Divided we stood

1968: In Richmond the battles over race would continue long after MLK's assassination | Mindy Belz

A century after the close of the Civil War, Richmond remained one of the most segregated cities in the country. Inside the city limits blacks made up close to 50 percent of the population, but they lived in their own neighborhoods, places I knew only by name: Church Hill (where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech), Fulton Bottom, Jackson Ward, and others. They had their own schools, churches, stores, and lives.

My family lived across the river in the county where the good schools were. Trips downtown were to the department stores or to the dentist. We would drive up Monument Avenue, a boulevard marked by massive statues of the heroes of the Civil War like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. If we skirted Church Hill or Fulton Bottom on those outings, we locked our car doors and rolled up our windows.