Dr. Wes Bellamy, City Councilor for the City of Charlottesville and a Political Science Professor at Virginia State University will be at the Valentine on Thursday, February 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. to discuss his new memoir “Monumental: It Was Never About a Statue”. He will also be signing copies of his book following Q&A moderated by Initiatives of Change.

A perfect tie-in to our new exhibition Monument Avenue: General Demotion/General Devotion, Dr. Bellamy’s book offers a rare opportunity to learn about the story behind the hashtag and to experience Charlottesville as it was before August 11 and 12 of 2018, as it was in the days and months to follow and the fight to build hope and power from tragedy in an increasingly complicated nation.