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New Town Remembered: A Virtual Re-Creation
(Diversity)
New Town was an African American neighborhood on the edge of the Virginia Tech campus between Turner and Main Streets in Blacksburg. It consisted of one street, Gilbert Street, and a small lane that was home to about 20 families. New Town was the home of St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall which was the social center for area African-Americans from 1906 until the end of segregation. In the 1970's, road construction and other development culminated the decline of the neighborhood. New Town is an important reminder of the resilience, pride, self-reliance and community spirit of the people who lived in this neighborhood, as well as the legacy of injustice that segregation imposed.
New Town, today, has been redeveloped as a shopping and office complex. The only remaining structure is the St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall, which the Town of Blacksburg has restored. To memorialize New Town and its people, the Virginia Tech Foundation, the Virginia Tech Office of Outreach, the Town of Blacksburg, and the Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation has supported production of a virtual reality re-creation of New Town as it was about 1950. In addition, the New Town Remembered program includes augmented reality representations of homes and people and educational programs and materials designed for school age children.
Please join us for the grand presentation of New Town Remembered, A Virtual Re-Creation. Walk the streets, experience the sounds and sights, and meet residents in this virtual environment. This program has been created by Thomas Tucker, School of Visual Arts, Todd Ogle, VT Instructional Technologies, David Hicks, School of Education and Tom Sherman, Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation
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