Achievement Gap Committee, 2004-2005

This series is comprised of correspondence, meeting minutes, planning notes, and newspaper clippings related to the organization, “Citizens for a United Community” (2002-2004) which is created following an act of racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in which ten Charlottesville High School students attack a group of students at the University of Virginia. The organization hosts a successful community event, “Many Races-One Community” on April 12, 2003 and then disbands.

There are also minutes, programs, and correspondence from the Violence Reduction Action group (2003-2004), another diversity organization established to promote diversity and continue the efforts of the CUC. Included is e-mail correspondence about President John Casteen’s appointment of a Diversity Commission at the University of Virginia and comments that the City of Charlottesville feels alienated by the commission.

“Achievement Gap Forum” papers from 2004 to 2006, contain a report on how schools can close the achievement gap among students of different races and improve all student performance. Included are articles and case studies on poverty and race. The forum is sponsored by the Martin Luther King Celebration Committee. There is information regarding the Martin Luther King Celebration Committee (2004-2005) which is set up to honor Dr. King and support civil rights. Included is a mission statement, articles, event programs, meeting notes, and articles and quotes by Dr. King.

There is also correspondence and meeting notes for Charlottesville’s Dialogue on Race (2010-2013), an organization with goals of teaching Charlottesville’s racial history, creation of a public memorial of Vinegar Hill, closure of the achievement gap in schools, and support for the Living Wage Campaign at the University of Virginia.

Of interest is information on the history of African American life in Charlottesville, the racial background of Queen Charlotte, biographies of important educational and civil rights leaders in Charlottesville from the 18th century to the present, a timeline of Charlottesville's race relations (1700-2003), and a list of African-American businesses located on Main Street and Preston Avenue (before the razing of Vinegar Hill) an on the grounds of the University of Virginia.

There are also planning notes about upcoming panels, speeches, and articles about race and social justice presented by family members, scholars and activists including Dr. Ervin Jordan, Bob Vernon, Gayle Schulman, Shirley Parrish, Scott French, David Swanson and many others. Topics mentioned are the Civil War, segregation, Jim Crow laws, and school desegregation.