A regional guidebook about Black history across Hampton Roads highlights notable places, events and stories of trials and triumphs.

The guide, called “A Trail of Trials and Triumphs: Unveiling Black History in Hampton Roads,” was compiled by Virginia Beach council member Amelia Ross-Hammond, who also founded and chairs the Virginia African American Cultural Center, as well as Virginia Travel Association President Kurt Krause. The goal is to help people learn more about and explore a region ripe with African American heritage.

“In the tapestry of American history, few regions resonate with the echoes of the African American experience as profoundly as Hampton Roads, Virginia,” the guide reads. “This mosaic of cities has been an indelible part of Black history from the Africans who brought the skills and trades of their homeland to North America, providing expertise in navigation and agriculture, helping to shape the industry and waterways of the New World, through the Civil Rights movement and into the present day, where its legacy continues to shape our nation.”

It’s a first edition, so it’s not a complete list of sites as the guide can serve as a foundation for future editions. It features a detailed map of historic locations and the connections between them, along with a two-day itinerary for exploring each stop.

“Remember, you’re not merely following a map — you’re retracing paths of courage and celebrating triumphs of the human spirit,” the guide reads.

Here are some of the sites highlighted in the guide based on the recommended two-day itinerary.

Peninsula highlights

Hampton’s Fort Monroe is where the first enslaved Africans arrived in English-speaking North America in the early 1600s when the site was known as Point Comfort. Fort Monroe remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War and would later be dubbed “Freedom’s Fortress” as a refuge for former slaves freed under contraband policies. The African Landing Memorial is under construction at the property and expected to open later this year.

Fort Monroe’s acting superintendent Eola Dance stands in front of the Freedom’s Fortress historical marker Nov. 5, 2020. (Staff/File)
The nation’s oldest African American museum is just a few miles away at Hampton University. And the Emancipation Oak on Hampton University’s campus symbolizes the first Southern reading of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and an early “classroom” for freed slaves.

In neighboring Newport News, the Victorian-era Newsome House Museum and Cultural Center pays homage to J. Thomas Newsome, an African American attorney, journalist and activist who resided there with wife Mary Winfield Newsome in the post-Reconstruction era. He used his home for civil rights activism and voter registration drives.

Other locations suggested for the first day include Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center in Newport News as well as Colonial Williamsburg’s historic area. First Baptist Church in Williamsburg is one of the oldest Black congregations, founded in secret by slaves in 1776. Williamsburg is also home to the Bray School, the oldest surviving school building that educated Black children. The school building was physically moved to its current location in 2023.

The Bray School is aligned with a set foundation at its new location in Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia on Feb. 10, 2023 after it was moved from the William & Mary campus.

Southside history

The Great Dismal Swamp in Suffolk and Chesapeake served as another refuge where slaves would forge paths to freedom. The dense forest that spanned 2,000 square miles in the 18th and early 19th centuries became an important part of the Underground Railroad and was home to the historic maroon communities — former enslaved people who created hidden societies within the swamp. The Dismal Swamp Canal served as both a transit and navigation route for those travelling north.

The guide also highlights a self-guided Underground Railroad tour of Portsmouth, featuring places such as the historic Crawford House and historic homes at 300 North St. and 316 North St.

Other sites across the region provide a reminder of African Americans’ struggle for education during the Jim Crow era of mandated segregation. The Cornland School in Chesapeake, which was recently restored into a museum, is a one-room schoolhouse built at the turn of the 20th century to educate young Black African students. The Portsmouth Colored Community Library was established in 1945 for African Americans thanks to efforts from people like Rev. M. B. Birchette and Bertha Edwards.

A crowd gathered on June 29, 2024, for the opening of an old one-room schoolhouse that was relocated and restored. The school was for African American students in Norfolk County during the era of mandated segregation. (Bill Tiernan/For The Virginian-Pilot, File)

In Norfolk, a mural along downtown Charlotte Street honors the “Norfolk 17,” a group of Black students who were the first to integrate the city’s schools after court-ordered desegregation. The 17 students endured harassment and abuse as their attendance ended “Massive Resistance,” a year-long campaign to close rather than integrate city schools.

Norfolk’s historic Attucks Theatre, dubbed the “Apollo of the South,” chronicles African Americans’ determined march toward equality and celebrates cultural achievements. Black performers, from Ella Fitzgerald to Dizzy Gillespie, took the stage there. The venue received a state historic marker this year, and an inaugural visual arts exhibit featuring 60 works by Black artists with ties to Hampton Roads is on display through April 3.

Hundreds wait in line to enter Norfolk’s historic Attucks Theatre for MLK Day activities Jan. 19, 2026. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot)

Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com

https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/02/24/hampton-roads-black-history-guide/