Monticello honored enslaved people and their descendants at Juneteenth event.

Honoring the ancestors

Descendants celebrate Juneteenth at Monticello

By Brielle Entzminger

reporter@c-ville.com

Early Saturday morning, several hundred people gathered at Monticello to celebrate Juneteenth, including descendants of the over 400 Black people who were enslaved at the plantation during Thomas Jefferson’s lifetime. The free community event featured insightful and invigorating panel speakers—including renowned filmmaker Ava DuVernay, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, and over a dozen others—as well as poetry, musical performances, and artwork, highlighting the importance of descendant stories and voices.

“We know when it comes to American identity, when we’re thinking of African American stories, that they are essential,” said panelist Melody Barnes, executive director of the Karsh Institute of Democracy and chair of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. “The stories of descendants [tell] us who we are, what we have done, and they answer questions like ‘Who is an American citizen?’”

Multiple speakers reflected on the months-long controversy surrounding Montpelier and its actions taken against descendant leadership. In March, the Montpelier Foundation board reversed its previous decision to give the Montpelier Descendants Committee the right to recommend at least half the board members, but—after facing significant public backlash—the board voted in 11 new members recommended by the committee in May.

“[The board] lied, they cheated, and presumed that they could get away with the performative tokenizing,” said Michael Blakey, founding director of the Institute for Historical Biology and a professor at William & Mary. “[The MDC] continued to say no to that, and say yes to equality. This is a problem everywhere.”

Speakers also stressed the importance of appointing descendants to positions of

EZE AMOS

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay and jazz musician Wynton Marsalis were among the speakers at last week’s Junteenth celebration at Monticello.

power, and enabling them to lead research and preservation efforts at historical sites, backed by ample financial support.

“The descendant community is based on descendants of people who were enslaved that can be traced, but it’s also about social descendants. People who are still in the area…[and] people who feel a spiritual connection to the place,” added genealogist Hannah Scruggs, who previously worked on the Descendants’ Project at Montpelier. “The next part of the movement around descendants is to make the tent bigger… Family lines existed across plantation sites.”

After reading an original poem honoring her ancestors, former Freedom Rider and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee member Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely—a descendant of Sally Hemings’ sister, Mary Hemings Bell—discussed the strong link between arts and activism. During the civil rights movement, protesters often changed the lyrics of Black spirituals to activist chants, giving them more strength and courage, she explained.

Despite her accomplishments, DuVernay stressed that she is no different from the Black filmmakers who came before her who told hard truths. “If you assert your perspective with authority, then that’s your truth… The descendant community is asserting their perspective with authority, that’s the key.”

AVA DUVERNAY

“The idea of storytelling and truth and excavating that and figuring it out, how to do that work and how to see it and not to criticize someone else for the way they see the story— this is the work that we have to continue to do that can disrupt our notions of narrative,” said DuVernay, who directed films like Selma and 13th. “If you assert your perspective with authority, then that’s your truth… The descendant community is asserting their perspective with authority, that’s the key.”

On Friday, descendants also attended a private rededication of the Burial Ground for Enslaved People, which holds over 40 graves. The descendant-led restoration effort was completed this year, including more accessible pathways, new plants, additional seating, new signs, and dedicated parking for descendants.

During the rededication ceremony, descendant Kayelynn Craft Day-Lyons— Preacely’s granddaughter—felt drawn to the area by her ancestors, inspiring her to want to restore more of her ancestors’ graves. “I just felt so grateful [and] blessed to have been able to even experience this,” she said.

Justin Reid, Virginia Humanities senior program officer, urged attendants to pass down their family history to the younger generation, while Niya Bates, former Monticello Getting Word project director, encouraged young people to share their family stories in innovative ways, like TikTok videos.

Following the four-hour event, Preacely reflected on her ancestors who may have been activists too.

“Did they try to recruit rebellion? Was that never talked about? Will we uncover that there was resistance that we never heard of?” she asked.

Preacely hoped Juneteenth would continue to be an entry point for all people to honor Black history—and a “time of reconciliation, reempowerment, and education.”

For descendant Gayle Jessup White, celebrating Juneteenth at Monticello was “a proud day of reflection and honor,” especially as the first descendant of Jefferson and the people he enslaved to work for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

“[We] raise our ancestors to the stature that they deserve, [and] recognize the work that they did—the sacrifice that they did, the effort that they put into getting free, holding it together while laboring with no reward, and laying down the foundation for us, their descendants, to rise and succeed,” she said.

“My descendants left here in bondage as slaves, and when I come here, I know that their sweat, tears, and spirits didn’t make it out of here,” added descendant Gregory Jefferson. “But I know that they didn’t do that in vain. Because [of] their work and sacrifice, I am living and breathing…I give honors and praise to them.”

“I was really excited about making [my] 40s the Fierce best years of my life. And I asked myself, what have I always wanted to do that I’ve never done? And you know, the first thing that popped into my head was that you always wanted to compete in a fitness competition.” BODYBUILDER JESSICA COLEMAN M

40

ost athletes are hitting the end of the road by age 40. Martina Navratilova hung up her racket at age 38. Soccer star Abby Wambach scored her last goal at 35. When Jessica Coleman turned 40, she was just getting started in her sport. Four years later, she won her first national bodybuilding competition, and not in a masters class for people over 40. She beat competitors of all ages.

“What ended up happening is my coach decided we were going to do the Junior USA [bodybuilding competition], which does not have a masters division,” Coleman says of the mid-May competition in Charleston, South Carolina, where she earned her professional card in the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness.

Although her first overall victory didn’t happen until she was 44, the road there began about 25 years earlier.

“When I was younger, in college, I had started training for fitness competitions, and I had this dream of kind of taking that somewhere professionally at that point,” Coleman recalls. But it wasn’t her time yet.

“I blew out my knee playing volleyball and life happened and later, you know, kids and family,” she says.

Over the next two decades, Coleman says she got into shape—and out of shape— many times. Then something shifted.

“I was really excited about making [my] 40s the best years of my life,” she says. “And I asked myself, what have I always wanted to do that I’ve never done? And you know, the first thing that popped into my head was that you always wanted to compete in a fitness competition.”

This time, she was serious. As she approached 40, she lost 30 pounds, and she wasn’t done.

“I hired a coach and I started my prep at that point,” she says. Her first goal was to compete in the figure category, which requires less musculature.

“I think I placed eighth,” she says of that first show. “At 41 I did my second show, and I came in third in the masters [division].”

Then COVID hit, and gyms closed down. Coleman wasn’t deterred.

“I kept doing my workouts from home to kind of keep everything going,” she says. “And I couldn’t wait to get back on stage.”

When the pandemic restrictions lifted and she returned to competition, her hard work started paying off.

COURTESY SUBJECT

Jessica Coleman was the overall winner at the 2022 NPC Junior USA Championships in Charleston, South Carolina.

“Last year I did three competitions, and I started winning,” she says.

Bodybuilding is not for the weak-willed. Coleman says her training often involves hitting the gym three times a day.

“Before this past show, I was doing two hours of cardio and training for an hour and a half, and the only way I could fit that into my day was to go three times,” says Coleman, a single mother who works full time as clinical operations manager. “Now, my two teenage daughters are in travel ball, so I was also traveling on the weekends and having to take my show on the road with all my prepped meals and using the gym while I was out of town.”

In addition to having a competitive streak, Coleman says having a coach is critical for anyone serious about competing in bodybuilding.

By Courteney Stuart

courteney@c-ville.com

“Basically each week he analyzes my physique and tells me, here’s what you need to eat, here’s how much cardio and here’s how much water,” she says.

Her Richmond-based coach, Sebastian Alvarez, says prepping to compete requires a wide range of caloric intake. “She goes from 5,500 in off-season to 1,000 close to competing,” he says. The “cutting” phase isn’t the only challenge. Coleman drinks a gallon and a half of water every day, and Alvarez says consuming enough to build massive muscle means Coleman has to “sit down and force feed like it’s a job. It’s incredible.”

He says Coleman’s work ethic sets her apart.

“When I first met her, she looked good but it wasn’t ‘whoa,’” Alvarez says. “In reality, I didn’t know her personality. When I started working with her and saw how meticulous she is with her training and her diet, I knew this girl was going to make it far.”

Alvarez isn’t the only one impressed with Coleman’s progress. Her 17-year-old daughter Zoe Utz, a rising senior at Monticello High School, says she’s been inspired by her mother’s hard work and achievements.

“I think it’s incredible,” says Utz, who now regularly works out with her mom and says the shared interest has brought them closer. “I’ve seen where she started, and to work as hard as she has, the discipline, the dedication to get there…when I see her happy and reaching her goals, it makes me proud to see that happen.”

With her first national victory under her belt, Coleman is taking several months to recover before preparing to compete again, this time against some of the top bodybuilders in the world.

Alvarez says he has specific goals for her: “Improve her back, the width in her lats, bring up her hamstrings more,” he says. She’s training two fewer days per week during this period, which Alvarez says will last about three months. She’ll be back on stage competing toward the end of 2023.

“Win one pro show and she’s in the Olympia,” Alvarez says. “I have no doubt she will do it.”

Coleman says winning a competition feels amazing, but it isn’t the greatest reward.

“I’ve experienced a lot of setbacks in my life,” she says. “And, you know, I think that what has me feeling the proudest is my ability to bounce back from all of that and turn some failures into a big success for me. Once you fall on your face a couple of times, you get back up stronger. It’s great to be at this point in my life and just feel so much freedom and strength.”

MONDAY 6/27

MAPPING THE JOURNEY

The road wasn’t easy for Jeremy Joyce, but it was formative. The musician grew up on indie rock and alt-country in his hometown of Philadelphia, before the death of his brother drove him to New York and jazz. He found psychedelic folk and rockabilly after a stint in St. Louis, until he was once again uprooted by the passing of his mother. Joyce landed in New Orleans with genre-defying “dance-inducing funk and R&B,” inspired by his many musical chapters. His most recent album, Street Poet, is a timeless, funk-leaning record driven by Joyce’s cool vocals and slick guitar. Free, 8pm. Dürty Nelly’s Pub, 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. durtynellyscharlottesville.com

SATURDAY 6/25

LOVE AND LAUGHTER

You might know M.K. England from their YA fantasy and sci-fi novels—or maybe they helped you pick out your next read while they were working as a teen librarian at JMRL. The fandom expert was even entrusted with writing the official Guardians of the Galaxy prequel novel, and the seventh original Firefly novel. Now, they’re diving into the contemporary genre with The One True Me and You (written as Remi K. England), a funny story full of queer joy, love, and plenty of nerdy references. England will read from their work, followed by a discussion with moderator Emily Thiede. Free, 2pm. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. ndbookshop.com

SUPPLIED PHOTO June 22 – 28, 2022 c-ville.com

70 REASONS TO STEP OUT THIS WEEK PAGE 29

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FRIDAY 6/24

GUT-BUSTER

We all get bent out of shape sometimes, so give yourself a chance to work it out through a few belly laughs at Bent Theatre Comedy’s improv night. The comedy crew has kept central Virginia laughing with uproarious improv shows and workshops since 2004. The troupe’s improv nights typically feature a series of short scenes and games suggested by the audience in a “you say it, we play it” format—so come prepared, to have fun. Pay what you will, 8pm. The Bridge PAI, 209 Monticello Rd. benttheatre.weebly.com