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jbeed-burg.bsky.social
B-burg History
@jbeed-burg.bsky.social
59 followers 65 following 30 posts
Gathering Blacksburg VA Public History
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by B-burg History
blackhistorydb.bsky.social
US Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) believes that MAGA Republicans “absolutely” want to reinstitute Jim Crow.

“They wish to get us back as close to slavery as they can possibly get us to” without violating the Constitution, Clyburn tells Margaret Hoover.

(Video courtesy of @pbs.org )
January 26, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by B-burg History
fwsa.bsky.social
These are the heroes.
January 26, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by B-burg History
michaelharriot.bsky.social
This 15-year-old girl was one of 187 Black students whose Supreme Court case gave us the right to protest

The unconstitutional attacks in Minneapolis are directly tied to the erasure and demonization of our history...

Read her story at:

www.contrabandcamp.com/p/at-15-this...
January 25, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by B-burg History
christopherterry.bsky.social
They are never, ever going to win in Minnesota.
January 23, 2026 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by B-burg History
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.
1. I am a resident of the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am over 18 years of age. I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting. 2. On Saturday, January 24, 2026, at about 8:50 am, I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on my way to work. I've been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors. Connecting to your local community and knowing who your neighbors are is something I profoundly value. 3. I drove to Nicollet Ave. and 26th where I could hear the whistles coming from. I turned south onto Nicollet. There were already several ICE agents there and they'd set up a sort of vehicle convoy on Nicollet and 28th. There were also about 15 observers there, recording and observing ICE. 4. I saw ICE agents surrounding cars and punching car windows. I also saw them stopping vehicles further down Nicollet, so I backed up because I didn't feel safe continuing on. 5. I noticed a man sort of acting to help traffic move more smoothly. He helped me find a place to park. I got out with my whistle and my camera. I went over to him and said something like, "I'm going to film and use my whistle." 6. It seemed like most ICE activity was happening a little farther down the street from us, near 27th. Someone was being thrown to the ground. 7. I started recording. There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack. 8. I and the man who was observing and helping direct traffic were standing in the street. There was a phone in the man's hand recording a video. 9. An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk. 10. The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun. 11. Then the ICE agent shoved one of the other observers to the ground. Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over. The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him. 12. Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying. More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up. All three of the observers looked to have been badly affected by the pepper spray. I could feel the pepper spray in my eyes. 13. The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times. 14.1 don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him. 15. The video I recorded of what happened accurately depicts the events leading up to the agents shooting him and several minutes afterwards. The video is attached as Exhibit 1. 16. I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground. 17. I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don't know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not telling the truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building. 18. I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state. I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny. This is a struggle to protect our freedom and democracy, those things are on the line. He lost his life for those values. I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct. Dated and signed on Jan 24, 2026 in Hennepin County, State of Minnesota.
January 25, 2026 at 1:15 AM
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stluke-oddfellows.bsky.social
🎉 We just hit 100 followers on FB! 🎉 Grateful for the support as we preserve the history of the 1905–06 Hall, honor the region’s hidden history, and share the stories of the people who called it home. 💛

#publichistory #blacksburgvirginia #historicpreservation
January 25, 2026 at 2:01 AM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
The 1895 Bugle yearbook is now online through Virginia Tech Libraries—and it’s a treasure trove of early Blacksburg history. Photographs, names, and stories that help bring our town and campus to life. Worth a look!
gatheringblacksburghistory.org/2025/12/28/b...
Bugle Yearbook – VPI/Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech University Libraries has scanned and hosts the VPI/VT yearbooks since 1895. Permanent link: 1901 Bugle
gatheringblacksburghistory.org
December 29, 2025 at 1:47 AM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
At Historic Smithfield’s spring, it’s hard not to think of the enslaved people once forced to carry water up to the Preston home. The old sycamore still stands witness. This quiet place holds a hard history, and we honor the resilience of those who shaped this land.
Witness Sycamore guarding Historic Smithfield’s Spring
November 22, 2025 at 8:54 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
Virginia Tech Campus Plan Rendering shown in the 1926-27 General Report. Can you spot what was built?
November 19, 2025 at 3:07 AM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
1958 Aerial of Blacksburg, north east view of the VPI campus
November 19, 2025 at 3:04 AM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
This has to be a witness sycamore, standing guard over the spring that provided water for those who lived at Historic Smithfield.
November 17, 2025 at 4:32 AM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
Stumbled upon a huge, time-worn osage orange tree on the Historic Smithfield grounds today with artifacts at its base.
November 17, 2025 at 4:29 AM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
The former VPI (Virginia Tech) Chapel—at one time repurposed as the campus library—burned in the mid-1950s. It stood on the site where the current library is located. Fortunately, all of the books had already been moved to another building.
November 16, 2025 at 2:01 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
1930 aerial view of the VPI campus, looking northwest. Burruss Hall is not yet constructed, and the original McBryde Hall occupies the site of the modern building. Prices Fork Road can be seen along the top.
November 16, 2025 at 1:37 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
Aerial view of Blacksburg taken between 1935 and 1937, with the town in the foreground and a northwest-facing perspective. War Memorial Gym is visible on the left and Burruss Hall on the right.
November 16, 2025 at 1:26 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
Fun day at Historic Smithfield at the Thanksgiving celebration. Over 400 people visited over two days. www.historicsmithfield.org/events/thank...
November 16, 2025 at 1:14 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
Fabulous Virginia 250 traveling exhibit at Historic Smithfield today (Nov. 15, 2025). If you get the chance, make sure to spend at least an hour exploring it — absolutely worth the time.
November 16, 2025 at 3:26 AM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
Blacksburg 1931/32 USGS Map found in the Montgomery Museum of Art & History Museum, Christiansburg, VA
Photo of a map of Blacksburg
November 12, 2025 at 5:25 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
PolyScientific 1959 ad founded by James J. Pandapas, a Massachusetts native who helped shape modern Blacksburg through industry and development. He launched Electro-Tec (1947) and PolyScientific (1953). developed Airport Acres (1942) and Highland Park (1945)

#BlacksburgHistory #VirginiaIndustry
November 10, 2025 at 1:52 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
1906 Letter to Rev Lucien M. Robinson from Rev Robert A Chase
November 10, 2025 at 1:41 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
VT War Memorial Chapel Pylons by Robert Turner, Jr
November 9, 2025 at 12:06 AM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
Blacksburg New School founded in 1971. Any graduates out there?
November 8, 2025 at 11:59 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
Thomas-Connor House on Draper Road (courtesy of Montgomery Museum of Art & History)
November 8, 2025 at 11:56 PM
jbeed-burg.bsky.social
1937 Map of Merrimac Mine complex complied in 1996, including names of people living in company homes.
1937 Map of Merrimac Mine complex complied in 1996
November 8, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Reposted by B-burg History
altfws.altgov.info
New EO to promote timber production on FS and BLM-with FWS implications related to the Endangered Species Act and NEPA..

(b) Within 60 days…the FWS…shall complete a strategy on USFS and BLM forest management projects under section 7 of the ESA to improve the speed of approving forestry projects.
March 2, 2025 at 11:03 AM