Reconstruction Era Hidden History Talk

Discover a secret chapter in Virginia’s Reconstruction era history with “Readjusting the Old Dominion: The Forgotten Rise and Fall of Virginia’s Readjuster Movement.” Admission is free for this speaker series talk on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at 7:00 PM at the Salem Museum.

This Salem Museum Speaker Series lecture will immediately follow the Museum’s annual meeting of the membership. Museum members are urged to arrive at 7:00 PM to elect Officers and Directors for the upcoming year. The speaker talk will begin after the meeting.

In this talk, Hunter Haskins, the Museum’s Assistant Director, will share the powerful story of the Readjusters, a long-forgotten 1880s Virginia political movement that achieved remarkable socio-economic reforms for whites and African Americans. Formed to battle the Commonwealth’s crippling debt crisis and its impact on public services, the Readjusters oversaw a transformative period in the state’s educational and infrastructural development that welcomed and benefitted citizens of all races and backgrounds. However, following four years of political dominance from 1879-1883, the movement met a history-making end that, for more than a century, was stricken from Virginia history books. Who were these incredible Readjusters, and what legacy do they leave us today?

Hunter Haskins is the Assistant Director of the Salem Museum. A graduate of Roanoke College, he double majored in History and Political Science while pursuing a concentration in Public History. Before coming to the Museum, Hunter taught history and epistemology at the Carlisle School in Axton, and worked as a docent, interpreter, and blacksmith for Ferrum College’s Blue Ridge Institute and Museum.