resources:Helping Hand Cemetery Club"Unmarked" documentaryPhoto Essay about East End Cemetery by Kiki Petrosino and Brian PalmerEncyclopedia Virginia entry on the Lost CauseAlexandria Black History MuseumLibrary of VirginiaFurther Reading: The Negro in Virginia by the Federal Writers’ Project White Blood by Kiki PetrosinoRewriting America: New Essays on the Federal Writers’ Project, edited by Sara RutkowskiHow the Word is Passed by Clint SmithThe Dream is Lost by Julian HayterAmerican City, Southern Place by Gregg Kimball Credits:Host: Chris HaleyDirector: Andrea KalinProducers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James MirabelloWriter: David A. TaylorEditors: Ethan Oser and Julie ChalhoubStory Editor: Michael MayAdditional Voices: Skip Coblyn, James Mirabello, Jared Buggage, Jerry Ray and Danielle Nance Featuring music and archival material from: Pond5Library of CongressNational Archives and Records AdministrationNPRWUSA9ABC NewsNews2ShareFor additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorderProduced with support from: National Endowment for the HumanitiesVirginia Humanities Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.