Month: October 2025

Bryant Terry’s VCU Libraries fall lecture offers “Food For All”

/ Bonnie Newman Davis
Bryant Terry Photo by Jay Paul

VCU Libraries’ fall lecture, “Food for All” on Oct. 15 with Bryant Terry was a thrilling culinary journey! Bryant, a James Beard Award-winning chef, served up a delectable blend of food, culture, Black history, art, humor, and music. His new book, “Black Food,” promises a flavorful exploration of stories, art, and recipes from the African Diaspora. Huge thanks to Irene Herold, Teresa Knott, Antonia Vassar, Kelly Gotschalk, and Sue Robinson for organizing this thought-provoking lecture. Learn more about Bryant’s lecture below.

2025 Fall Lecture puts activism, art and food justice center stage

By Frances Burson

VCU Libraries’ annual Fall Lecture, Food For All, held Oct. 15, featured chef, author and artist Bryant Terry. Terry took us on a journey through his 25-year multidisciplinary career, blending food justice, publishing, art and activism—all rooted in deep values of interconnection, social justice and community engagement. He shared how his recent MFA from UC Berkeley helped integrate his diverse work into a cohesive studio practice, allowing him to experiment across mediums such as sculpture, sound and mixed media.

His work is deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism, cultural memory and movements like the Black Panther Party, which he referenced as foundational to his food justice activism. Terry shared in detail how projects like Razed Bed #2 and The Table and the Larder transform everyday materials and traditional food practices into living works of art that honor Black resilience and history. 

The talk concluded with a “Recipe for Staying Curious,” a poetic and reflective framework that likened creativity to cooking, requiring preparation, risk, care and improvisation. It was a call to stay open, ask hard questions, and let both failure and joy shape the work. 

At a lunch with public health students and librarians earlier in the day, Terry explored the challenges of eating local, sustainably raised food, retaining food culture after immigration, the global infiltration of highly processed foods, and the impact of food on aging, health, and disease management.

Terry is the author of five cookbooks, including Vegetable Kingdom and Afro-Vegan, and editor of Black Food and The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025. From 2015 to 2022, he served as the inaugural Chef-in-Residence at San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora, curating dynamic programming connecting food, health, farming, and art. Most recently, he completed an MFA in Art Practice at the University of California at Berkeley in 2025 and was awarded a prestigious Graduate Fellowship at Headlands Center for the Arts for 2025–2026. 

Weinstein Author Series – Michael W. Twitty | Recipes From the American South

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

Courtesy, Library of Virginia

Join us for a conversation between culinary historian Leni Sorensen and award-winning author and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty on Twitty’s new book, “Recipes From the American South.” Building on the foundation of his James Beard Award–winning memoir, “The Cooking Gene,” Twitty once again brings his unparalleled scholarship, lived experience and eloquent storytelling to his exploration of the South. He showcases the complexity of the food traditions influenced by European, Indigenous, African and immigrant communities. With more than 260 recipes, Twitty offers a broad view of the culinary sweep of Southern history and its many cultures, bringing to life everything from timeless classics to lesser-known regional specialties. “Recipes From the American South” celebrates Southern food’s memory keepers and practitioners.

Leni Sorensen has worked as a university lecturer, museum consultant, hands-on presenter and researcher with a focus on African American slavery, American agriculture, and women’s work in colonial and post-colonial America. She retired as the African American research historian at Monticello, and continues to lecture, consult and write on issues of food history while teaching home provisioning and rural life skills from her home in western Albemarle County. 

REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT

The Carole Weinstein Author Series supports the literary arts by bringing both new and well-known authors to the Library of Virginia through online or in-person events. Free and open to the public, the series focuses on Virginia authors and Virginia subjects across all genres.

A book signing will follow the talk. This book will be available at the Virginia Shop.

This is a free event, but registration is required. Seating in the Lecture Hall is available on a first come, first served basis. Limited free parking is available in the deck underneath the Library building. For more information, contact education@lva.virginia.gov.Calendar: LVA EventsDate:Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Time: 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm; Location:Lecture HallAudience:

“House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History” Symposium

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

The Library of Virginia will host a free symposium inspired by the exhibition “House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History.” This day-long event will explore themes highlighted in the exhibition, including urban renewal, historic preservation and Black history. Join us for presentations from Calvin Schermerhorn, professor of history at Arizona State University and author of “The Plunder of Black America”; Warren Milteer, associate professor of history at George Washington University and author of “Beyond Slavery’s Shadow: Free People of Color in the South”; and John Finn, associate professor of geography and chair of the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology at Christopher Newport University.

Shown above, clockwise from upper left, are: Viola Baskerville, Ana Edwards, John Finn, Gregg Kimball, Calvin Schermerhorn, Sesha Joi Moon, Warren Milteer and Latoya Gray-Sparks.Calendar:

Additional sessions will include a presentation on historic preservation led by Latoya Gray-Sparks, community outreach coordinator for the Department of Historic Resources, and a discussion on grassroots historic preservation efforts moderated by historian Gregg Kimball with Viola Baskerville, former Virginia Secretary of Administration and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates; Ana Edwards, a public historian and assistant professor of African American history at Virginia Commonwealth University; and Sesha Joi Moon, co-founder and executive director of The JXN Project.

Learn more and view the event schedule at lva.virginia.gov/events/exhibitions/house-to-highway/symposium.

“House to Highway: Reclaiming a Community History” is on view at the Library through Feb. 28, 2026. “House to Highway” exhibition-related programming is provided with support from Virginia Humanities and the Mellon Foundation.

This is a free event, but registration is required. Limited free parking is available underneath the Library at 800 East Broad Street. For more information, contact education@lva.virginia.gov.

Calendar: LVA Events Date:Saturday, October 25, 2025; Time: 9:00am – 4:30 pm; Location: Conference Room A, Conference Room B, Conference Room C, Lecture Hall, Orientation Room

Blackbird, Fly, featuring spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph and composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain, perform at UR Oct. 23

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

October 23 | 7:30 PM
Camp Concert Hall

Courtesy, University of Richmond

Join us at the Modlin Center on Thursday, October 23 to see and hear Blackbird, Fly, a powerful, intimate duet featuring spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph (also known as Bamuthi) and composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (also known as DBR). The piece explores the artists’ own life stories. This artist-described ‘concert for voice, body, and strings’ reflects on universal themes of tolerance and inclusion.

DBR’s music transcends genre, employing both traditional violin techniques and amplified sounds. Bamuthi’s words and expressive body movements combine hip-hop inspired storytelling, folklore, and politics, touching on everything from fatherhood and friendship to mass incarceration.

Details here.

Food For All Features Bryant Terry @VCU Libraries

/ Bonnie Newman Davis
a black man looks at the camera softly smiling wearing a light blue button down collared shirt and a light cream colored brimmed hat against a tropical plant background
Terry is the author of five cookbooks, including Vegetable Kingdom and Afro-Vegan, and editor of Black Food and The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025. 

Food for All: Intersections of Politics, Poverty, Public Health and the Environment 

Bryant Terry is an author, publisher, artist and advocate. He also is a multidisciplinary artist, James Beard Award–winning chef, publisher, and author working at the intersection of food, art, culture, and justice. Terry is the author of five cookbooks, including Vegetable Kingdom and Afro-Vegan, and editor of Black Food and The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025. From 2015 to 2022, he served as the inaugural Chef-in-Residence at San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora, curating dynamic programming connecting food, health, farming, and art. Most recently he completed an MFA in Art Practice at the University of California at Berkeley in 2025 and was awarded a prestigious Graduate Fellowship at Headlands Center for the Arts for 2025–2026. 

More about Terry

The talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. in-person at James Branch Cabell Lecture Hall and remotely via Zoom. Please register to attend. Parking is available for a fee either on the surrounding streets or in the West Main St. Parking Deck. 

For questions or accommodations, please contact the VCU Libraries Events Office at rbpander@vcu.edu or (804) 828-0593.

Sponsored by Work & Think, LLC. The BND Institute of Media and Culture Inc. is a community partner for the event.

When

October 15, 2025 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Register Now

Where

James Branch Cabell Library Lecture Hall
901 Park Ave., Richmond, VA 23284

Register

Register Now

Food Network Star Aarti Sequeira at Monticello in November

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

Chef Sequeira appearance is the latest in ongoing Culinary Diplomacy series at Monticello. 
 

Courtesy Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello is pleased to announce Food Network star, cookbook author, journalist, and television producer Aarti Sequeira as the next featured chef in the historic site’s Culinary Diplomacy at Monticello series. Presented in partnership with The Culinary Diplomacy Project, this ongoing series features prominent chefs, culinary experts, and historians exploring the intersection of food, history, and culture.  

Inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s legendary dinners renowned for their cuisine and conversation, this series shares how food has been—and continues to be—a bridge for cultural understanding and communication.  

“Thomas Jefferson understood that breaking bread is what connects us,” said Dr. Jane Kamensky, president and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. “With our Culinary Diplomacy at Monticello series, we hope to continue this tradition of using food as a tool to facilitate the exchange of ideas, passions, and hopes for our shared future.” 

Guests can participate in two ways. On November 13, join Chef Sequeira for a Culinary Conversation at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center at Monticello.This program will feature Chef Sequeira discussing Jefferson-era recipes and her own global culinary experiences. Attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy a dish designed by Sequeira that draws inspiration from the event’s theme. Tickets available here. 

On November 14, guests are invited to On the Menu, an unforgettable evening of dinner and discussion featuring a three-course meal meticulously crafted by Chef Sequeira that will include Monticello-grown ingredients. This intimate dining experience offers a rare opportunity to explore history through food, all while enjoying breathtaking views from Montalto, Jefferson’s high mountain. A small group experience including pre-reception with Chef Sequeira and a signed copy of “Dining at Monticello” is also available. Learn more and purchase tickets here. 

About Chef Sequeira 

Aarti Sequeira, cooking show host, cookbook author, journalist, television producer and food personality likes to joke that her love of food began in the womb (she was a 10-pound baby) and shows no sign of abating. 

Aarti is a mainstay on Food Network after winning season six of Food Network Star with her trademark combination of an infectious cackle and a unique signature food style: American favorites with an Indian soul. 

In addition to hosting her own shows, “Aarti Party” and the travel show, “Hidden Eats,” she also serves as judge on hit shows like “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Cooks vs. Cons,” and “Christmas Cookie Challenge.” She also cooks alongside some of the best chefs in the country on the new show, “Guy’s Ranch Kitchen.” She co-hosted “Drop 5 Lbs” and has made numerous talking-head appearances on “Best Thing I Ever Ate,” “Best Thing I Ever Made,” and “Unique Eats” on Cooking Channel. A seasoned competitor (or glutton for punishment!), she also won “Chopped All-Stars,” “Cutthroat Kitchen All-Stars,” and “Guy’s Grocery Games.” Off-network, she has been a colorful, memorable repeat-guest on “Today” show, CBS’ “The Talk,” “Home and Family” (Hallmark Channel), and “Dr. Oz.” She also penned a nationally syndicated column for the Associated Press entitled “World’s Fare” in which she taught readers how to use ingredients in the international aisle in simple, weeknight dishes. A gifted writer, Aarti published her first cookbook, “Aarti Paarti: An American Kitchen with an Indian Soul” in 2014 (Grand Central). 

Aarti is an ardent advocate for women battling postpartum depression, having overcome her own battle with it following the births of her two daughters, Eliyah and Moses. A passionate Christian, she also speaks to women of faith about overcoming fear and the sacred nature of breaking bread. She lives in Los Angeles with her children and husband, actor Brendan McNamara.  

Born in India, brought up in Dubai and educated in a British school, Aarti grew up against a varied tapestry of food cultures…from the homemade curries and flatbreads of her mother to the spit-roasted shawarmas her family would enjoy every Friday. It was during the first Gulf War that Aarti decided to pursue a career in journalism, eventually earning her bachelor’s degree at Northwestern’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism. She went on to work for CNN straight out of school, covering everything from economic reports to the plight of firefighters after 9/11. She also produced “Sand and Sorrow,” the HBO documentary about the genocide in Darfur, narrated by George Clooney and directed by Peabody Award-winner, Paul Freedman. After staging under James Beard Award-winner Suzanne Goin at Lucques, Aarti began shooting a YouTube cooking-variety show, “Aarti Paarti,” with her husband behind the camera. At the behest of said spouse, she sent an audition video to Food Network Star, and was immediately called in. The rest is history!  

Culinary Diplomacy images and assets available for download here. 

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About The Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello 

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation was incorporated in 1923 to preserve Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Today, the foundation seeks to bring history forward into national and global dialogues by engaging audiences with Jefferson’s world and ideas and inviting them to experience the power of place at Monticello and on its website. Monticello is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, a United Nations World Heritage Site and a Site of Conscience. As a private, nonprofit organization, the foundation’s regular operating budget does not receive ongoing government support to fund its twofold mission of preservation and education. For information, visit monticello.org. 

State Historical Marker to Be Dedicated in Westmoreland County for The Stewart Sisters v. The Steamer Sue

/ Bonnie Newman Davis

Courtesy The Virginia Department of Historic Resources

—The court case helped lead to the establishment of the Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty, a forerunner of the NAACP—

—Text of marker reproduced below—

PLEASE NOTE: DHR creates markers not to “honor” their subjects but rather to educate and inform the public about a person, place, or event of regional, state, or national importance. In this regard, erected markers are not memorials.

RICHMOND – The Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) has announced that a state historical marker approved by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources will be dedicated this weekend highlighting the events that led to The Stewart Sisters v. The Steamer Sue, a 19th-century court case that became an impetus for the establishment of the Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty, a forerunner of the NAACP.

The dedication for the marker will be held Saturday, October 4, starting at noon, at New Jerusalem Baptist Church, located at 2695 Kings Mill Road in Kinsale (22488). The marker unveiling will take place at the marker’s location on Route 202, a few yards east of 13890 Cople Highway in Kinsale. Guest parking for the dedication will be available at the parking lot of New Jerusalem Baptist Church. For the marker unveiling, guests may park on the side of the road or in the parking lot at the marker site. This event is free and open to the public.

The dedication ceremony will begin with an invocation led by Bishop Gerald Smith, the pastor at New Jerusalem Baptist Church, followed by a statement of occasion from Dallas G. Henderson, a descendant of the Stewart sisters. Also scheduled to speak at the dedication are the Rev. Darryl Fisher, chair of the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors; Dennis Patrick Halpin, Ph.D., an associate professor of history at Virginia Tech; the Rev. Dr. Alvin C. Hathaway, Sr., pastor emeritus at Union Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland; DHR’s Division Director of Community Services Amanda Terrell; Bessida Cauthorne White, president of the Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society; and other descendants of the Stewart sisters. The dedication will feature musical selections by Juanita Cox. The unveiling of the marker will be led by Fannie R. Thomas, a granddaughter of Mary Stewart Johnson and the only surviving grandchild of the Stewart sisters, along with other descendants of the Stewart sisters. Refreshments will be served after the conclusion of the unveiling.

On August 15, 1884, while traveling aboard the steamer Sue from Baltimore to visit family in the Kinsale community of Westmoreland County, four Virginia-born sisters, Martha and Winnie Stewart, Mary Johnson, and Lucy Jones, were denied first-class quarters because they were Black. The sisters filed a lawsuit in federal court with help from the Rev. Harvey Johnson, a civil rights leader and the longtime pastor of Union Baptist Church in Baltimore, contending segregated quarters were illegal and that the Sue’s were unequal. The trial court ruled that segregation was reasonable but gave the sisters $100 each because the quarters were unequal. This ruling was affirmed on appeal. The case was one of many brought by Black women in the late 1800s and became an impetus for the creation of the Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty, a forerunner of the NAACP.

The Virginia Board of Historic Resources, which is authorized to designate new state historical markers, approved the manufacture and installation of The Stewart Sisters v. The Steamer Sue historical marker in September 2024. The cost of the marker was covered by its sponsor, the Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society.

Virginia’s historical highway marker program began in 1927 with installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1. It is considered the oldest such program in the nation. Currently there are more than 2,600 state markers, mostly maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation, except in those localities outside of VDOT’s authority.

Full Text of Marker:

The Stewart Sisters v. The Steamer Sue

On 15 Aug. 1884, Virginia-born sisters Martha and Winnie Stewart, Mary Johnson, and Lucy Jones were denied first-class quarters because of their race when traveling on the steamer Sue from Baltimore to visit family in Kinsale. With support from the Rev. Harvey Johnson, they filed suit in federal court asserting that segregated quarters were illegal and that the Sue’s were unequal. The trial court’s ruling that segregation was reasonable but giving the sisters $100 each because the quarters were unequal was affirmed on appeal. The case, one of many brought by Black women in the late 1800s, was an impetus for the creation of the Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty, a forerunner of the NAACP.

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