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Fellowship

The next generation of researchers
Fellowship

Front Row: Lisa Winn Bryan, Sheila Elliott (F25), Marlo Green (F25), Karice Luck-Brimmer (F25)
Second Row: Ana Edward, Ian Vaughan (BOD), Carmen Foster (COC), Sonja Branch Wilson (F23), Viola Baskerville (COC), Latoya Gray-Sparks (F23), Brian Brown (Chair, COC/BOD) Michelle Oliver (F24), Horace Scruggs (F24), and James Harrison (F24)

Across America, only 1% of preservationists are African-American. Yet, America has been significantly defined by the African American experience. From the economics of enslaved labor to the country-defining fight for civil rights to the music cultures of jazz, blues, and hip-hop; American history is also Black history.

Every year, the Voices Remembered fellowship selects a group of fellows to deepen their knowledge of the preservation sciences, and conduct research about Virginia’s Black history. From genealogy to archeology, our fellows mine the past to reveal new truths.

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List of projects by year

  • 2023

    Sonja Branch-Wilson  – (Cumberland, VA)
    Funeral Records and Programs: The Biography of a Black Community from the 1930s through the 1960s, Cumberland, Virginia

    LaToya Gray-Sparks (Richmond, VA)
    The West End School Memory Project  – Randolph Community
    Richmond, Virginia

    Randall Hazard (Gloucester, VA)
    Community Archives and Green Book Sites: Highlighting the Black Night Life of Gloucester, Virginia, Gloucester, Virginia

  • 2024

    Lorenzo Dickerson, Filmmaker, Albemarle County, VA
    Lorenzo’s project as a part of the PVA African American Fellowship is an oral history and short documentary-style film that tells the story of the St. John Elementary School in Cobham, Virginia, which opened in 1922 to replace the previous school building and provide a better learning space for African American students.

    James Harrison, Genealogist, Surry, VA
    Black American Land Ownership on Grays Creek. This study is designed to archive the history of land ownership among Black Americans living near Grays Creek between 1860-1960 in Surry County, Virginia.

    Michael Johnson, Cemetery Preservationist, Alexandria, VA
    Michael Johnson is a fifth-generation Alexandrian. His family dates back to 1790 in Virginia, and he has seven family members buried at Douglass Cemetery. Seven years ago, he started this journey at Fredrick Douglass Cemetery.

    Michelle Oliver, Genealogist, Richmond, VA
    Michelle Evans Oliver is a distinguished leader and scholar with a unique blend of genealogical and historical research expertise and over 20 years of experience in the financial, insurance and marketing industries—the Evergreen Cemetery.

    Horace Scruggs, Filmmaker, Palmyra, VA
    Teaching and conducting professionally since 1985, Horace Scruggs is an active musician, conductor, composer, educator and documentary filmmaker. Mr. Scruggs holds a Bachelor of

  • 2025

    Karice Luck-Brimmer – (Danville, VA)
    The People, the Church, the Community of Pittsylvania County, Virginia

    Dr. Sheila K. Wilson Elliott – (Capron, VA)
    Nottoway Tribal Nation of Virginia, A Genealogical Project, in Southampton County, Virginia

    Marlo Green – (Petersburg, VA)
    The Jarratt House on Pocahontas Island, the oldest 19th-century settlement for free Blacks in Virginia, Pocahontas Island (Petersburg), VA

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