Brown's Battleground: Students, Segregationists, and the Struggle for Justice in Prince Edward County, Virginia
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Time: 12:00 PM–1:00 PM

In 1954 after the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education was announced, Prince Edward County shut down its school system rather than comply with the Supreme Court's ruling. Hear author Jill Titus tell the story of the the seismic changes brought by the Court's decision and Virginia's move to resist desegregation. She illustrates the ways that ordinary people, black and white, battled, and continue to battle, over the role of public education in the United States. A book signing follows the talk.

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"Books on Broad" featuring Mollie Cox Bryan
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Time: 5:30 PM–7:30 PM

Virginia author Mollie Cox Bryan, best known for her Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant cookbooks, will discuss and read a selection from her debut novel, Scrapbook of Secrets, the story of an investigative scrapbooker in Cumberland County, Virginia. Light refreshments (wine and cheese) will be served (5:30¬–6:15 PM), followed by author talk (6:15¬–7:15 PM), and book signing (7:15¬–7:30 PM).

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The War of 1812 and the Rise of the U.S. Navy
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Time: 6:00 PM–7:30 PM

Discover the epic naval story of the war that threatened to undo our nation in 1812. The book, written by Mark Collins Jenkins and David Taylor, features photographs, period illustrations, historic documents, maps, letters, ephemera, and artifacts, including fascinating finds from the navy's most recent underwater excavation of the war's lost ships. The War of 1812 and the Rise of the U.S. Navy is a sweeping panorama of a defining moment in U.S. history and a must-read for maritime aficionados and general history buffs alike. David Taylor will speak and be available for book signings following his talk.

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"Books on Broad" featuring Jessie Knadler
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Time: 5:30 PM–7:30 PM

Join us when we host Virginia author Jessie Knadler to discuss and sign her book, Rurally Screwed, a light-hearted, humorous book about two opposites making a rustic life together in Rockbridge County, VA. Refreshments will be served (5:30 - 6:15 pm), followed by author talk (6:15 - 7:15 pm), and book signing (7:15 - 7:30 pm).

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Book Talk at the Library of Virginia The Richmond Theater Fire
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Time: 12:00 PM–1:00 PM

The Richmond Theater Fire: Early America's First Great Disaster is the award-winning account of a devastating Virginia fire in 1811. The Richmond Theater fire was the deadliest urban disaster in the early years of the United States. It stunned the nation and became an important catalyst for religious and cultural transformation in the early republic. After six years of researching unpublished records, diaries, and letters, author Meredith Henne Baker has written the first full-length book about the fire and its impact on life in the nineteenth century. This story of transformation comes alive through the accounts of the slaves, debutantes, ministers, and statesmen who were the fire's victims and survivors. A book signing will follow the talk.

Historic Richmond Foundation will offer special tours of Monumental Church—site of the fire—before and after the book talk, at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.  Reservations are required for tours and space is limited. No reservations needed for the book talk at noon. Tours last approximately 45 minutes and attendees should park under the library building and meet in the main lobby of the Library. The tours will explore the historic structure of Monumental Church as well as the crypt below where the victims of the theater fire are buried. To reserve your space for the tour call 804-692-3999.

More information on the book and author Meredith Henne Baker available at http://www.theaterfirebook.com

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Book Talk at the Library of Virginia - Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Time: 6:00 PM–8:00 PM

The pain and hope in the search for lost kin

Immediately following the Civil War, African Americans placed "information wanted" advertisements in newspapers, searching for missing family members. Heather Andrea Williams was inspired by the power of these ads and uses slave narratives, letters, interviews, public records, and diaries to guide readers back to the devastating moments of family separation during slavery. Williams explores the heartbreaking stories of separation and the long, usually unsuccessful journeys toward reunification. Williams follows those who were separated, chronicles their searches, and documents the rare experience of reunion. She also explores the sympathy, indifference, hostility, and empathy expressed by whites about sundered black families. Williams shows how searches for family members in the post–Civil War era continue to reverberate in African American culture in the ongoing search for family history and connection across generations.

Heather Andrea Williams is associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom.

A book signing will follow the talk.

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For previous book talks please visit our calendar of events.