The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in reaction to the extrajudicial killings of Black men, women, and children, as a call for justice and true equality. The phrase “Black Lives Matter” is typically not meant to be nationalist, separatist, or racist. Instead, it is a plea for equality, one whose urgency is anchored in centuries of hate as well as legal and extralegal violence directed against Black people in the United States. Most recently, the police murder of George Floyd is yet another tragic reminder that we as a nation have fallen short of this goal.

Mr. Floyd’s needless death joins those of countless other people of color who have been killed at the hands of police and vigilantes in recent years, such as Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown Jr., Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner. We condemn police officers’ use of deadly force during Mr. Floyd’s arrest, as well as local and federal authorities’ violent response to peaceful protests. We acknowledge that the protests are linked to centuries of pain, violence, and hate.  

As historians, we are unfortunately not surprised by these events, as they are only the most recent manifestations of centuries of state-sanctioned violence inflicted on non-white bodies. The first known trade of enslaved Africans in British North America was in 1619, in the colony of Virginia. From that moment forward Black people in the North American British Colonies, and eventually the United States of America, have struggled against persistent disenfranchisement, abuse, and violence.

In the nineteenth century, debates over race-based slavery culminated in the Civil War after South Carolina led the way to secession in an attempt to protect the institution of slavery. Inequality and abuse persisted after slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment.

Despite African Americans making significant gains during the Reconstruction Era, the advent of Jim Crow reversed or erased legislation that protected African American rights. At the same time, segregationists, politicians, and social scientists created a new discourse that increasingly equated Blackness with criminality. This laid the foundation for hyper-policing, disfranchisement, and extralegal violence, including lynching.

Black men and women in the twentieth century steadfastly fought against Jim Crow, eventually defeating it in the 1950s and 1960s. Yet, in the 1970s and 1980s lawmakers found new ways to attack Black communities via the War on Drugs, which legal scholar Michelle Alexander has termed the “New Jim Crow.” The criminalization of Black people is one of the leading causes of the United States having 22 percent of the world’s incarcerated adult population in 2014, despite being only 5 percent of the world’s total population. African Americans comprise 34 percent of the incarcerated population in the United States, even though they are only 12.7 percent of the total population. Like the system of Jim Crow before it, mass incarceration has led to the disfranchisement of, discrimination against, and disproportionate policing of Black Americans.  

The murder of George Floyd and other Black men and women in the twenty-first century is not an isolated event; rather it is the continuation of a historic process with roots reaching long before the nation’s founding. Though the United States has abolished slavery and some laws have become more inclusive, the people of this nation have not fully reckoned with the poisonous ideas of white supremacy and the legacy of slavery. Race-based violence and abuse persists, in large measure, because of this failure. This has resulted in the continued trivialization of Black lives.   

We stand with our brothers and sisters and proclaim that Black Lives Matter. As historians, we have the expertise, and the duty, to put into context the violence we are witnessing. Many of our classes tackle the histories of race and racism, colonialism, resistance, and other topics that help us make sense of our world today. Over the next several weeks, we will develop programs that will engage with the community to discuss how history can help us better understand and address the crises facing us.

Danna Agmon
Associate Professor of History

Mark Barrow
Professor of History

Trudy Harrington Becker
Senior Instructor of History

Amanda C. Demmer
Assistant Professor of History



Tom Ewing

Professor of History

Carmen Gitre
Associate Professor of History

Heather Gumbert
Associate Professor

Dennis Halpin
Assistant Professor and Associate Chair, Department of History

Matthew M. Heaton
Associate Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies

Richard Hirsh
Professor of History

Lucien Holness
Assistant Professor of History

Melanie A. Kiechle
Associate Professor of History

Allan Lumba
Assistant Professor of History

Marian Mollin
Associate Professor of History

Amy Nelson
Associate Professor of History

Edward Anthony Polanco
Assistant Professor of History

Paul Quigley
James I. Robertson, Jr. Associate Professor of Civil War Studies and Director, Virginia Center for Civil War Studies

Helen Schneider
Associate Professor of History

Brett Shadle
Professor and Chair, Department of History

Robert P. Stephens
Associate Professor of History

Peter Wallenstein
Professor of History

LaDale Winling
Associate Professor of History

Anna Zeide
Associate Professor of History