President's Commission on the University in the Age of Segregation

The University of Virginia

The University of Virginia President’s Commission on the University in the Age of Segregation (PCUAS) was founded in 2018 by President Teresa Sullivan  to “explore and report on UVA’s role in the period of racial segregation that occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.” The commission is honored to answer President Sullivan’s call and work with President James P. Ryan as we conduct research, acknowledge our difficult past, atone, and continue to engage with the community.

This website is one step towards our goal of truth telling and education —we will share the Commission’s research as we turn the investigative eye towards the University. Our consideration includes the land, the built landscape, archival holdings, art and material culture, as well as the broader Charlottesville-Albemarle community in which the school has been embedded in for two centuries. The site guides you through themes or ‘stories’ that have emerged over the course of our work—a particular experience of the materials. We constructed the archival exhibits intentionally as guided encounters with the University’s racist history. As a result, search and browse options only become available to the user after entering one of the stories below.

This repository of documents sheds light on the long history of racism and violence at the University of Virginia. Engaging with this content is emotionally and intellectually challenging. We have flagged specific disturbing or intense images & texts to share UVA’s truthful past in a responsible way that recognizes the intergenerational harm caused by the legacies of slavery and racism. 

You can access our featured Story from the archive by clicking the link below. To browse all of our Stories, please click here or use our navigation bar by clicking the "hamburger" icon in the top-right corner of the page.

Featured Story

Banner Image Credits (Left to Right)

  1. University of Virginia, Corks and Curls (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia, 1922), p. 359.
  2. University of Virginia, Corks and Curls (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia, 1895), p. 167.
  3. "Push to Rename Emancipation Park to Honor Swanson," Cbs19news.com, accessed March 01, 2021,
    4. https://www.cbs19news.com/story/41466157/push-to-rename-emancipation-park-to-honor-swanson )
  4. University of Virginia, Corks and Curls (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia, 1970).
  5. University of Virginia, Corks and Curls (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia, 1903), p. 61
  6. UVa Finals, Academic Procession. https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/images/items/uva-lib:2163470
  7. University of Virginia, Corks and Curls (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia, 1924), p. 330
  8. University of Virginia, Corks and Curls (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia, 1970)
  9. University of Virginia, Corks and Curls (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia, 1905), p. 221.
  10. United Public Workers of America Local 550 (Charlottesville, Va.). The Beam. Charlottesville, Va: Local #550, United Public Workers-CIO, May 24, 1948, p.2 .
  11. Skinner, David M.. Spectators and Confederate Flag At University of Virginia Versus Virginia Polytechnic Institute Football Game.
    12. https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/images/items/tsb:56378
  12. Claudrena Harold and Claudrena, “A Look Back at May Days: Crisis in Confrontation,” Black Fire, July 5, 2012, https://blackfireuva.com/2012/07/05/a-look-back-at-may-days-crisis-in-confrontation/.
  13. Rufus W. Holsinger. Glee Club University of Virginia. https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/images/items/uva-lib:1045142