Untold Stories of Quiet Determination

Felgates Creek, part of the Reservation community
Title credit: Rosa Lee, Photo Courtesy: Leona Reed

In the decades following the Civl War, formerly enslaved Black people joined free Black families to build livelihoods and communities on the banks of the York River. This community became known as the Reservation.

In 1918, the U.S. government commandeered the land to build what is now known as the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown. Over the next few years, these families were displaced - pushed from their land and community.

This is their story.

Descendant families have partnered with The Village Initiative's Local Black Histories Project and their faculty and student collaborators at William & Mary to build this exhibit that explores the experiences of the Reservation community.

Explore below to learn about the families who lived in the Reservation, including their efforts to secure land and build churches, schools, and other community assets. Next, explore their displacement by the U.S. government and their courageous efforts to challenge this loss of land and other assets and the meager compensation they were offered. Learn about the resilience of these families as they rebuilt their lives and community after their displacement. Finally, consider the intergenerational trauma experienced by descendant families and learn about their activism today to make this history known.

Life before Eminent Domain: The Reservation Community

Dispossession and Protest

Coming Soon

Resilience:
Rebuilding a Legacy

Coming Soon

Intergenerational Trauma and Activism Today

Coming Soon

Families of the Reservation

In this section, we honor families that were displaced from the Reservation and offer an opportunity to explore the experiences of individual families.

Hundreds of families were displaced from the Reservation. We seek to honor as many families as possible through this exhibit. The families we have spotlighted first are those who have conducted research into their family's history and contributed their archival research, genealogy, oral histories, photos, and other documents to build this exhibit. We have also been able to include families whose ancestors gave oral histories to the James City County Historical Commission or William & Mary over the decades. We would particularly like to recognize Mary Lassiter, Rosa Lee, Bernie Vaughan, and the Lee family for their tireless work reaching out to descendant families, supporting families' geneological research, and bringing this exhibit to life, and the Hundley Family History Committee for their tireless research and efforts to gain broader recognition of this important history through multiple venues. If you would like to contribute photos, documents, or oral histories for your family, please contact us at localblackhistories@gmail.com.

Some ancestors who were displaced from the Reservation did not discuss their experiences with their families, shielding their descendants from this trauma. As a result, some families do not realize that their ancestors were affected by the displacement. If you think your family may have been affected, please contact us at localblackhistories@gmail.com. It would be our honor to provide support for your family research and to include your ancestors in this exhibit.

Click on the photos below to learn about the families of the Reservation.

- Coming Soon -