‘32 Blocks’: How Church Hill Helped Make the Culture

Join Public Humanities Fellow Alicia Aroche for a discussion of her documentary film in progress, 32 Blocks. The film explores how neighborhood friends from Church Hill in Richmond, Virginia, launch their music careers as teens in the face of Jim Crow, segregation in the music industry, and the early civil rights movement, they emerge as unsung pioneers, innovators, and legends in jazz, funk, and soul.

As originators, their music has collectively been sampled thousands of times, transforming the industry and the careers of some of the biggest-selling artists globally. Now as elders, urgency has set in to preserve their legacies, and the memory of their hometown neighborhood, threatened by erasure due to urban decay and gentrification.

The talk will take place in person at the Virginia Humanities Public Humanities Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, and streaming live online. Lunch will be provided.