Tom Shoop – författare

The compelling history of a racially integrated, and now forgotten, community in northern VirginiaEstablished by two Black entrepreneurs and their families, who provided the economic engine for its initial success, the village of Ilda flourished as a racially integrated community before the Jim Crow era. More than simply a history of a racially and socially pioneering community, this remarkable book tells a broader story, recounting the Black experience in Fairfax County over generations and shedding new light on the racial, economic, political, and bureaucratic factors that drove the development of Northern Virginia and the nation as a whole. Weaving together accounts of horse thievery, attempted murder, savage beatings, hate crimes, and a long-forgotten cemetery, this gripping and often moving narrative provides a rich and unusually detailed record of the rise, decline, and rediscovery of a crossroads whose secrets and mysteries depict an America that might have been, and might still be.

The compelling history of a racially integrated, and now forgotten, community in northern Virginia Established by two Black entrepreneurs and their families, who provided the economic engine for its initial success, the village of Ilda flourished as a racially integrated community before the Jim Crow era. More than simply a history of a racially and socially pioneering community, this remarkable book tells a broader story, recounting the Black experience in Fairfax County over generations and shedding new light on the racial, economic, political, and bureaucratic factors that drove the development of Northern Virginia and the nation as a whole. Weaving together accounts of horse thievery, attempted murder, savage beatings, hate crimes, and a long-forgotten cemetery, this gripping and often moving narrative provides a rich and unusually detailed record of the rise, decline, and rediscovery of a crossroads whose secrets and mysteries depict an America that might have been, and might still be.Winner of the Nan Netherton Prize from the Fairfax County History Commission

Abraham Lincoln's dramatic visit to the defeated Confederate capital in 1865, and how it has been remembered and reinterpreted since"I want to see Richmond." In April 1865, after four long years of civil war, the Confederate capital—less than one hundred miles from Washington, DC—finally fell to Union forces. Abraham Lincoln quickly declared his intention to go there, to stand in the epicenter of the rebellion, amid the still-smoldering ruins, and to greet its residents—white and Black—as the president of a soon-to-be reunited nation.This book is the first dedicated to telling the story of his visit, but it goes well beyond narrating that remarkable day. Almost immediately, embellished accounts of Lincoln's journey emerged, and the truth quickly fell victim to the needs of competing political agendas. Tom Shoop shows how ultimately Lincoln's remarkable visit to a defeated Richmond would feed both the Lost Cause narrative and the mythology that Lincoln was uniquely capable of bringing North and South back together. Even as the story has faded from national memory, Lincoln's March explains why it continues to resurface among those still arguing over the causes, consequences, and ongoing effects of the Civil War.