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Brown Teacher Institute
Funded by the Anne & Ryland Brown Teacher Enrichment Fund, our Brown Teacher Institute is held at multiple locations each summer. During each two-day institute, Library of Virginia staff members and guest speakers offer tools, resources, and content to aid educators in the classroom. Teachers explore how to use primary sources to enhance student learning and discover new digital resources.
16th Annual Anne & Ryland Brown Teacher Institute
July 2025 | Free | In-person
This year's Anne & Ryland Brown Teacher Institute focuses on research and projects that explore the history of Black Virginians in Richmond’s Jackson Ward district in support of the Library’s forthcoming exhibition, “House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History” (July 14, 2025–Feb. 28, 2026). Teachers will explore how to use primary sources to enhance student learning and discover new digital resources.
“House to Highway” explores the story of Abraham Peyton Skipwith, the first Black homeowner in the area that would be known as Jackson Ward after the Civil War, and the subsequent removal of his house in advance of the construction of the Richmond–Petersburg Turnpike, to anchor a larger national story of the Black American experience and the founding of the nation through the Jim Crow era. Moreover, the exhibition illuminates the present-day restorative justice movement in Jackson Ward and how the community’s story and legacy can be found in other Black American communities across the nation
Teachers must attend the entire institute to receive a professional development certificate. Participants will receive a $300 stipend.
A detailed schedule will be announced soon. Contact Anne McCrery at anne.mccrery@lva.virginia.gov or Catherine Fitzgerald Wyatt at catherine.fitzgeraldwyatt@lva.virginia.gov with any questions.
Register by selecting your region below.
The Library is hosting the 16th Brown Teacher Institute in four of the eight superintendent’s regions. Preference will be given to attendees from regions two, three, five and seven.
Ellen and Orran Brown endowed the Anne & Ryland Brown Teacher Enrichment Fund in 2009 in honor of his parents as a legacy to their lifelong belief in the power of education to improve an individual’s well being and that of his or her family. The Fund supports the Brown Teacher Institute and the Brown Teacher Fellowship programs.
