Humanities Feature Bureau

The Humanities Feature Bureau focuses currently on the stories of Virginia’s traditional musicians, artists and craftspeople.   The monthly series “Folklife FieldNotes” features the archive recordings of Virginia State Folklorist, Jon Lohman, collected over his eight years of field work documenting the traditions of a Virginia whose demographics are rapidly changing.   To hear the stories, visit www.folklifefieldnotes.org

Since the 17th century, fortifications have guarded the peninsula that juts out into the Chesapeake Bay,  where the Elizabeth, James and Nansemond Rivers converge.  Fort Monroe has stood sentry the longest, since 1819 — a six-sided stone structure that will continue to be an Army outpost until 2011. From then on, its future is subject to much debate, but its place in African-American history is not, as Sondra Woodward explains:

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The rebel yell. What did it sound like – that battle cry that terrorized union troops and rallied Confederates to battle?  Historians have clues from letters and diaries but still have never agreed. Recently, though, a Richmond man released a CD of what he asserts is the authentic rebel yell. Producer Peter Solomon spoke with Waite Rawls, President of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.

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In the Late 1970s, Almost a third of Cambodia’s people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge regime or died from starvation. A U.N.-backed court is finally trying these war crimes. But, closer to home here in Virginia, a Vietnamese-American artist and a Roanoke-based poet are exploring how to honor the victims through their art and forging a unique collaboration. Jesse Dukes has this report.

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