The Memory Project studies how memory is produced and reproduced and seeks to participate in and catalyze that process through support for educational initiatives and production of media and the arts, as well as through public history and commemorative events.
Our work is forward-facing and applied in nature, bringing together theoretical investigation of the politics of memory with direct engagement with its real-world effects.
Photo credit: Sanjay Suchak
Arguments
Read Director Schmidt’s op-ed exploring the ways post-war Germans’ redress of trauma and memorialization were aligned with the aim of revitalizing democracy
ViewAt the center the work of the Memory Project is the question of how to address historical trauma
The Memory Project is rooted in projects centered on Charlottesville, which in the past years has become a pivotal space in defining and shaping broader debates about memory in the United States.
Film.
Memory Project artist-in-residence Micah Ariel Watson’s gospel-infused short films 40th & State and Barky’s
Conversations
Watch “Marching toward emancipation: Commemorating the arrival of Union troops in Charlottesville,” celebrating Liberation and Freedom Day.
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Courses
Race, Charlottesville, And The Making Of Public Memory: The Memory Project post-docs developed a new undergraduate course for the Spring 2021. Click below to view the students' projects:
ViewThe Memory Project is part of the University of Virginia’s Democracy Initiative in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and is partially funded by the Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. It promotes research, curriculum development, and public engagement to address issues of public memory, memory conflict, and memory politics in the wake of the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville in 2017.
Down with the Confederacy! Lessons From Black Activists
Down with the Confederacy! Lessons from Black Activists was a webinar conversation with Black activists Bree Newsome and Emil Little moderated by award-winning author Clint Smith. Watch it here.
Listen to Dr. Schmidt on how “Unite The Right” changed Virginia politics
Race, Charlottesville, And The Making Of Public Memory: The Memory Project post-docs developed a new undergraduate course for the Spring 2021. Click below to view the students' projects:
The Memory Project post-docs developed a new undergraduate course for the Spring 2021
Listen to Director Schmidt's interview with NPR on the aims of UVA's Memory Project
Spirit and Struggle: Films
The Memory Project hosted "Landmarks of Black Sacred Song" virtual screening of films by artist-in-residence, Micah Ariel Watson (UVA '18) and a discussion with Prof. Ashon Crawley.
Memory Project Event
Join the Memory Project for its virtual launch event featuring Susan Neiman, author of Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil, moderated by Washington Post columnist Michele Norris. Register here
Read Director Schmidt’s op-ed exploring the ways post-war Germans’ redress of trauma and memorialization were aligned with the aim of revitalizing democracy
Watch the Memory Project event “Using the F-word: Fascist Drift in America”
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