Share Your Story with Bridge of Lament
Stories of integration in Lynchburg area schools
Do you have a story to tell about integration in Lynchburg area schools?
Bridge of Lament exists to remember, lament, and seek renewal over the history and legacy of white supremacy in Lynchburg, Virginia, through short essays, poems, or narratives posted daily between June 19th and July 4th. Visit our archives for an idea of what we publish.
Our theme for 2025 is Education, and we are looking for personal accounts of school desegregation in our area.
Ways to share your story:
Recollections and Anecdotes
Brief memories—yours or a loved one’s—that we can include in articles about specific schools.
To submit: Email your remembrance to bridgeoflament@gmail.com
Interviews
Responses to interview questions we will provide by email, on the phone, or in person.
To participate in an interview, contact bridgeoflament@gmail.com
Kenton or Rebecca Martin will be in touch about what interview format (email, phone, or in-person) works best for you, and we’ll go from there.
Personal Essays
500-1000 word essays about your or a loved one’s experience with school integration.
To submit: Email your essay in a Google document or in an attached Word docx to bridgeoflament@gmail.com
Researched Articles
500-1000 word articles that present a well-documented story about any of the area schools during desegregation. *The writer does not have to have been present during integration to submit for this category.
To submit: Pitch your research article idea (to be sure we haven’t already covered the subject) to bridgeoflament@gmail.com
Which Schools?
In particular, we are looking for stories about:
Area high schools, such as
E.C. Glass
Dunbar High
Campbell County High
Campbell County Training School
Historic Lynchburg neighborhood segregated schools, such as
Polk Street School
Jackson Street School
The Yoder School
…But whatever the school, we want to hear your story as we build a picture of the racial history of education in and around our city.
Deadline
Monday, May 5th, 2025*
*If you are seeing this after the deadline has passed and have something to share, please be in touch. We may still be able to include your story.
Questions
Contact project coordinator Kenton Martin at bridgeoflament@gmail.com
or