CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – The African American Legacy Tour series will gradually incorporate additional African American sites of memory and cultural significance that are located throughout the counties and cities of the New River Valley, providing a unique, visceral, and honest pathway for community members to reinvestigate Black histories and experiences in rural Appalachia in Southwest Virginia from Slavery to Civil Rights.
The first driving tour series starts in Montgomery County, Virginia, home to the historic Christiansburg Industrial Institute (CII). Tourists will visit 19 sites total, located in Christiansburg, Blacksburg, historic New Town and Wake Forest, each illustrating a nuanced insight into African American life in Southwest Virginia. Tour sites include schools, churches, businesses, cemeteries and former plantations.
For more information check out Education. Preservation. Empowerment. (christiansburginstitute.com)