Theodore Holmes News Today

Several articles in the Nov. 16, 2023, edition of the Richmond Free Press chronicled the discovery of more than 140 badly decaying boxes containing personal documents, artifacts and archival materials that belonged to the late civil rights attorney and Virginia State Delegate Roland J. “Duke” Ealey. The documents were found several years ago by James “Jim” Vigeant and Sasha Finch while restoring their Clay Street home in Richmond’s Historic Jackson Ward.

Five years into the renovation of a 143-year-old brick house on East Clay Street in Jackson Ward, James Vigeant’s work halted. To his surprise and amazement, he found an unexpected treasure — 144 moldy boxes filled with the decaying legal papers of one of Richmond’s legal giants, Roland J. “Duke” Ealey.