Charlottesville, too

Most of the people I see on the bus have different accents than my friends and I. Many wear uniforms as they travel to and from their jobs at the hospitals, the supermarkets or one of the fast food restaurants. One of their jobs, I should say. I sometimes chat to those I see regularly and learn that they are working two or three jobs.
There is more to Charlottesville than tourists and newcomers see. Census statistics report that 23.6 % of the population lives below the poverty line. (These statistics include the portion of the 21 000 students who live in the City and earn little – another proof that statistics never tell the whole story). But, if you look around, you can’t comfort yourself that the student population explains everything.
A large percentage of the people on the bus are African American. This community has a rich history in Charlottesville. In 1830 the population of Albemarle County was slightly over 50% black. After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, many rural blacks moved to towns like Charlottesville to find work. They found work but not acceptance. By the 1920’s, some had created thriving stores and businesses serving both black and white customers. Others worked for the railroads, the City, the University and the hospitals. But, nearly two more generations grew up before legal segregation came to an end in Charlottesville, as in the rest of Virginia -- not without pain. People my age and older lived through the years of Massive Resistance, when all city schools were closed for 5 years to prevent integration. When that was finally over, a vast “urban renewal” project razed the downtown neighborhood called Vinegar Hill where the black community had been established for years.

The annual African-American Cultural Arts Festival
Summer fun at Booker T.Washington Park

As has been true for years, some of Charlottesville's African Americans are highly educated professionals. The man who will probably be Charlottesville's next sheriff in campaign mode

Others have few skills and struggle to earn a living. Many, however, still occupy jobs similar to those their parents and grandparents held, chain stores and shopping malls have largely put an end to independent black businesses. All this history is well known and documented but not often discussed. Except for a few from each community, lives continue to be lived in courteous parallel.
In contrast, the story of the white bus riders in uniforms, jeans and T shirts. is less well-known. The studies I have found deal more with the textile mills where they used to work than with the people themselves. The neighborhoods where they used to live, and some still do, are being gentrified. Some have moved to trailer parks in or near the City. Others have moved further into the county to find affordable housing. I suspect that among this population, as among the African American community, there are more “From Heres” than there are “Come Heres” like me. Finding out would be a summer research project. But summer’s nearly over. In the meantime, I see them; I smile at them; they come to my house to clean, to paint, and to fix leaky pipes and broken locks. But I don’t really know them.