This short documentary reveals a Black community’s decadeslong battle to hold onto their land as officials in Newport News, Virginia, used eminent domain to establish and expand Christopher Newport University.
“Uprooted” is directed by Brandi Kellam, who grew up in the area and has spent more than two years investigating this story. She reported the story with Louis Hansen of the Virginia Center for Investigative Reporting at WHRO. It is produced by ProPublica’s Lisa Riordan Seville, with cinematography, editing and post-production by VCIJ’s Christopher Tyree and graphics by ProPublica’s Mauricio Rodríguez Pons.
Watch the documentary, and read all of ProPublica and VCIJ’s series, also called “Uprooted,” which explores how Virginia universities expanded by dislodging Black communities.
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They just kept taking and taking from us idk how one can fix their mouth and say we are not owed you would have to be a cold blooded bigot or just plain old jealous!
It was either burned robbed raped lynched murdered our communities or the government came with a hammer and crushed the houses and Black people this didn’t happen to POC these things happens to Black people and Black People only!
OMG…..so the CNU took the land from these property owners, disregarded other areas to build the school on, and dismissed the option for a subdivision for potential future black property owners to
live and improve their socio-economic condition (which in the court documents stated that the elites who gathered in the country club did not want to be near black homeowners) under the idea that the public use of this university had more precedent then black property owners. That is a Robbery of the HIGHEST ORDER. These and many other incidents illustrate how black-white wealth gap comes to be and why we are in the situation we are in today.
Im sick over these effin stories.😡
CUT THE DAMN CHECKS! 🥸
The erasure of black American progress.
They did what they always do: Steal what they want. And as far as it being a complicated history, it is nothing complicated about it. In one word: Evil.
It's heartbreaking to hear how the white folks just railroaded over the black community for their own means,, like they didn't exist. And it still happens. We are all created equal… ☮💟
Wow – a very moving and powerful documentary. I'm currently working on a similar project about Columbia University and Manhattanville/West Harlem, so sad how this kind of story seems to just keep repeating itself. Thanks making this, such important work
GOD HELP US! I NO ITS NOTHING TOO IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU. WE HAVE SUFFER ENOUGH BY THE HANDS OF OUR OPPRESSORS. IN JESUS NAME AMEN🙇🏾🙏🏾🤲🏾🙏🏾🙇🏾
Why are the idiots from that Bacardi accident not in prison
why you turn off comments for the guy crushed under bottles of whisky conveyer?
Same thing with Harlem in the 60’s. Columbia University tried to gentrify Harlem then , they were succeeding with the gentrification of midtown on the west side predominant Irish communities. Harlem fought back , then came the drugs , the war , the breakdown of Harlem. Later in the late 80’d , early 90’s came the French speaking Africans flooding Harlem to cover the loss of African Americans(Originals) Now its HARLEM Gentrified successful. Took a minute but can’t fight what you can’t , don’t or refuse to see.
This story is devastating. To think of all these people working so hard to build themselves a safe neighborhood just to have it all ripped away… heart wrenching. They deserve justice.
At first, I thought it was Maxwell St. in Chicago.
Having cleansed most of the area of Black residents who had every right to live and build their own community there – some achievement. And the guy most likely sleeps well, ever so pleased with himself. The price of progress is okay, if those who benefit pay it. This is very different.
Honestly, kinda hurts to watch this. Got a long way to go before the U.S. gets where it needs to be. Thanks for telling this story.
I grew up in a community in Portland Oregon that no longer exists due to a freeway and hospital expansion. After all the families were forced out, the land sat empty for over 20 years. It's sad.
This happened with University of Illinois Chicago as well. Same story almost word for word.
Shoe lane and Prince Drew Rd. Was my grandmothers and great aunts land. Now Christopher Newport's parking lot 😢
“There’s always a price for progress.” What a telling statement. Great work by ProPublica, once again.
When you hear the words 'systemic racism', this is but 1 of so many examples baked into the good ole US.
I live just 15 minutes from this school. My Doctors office is just right up the street from it. It's a very nice campus. When i first moved to Newport News, Va, in 2003. I was taking classes at a different business directly across the street. One day I decided to drive though the campus and site see. Not knowing I was admiring a school campus that was built on stolen black land!! And the rightful owners of the land were just feet away from me. And then to hear Santoro say.."We didn't apply pressure. All we did was offer more money. And, umm, umm, most of the people took it. And, umm, that's how we expanded." There was pressure applied. And plenty of it. The pressure was a take it or leave it. Because we're going to take it regardless! Growing up as a kid. I was taught that the image of the devil. Was a red demon with fire in his eyes and had horns on his head. So when my grandmother, mom, aunts and uncles referred to white folks as white devils. I never understood why. Because I had never seen white folks as devils. Because they didn't fit the description! But when I became old enough to understand. Then that light bulb came on inside my head. Oh, this is what they meant!
I remember Mitch mCONnall asking why we should pay reparations for things our ancestors did. This and many other systematic racist acts against the black community is why. White people think they are innocent from what their ancestors did. Maybe, one could convince themselves of this. Until I educated myself I thought this way. No one alive is innocent of the systemic racism we all benefit from, if you are white. In his life, and all of our life times that are currently alive or dead, black people and people of color have had to sacrifice so that whites could prosper.This is just one example why there should be reparations, Mitch mCONnall These universities and our government need to atone for these terrible acts of systematic racism. The white people of this town were afraid of black people so they went to the government and expressed their fears and the government jumps in and saves the day for these white folks. Think of the generational wealth that was lost because of this. This is just one case. This has happened all over this country. The laws in this country have got to change. The racist lawmakers that allow this stuff to continue with out any consequences have got to be voted out! We need more stories like this. We need the corruption to end. We need a new system that is fair for ALL. White people need to educate themselves about the real true history of our country. It is easy to do now with the internet. White privilege is a real thing. It has nothing and everything to do with money. You don't need money to have privilege you just need a white meat suit. Nice reporting ProPublica! I hope there are more reports like this to follow!
None of Newport staff accepted responsibility this was corruption period. There are young men and women getting a college education because black families were forced out of their homes
Grrrrrrrrrt
Then Magas yell there isn’t racism…😵💫
The forcing out of people who are -or and working class to expand universities is nit new. I attended grad school at the the University of Texas, Austin 50 years ago. They engaged in the same behavior. Many of us students tried to oppose it but were basically ignored. There were plenty of other neighborhoods they could have overrun, but those were occupied by more well off folks, including professors and administrators.
Most of the poor and working class folks displaced were of Mexican and African descent. People had worked so hard to own many of those houses. If I remember correctly, they used the right of Emminent Domain to take those homes.