Holsinger Collection News Today

A collection of 10,000 stereotype-defying images documenting Black life in Central Virginia will be on display at UVA.

During the Jim Crow era, when minstrel shows and racist caricatures accounted for nearly all visual representations of Black people in distinguished self-portraits that shattered stereotypes.

The collection has the power to change the historical narrative of Black life in Central Virginia during the 19th and early 20th century.

The Holsinger Collection exhibit Visions of Progress: Portraits of Dignity, Style and Racial Uplift features photographs taken by well-known Charlottesville photographer Rufus Holsinger.