They survived slavery.They survived segregation.Then they changed America anyway. ✊🏾

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Slavery, [music] finally ends. Here comes Reconstruction.

[00:00:03]Then it but the entire time [music] they were oppressed. 1958, Governor J.

[00:00:07]Lindsay Almond shut down city wide schools in Norfolk to block integration.

[00:00:12]10,000 students were out of school [music] for 5 months. Among them, the Norfolk 17. Students who became symbols of courage, >> [music] >> of persistence, and the fight for justice. Meanwhile, [music] the Norfolk Journal and Guide chronicle black lives in resistance advocating for equality decades before the national movement [music] erupted. Hampton Roads, isn't all about history. We've literally grew up in a living legacy. NASA Langley had the hidden figures. [music] They encouraged vision forward with the Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility. HBCUs [music] like Hampton University and my alma mater, Norfolk State University, trained the next generation [music] of black engineers, scientists, doctors, actors, and artists. So, [music] if you come to this region, it automatically reminds you the fight for freedom and excellence >> [music] >> never stops. And Jesse Ball, and when you drive in any part of Hampton Roads, pause.

[00:01:08]>> [music] >> Look closer at the waterways, the streets, the schools, because these aren't just standard cities. They were the engine [music] powering African Americans locally all the way to outer space. And a lot of these stories are hidden, but right [music] in plain sight. Still shaping the nation today.

[00:01:30]Raise key out.