“Uprooted” is an investigative series that examines the systemic racism embedded in the establishment and expansion of America’s college and university campuses.
A native of Virginia, Brandi spent two years reconstructing the history of a Black community that was systematically dismantled to make way for Christopher Newport University (CNU) in Newport News, Virginia. This exhaustive research led her to gain unprecedented access to records and personal stories of remaining families.
Initially supported by a grant from Columbia University’s Lipman Center, the groundbreaking discovery of the residents’ archives led to a national investigation, backed by ProPublica and co-published by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Essence. The resulting series was accompanied by a 25-minute film that shed light on the pervasive use of eminent domain to uproot Black communities in cities across the United States.
“Uprooted” ignited nationwide discussions on racial justice and accountability. It was the subject of community forums and academic panel discussions and spurred a legislative commission in Virginia that could potentially seek redress for displaced families. The series amplified marginalized voices while spotlighting present-day infrastructures that perpetuate racial inequality on college campuses as academic institutions struggle to confront their troubled histories.
Featured Content
-
Task Force to Consider “Restorative Justice” for Black Families Uprooted by Virginia University’s Expansion
Spurred by our “Uprooted” series, a task force created by the city of Newport News and Christopher Newport University will reexamine decades of city and university records shedding light on a Black neighborhood’s destruction.
-
The University Uprooted a Black Neighborhood. Then Its Policies Reduced the Black Presence on Campus.
Black enrollment at Virginia’s Christopher Newport University fell by more than half under longtime president Paul Trible, a former Republican senator who wanted to “offer a private school experience.” By 2021, only 2.4% of full-time professors were Black.
-
Virginia Law Allows the Papers of University Presidents to Stay Secret, Limiting Public Oversight
A provision in state law exempts college presidents’ “working papers and correspondence” from disclosure even after they step down — as we found out when we asked about one ex-president’s role in campus expansions that uprooted a Black neighborhood.
-
Why the Destruction of a Black Neighborhood Matters to Me — and Should Matter to Everyone
As a teenager, I competed in track meets at Christopher Newport University. As a reporter, I unearthed the painful history behind the campus’s location.
-
Erasing the “Black Spot”: How a Virginia College Expanded by Uprooting a Black Neighborhood
Sixty-plus years ago, the white leaders of Newport News, Virginia, seized the core of a thriving Black community to build a college. The school has been gobbling up the remaining houses ever since.
-
Virginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities
The groundbreaking commission, which was proposed in response to our “Uprooted” series, would consider compensation for dislodged property owners and their descendants. Whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin will sign the bill is unclear.
Documentary
Uprooted: What a Black Community Lost When a Virginia University Grew
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.
Featured Events
-
How University Expansion Has Uprooted Communities of Color Across the Country
For more than six decades, public and private universities have bulldozed once-thriving Black and Latino communities to build dormitories, parking lots, research laboratories and other facilities, sometimes taking property through eminent domain. We discuss the past and present uprooting of neighborhoods of color and the harm suffered by families of color in the name of educational progress.
-
Erasing the Black Spot Panel Discussion
Virginia’s public universities have a long history of expanding campuses in the name of progress and economic growth. But often, these expansions used eminent domain and property seizures to disrupt and diminish thriving Black communities across the state. An investigative series by The Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO and ProPublica uncovers the damaging social and economic impacts on Black communities of college expansions at Christopher Newport University, Old Dominion, and the flagship University of Virginia. In the second half of the 20th century, the rapid growth of public universities across Virginia uprooted hundreds of Black families, hindering them from accumulating wealth in the most American way — homeownership. In a new panel discussion, VCIJ at WHRO journalists share their findings and stories from the residents who were displaced.
Reader Feedback
-
I’m grateful for opportunities to learn how racist policies and practices have been (and continue to be) part of institutions’ foundation and growth. Your reporting helps me make connections between things I’m learning about eminent domain, redlining, Jim Crow, and so many other racist projects in our country, and places I thought I understood.
-
Your story is also practical in that I can share it with others who question things like the veracity of affirmative action, reparations, and the like. You have provided the facts, you’ve done the discovery in legal jargon, that confronts others persuasively.
-
Mr. Johnson's careful documentation of his neighborhood's dismantling is important work I'd otherwise never know about. I'm grateful for your commitment to tell the stories that need to be told and for people like the Johnsons keeping the stories alive.
-
I wanted to let you know how appreciative I was to see your reporting. CNU's history is ugly and papered over, and Paul Trible has since retired and been showered with praise, despite leaving a toxic environment behind him. I have spent many years hoping that CNU would face scrutiny for its actions.