Three places were proposed, to wit Lexington in the County of Rockbridge, Staunton in the County of Augusta, and the Central college in the County of Albemarle: each of these was unexceptionable as to healthiness & fertility. It was the degree of centrality to the white population of the state which alone then constituted the important point of comparison between these places
Originally learning about UVA’s more racist history, I was sadly surprised, but it made since, America’s past and being in the South. It’s always just the details that made it more gruesomely real- the fact that the centrality of whiteness was a key factor in deciding location. I looked on Google Maps of the other two location the founders were deciding on to see if perhaps they were more North, and that’s why they weren’t “white enough”. Instead, I saw they were more West and behind the mountainous Appalachian regions. I wonder what made those regions less white. Were there more indigenous people or was it more slaves in plantations? Or was there, in fact, a distinction between the more city and educated white folk versus the country white farmers and their stereotypes? Perhaps both?