CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — Visitors at the 2024 Charlottesville-Albemarle Black Business Expo were treated to a celebration of culture, music, and entrepreneurship at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

“Vinegar Hill, across the street from us, where there were 29 Black businesses that were lost,” said Dr. Andrea Douglas, Executive Director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

Douglas discusses the history of Black-owned businesses in Charlottesville.

“Lost in the 1960s, when it would’ve been difficult in this community to recover those businesses,” she said.

She calls attention to them in front of the eighth annual Charlottesville-Albemarle Black Business Expo.

“This support that this expo is affording people allows us to really think about how do we think of community holistically,” said Douglas.

“I think the importance of highlighting Black-owned businesses is really just visibility,” said Kori Price, a photographer and artist.

With an array of tents, food trucks, and engaging panel discussions, the event served as a showcase of the Black business community in the area.

“I’ve been in business for seven years and really just interested in capturing weddings and events, documenting our community, as well as creating art that celebrates the Black experience, Black culture, and pretty landscapes because who doesn’t love landscape photography,” Price said.

She says the expo allows for Black communities that have been hidden away over the years to be visible, heard, and seen.

“It’s so important to have events specific to that and specific to that culture, tradition, history so that we can market ourselves, we can make connections, we can make partnerships so that we can really have a vibrant, thriving city,” said Price.

This year marks the first time the Black Business Expo has partnered with the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Douglas says she is excited about next year’s event.

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