In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Jan. 16, Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site invites the public to a special program celebrating the city’s unique and diverse history. At 2 p.m. Kitty Snow, author of Up & Down Church Hill and From a Richmond Streetcar, will share photographs of Richmond taken by her great-grandfather Harris Stilson 100 years ago. This one-hour presentation will take place in the park’s visitor center, located at 600 N. 2nd Street, and is free of charge.
In early 1917 America was a nation on the verge of modernity, with Model Ts and streetcars vying for space on Richmond’s bustling streets. Harris Stilson was a middle-aged streetcar operator who captured thousands of pictures of Richmond just as America entered World War I. “He recorded African-American recruits leaving for boot camp, troops returning from France, and the people they left behind," noted his great-granddaughter, Kitty Snow, who inherited his collection of over 3,000 photographs. Snow has been hard at work organizing and sharing her great-grandfather’s collection with the Richmond community and compiling oral histories to accompany the images.
Following the presentation visitors are invited to take a tour of Maggie L. Walker’s home, which is open for the holiday from noon to 4:30 p.m. For more information about this event and the site, please visit www.nps.gov/mawa or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MaggieL.WalkerNHS/
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
