Tonight the Valentine Richmond History Center opens a new exhibition, "Battle for the City: the Politics of Race," which examines the impact of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s on the city's social, political, and physical landscape. The exhibition came to pass because we feel strongly that Richmond's 20th-century history is just as critical to understanding the city today as are its 18thand 19th-century eras. We want to recognize the significant progress that has been made since the mid-20th century in addressing critical community issues.

Further, the History Center conducted a survey last year and found that Richmond residents know more about Richmond's Revolutionary and Civil War history than they know about its more recent past. Many respondents nevertheless indicated a desire to better understand how the city today came to be in terms of landscape, architecture, politics, and demographics. Over the next three years, the History Center will develop major exhibitions that will take new looks at the past century and its enduring legacy.

The modern civil rights movement and the urban planning of the mid-20th century in many ways created the region we know today. Where we go for entertainment and shopping, the places we live and go to school, and how we get there are all products of the political and social decisions of this period. "Battle for the City" travels through three decades, but I find the 1950s to be the most critical. They set the stage for the explosive decades to come.

THE 1950s marked the beginning of a renewed African-American political activism that would challenge Richmond's existing political order. In 1948, as Richmond adopted a city manager/strong council form of government, Oliver Hill became the first African-American member of City Council since 1896. (It would take another 30 years before Richmond would have its first African-American mayor.) In 1956, the Richmond Crusade for Voters formed to help turn out the African-American vote and endorse African-American candidates. This important organization provided a powerful counterpoint to the Richmond Citizens' Association, a white civic and business organization.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated schools to be unconstitutional in its 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. Yet, segregationists found ways to evade and defy the new law through a campaign of "Massive Resistance."

Throughout the 1950s, Richmond's African-American schools remained substandard, under-funded, overcrowded, and often had no playgrounds or room for expansion. Teachers were paid less, had fewer supplies, and were ill-equipped to serve the growing student population. State-appointed Pupil Placement Boards ensured the continued segregation of schools by denying student transfer requests.

It was not until 1960, a full six years after Brown, that the first African-American students in Richmond were allowed to attend all-white Chandler Middle School, and not until 1963 when Richmond attorneys Samuel Tucker and Henry Marsh won a court order abolishing the placement system.

CITY PLANNING in the 1950s perpetuated racial and economic segregation. The Bartholomew Plan, adopted in 1947, was Richmond's first formal master plan and called for a beltway to be built around the city (just realized with the completion of 288) and interurban projects such as the Powhite Parkway, the Downtown Expressway, and the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike (now Interstate 95).

While the broad intent was to make the city more livable and efficient, the new highways divided and/or demolished low-income and minority neighborhoods and physically isolated the African-American community. These decisions led to the development of public housing and urban renewal projects such as the rejuvenation of the Carver neighborhood, the creation of a historic preservation movement with the establishment of the Historic Richmond Foundation in 1956, and the opening of the region's first mall, Willow Lawn, in 1957.

As the 1950s gave way to the 1960s, the issues of race and gender, education and housing, and government structure continued to dominate life in Richmond. The decades to come would witness debate over school busing, annexation, more highways, and desegregation of public facilities.

With images and artifacts, "Battle for the City" tells this difficult and highly complex story, the imprint of which we still feel today. It is an opportunity to learn about the origins of these important community challenges and perhaps find hints for 21st-century solutions.

The Richmond portrayed in this exhibition is a city we cannot imagine today. While often challenging in its content, "Battle for the City" reminds us all of the individuals and organizations that worked so diligently to move the city forward during this difficult period and of the progress that has been made in addressing the issues of inequality and justice that have always been a part of the American story.
Bill Martin is the executive director of the Valentine Richmond History Center. Contact him at wjmartin@richmondhistorycenter.com or (804) 649-0711.