Black Wall Street — Right in the Heart of the Confederacy
Less than a mile from the Virginia State Capitol — the former capital of the Confederacy — Black Americans built something extraordinary. Jackson Ward became the most celebrated Black urban community in the American South: a self-sustaining economy of over 100 Black-owned businesses, a cultural powerhouse that drew the biggest names in jazz and entertainment, and the birthplace of Black entrepreneurship in America.
At its peak from the 1890s through the 1940s, Jackson Ward housed six chartered African American-owned banks — including the first Black-chartered bank in American history. It was home to insurance companies, pharmacies, law offices, photography studios, funeral homes, and restaurants. The neighborhood's 2nd Street corridor — nicknamed "The Deuce" — was so alive with culture and commerce that it earned Jackson Ward the title that has followed it ever since: The Harlem of the South.
The People Who Built It
Jackson Ward didn't happen by accident. It was built by specific people with specific vision — individuals whose legacies reshaped American history.
Born in Jackson Ward in 1864, Maggie Lena Walker chartered and served as president of the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903 — becoming the first woman in American history to charter and serve as president of a bank. All the more remarkable: she was Black, and she used a wheelchair. Her former home is now a National Park Service Historic Site at 110½ E. Leigh Street.
Born in Jackson Ward in 1878, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson became one of America's most celebrated entertainers — dancer, actor, and cultural ambassador. A bronze statue of Robinson dancing on a staircase stands today at the intersection of Chamberlayne Parkway and West Leigh Street, a permanent tribute to the neighborhood that made him.
Editor of the Richmond Planet, one of the most important African American newspapers in the country. Mitchell used the paper as a platform to fight lynching, advocate for civil rights, and document Black life in Richmond when no one else would.
In 1942, transformed the Miller Hotel into the elegant Eggleston Hotel — exclusively serving Black lodgers during segregation, including jazz legend Duke Ellington when his orchestra toured Virginia. The hotel became a symbol of Black-owned luxury in the heart of Jim Crow.
"The Deuce" — 2nd Street and the Culture
The heart of Jackson Ward's cultural life was 2nd Street — "The Deuce" — a corridor of theaters, hotels, cafes, and entertainment venues that became one of the most important stops on the Chitlin' Circuit, the network of Black-owned venues across the South where African American performers could work during segregation.
"The Hippodrome on Second Street hosted the likes of Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Redd Foxx, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, and Bill Bojangles Robinson. This was the East Coast nexus of Black entertainment — pulsing with creativity, culture, and cool in the middle of segregation-era Virginia."
— Virginia.org · Jackson Ward HistoryThe art deco-style Hippodrome Theatre on Second Street was the crown jewel — a performing arts venue that brought world-class Black talent to Richmond when segregation made mainstream venues off-limits. The biggest names in American entertainment came to The Deuce. It wasn't just a neighborhood. It was a destination.
Rise, Destruction & Comeback
1940s
Jackson Ward Landmarks to Know
Jackson Ward's comeback is real — but so is the tension. As federal money pours in and the Reconnect Richmond project advances, longtime residents and descendants of displaced families are asking harder questions than just "what gets built."
"I hope that we can keep Jackson Ward as Black as possible and not push out the people that made it cool in the first place. You can't reconnect people who were forcibly removed — not without first acknowledging what was taken."
— Community Voices, VCIJ RichmondCity Councilor Ann-Frances Lambert — whose family has lived in Jackson Ward for four generations — has called explicitly for reparations conversations: "That word makes people uncomfortable, but I'm willing to step up and lead the conversation that this city is ready to have. It's long overdue."
The Second Street Festival
Every year, Jackson Ward hosts the Second Street Festival — an annual celebration of the neighborhood's history, vitality, and culture. Live music fills The Deuce, Black-owned vendors line the street, and the community gathers to honor everything that was built — and everything still being built — on 2nd Street.
The neighborhood also hosts First Fridays Art Walk on Broad Street every first Friday of the month — galleries open late, live jazz and salsa fill the sidewalks, and restaurants and coffee shops serve the crowd that comes out to celebrate Richmond's creative class.
The legacy of Black entrepreneurship that started in Jackson Ward continues across the DMV. AT Solutions DMV — a Black-owned IT solutions company based in Frederick, MD — is part of that lineage: web design, tech support, branding, and digital services for the entire region.
Visit atsolutionsdmv.com →