2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 199
Commending The Ealey Project.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 3, 2026
WHEREAS, The Ealey Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of the Honorable Roland J. Ealey and to sharing untold and under-told stories from the history of Richmond's Jackson Ward; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Roland J. “Duke” Ealey was an accomplished civil rights attorney and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates whose legal and political career in Richmond spanned from 1940 until his death in 1992, during which time he was involved with many significant issues and events affecting countless lives; and
WHEREAS, in 2012, Sasha Finch and James Vigeant purchased the property at 2 East Clay Street in Jackson Ward, which was formerly Duke Ealey's office, and shortly thereafter discovered a trove of historic records related to his work; and
WHEREAS, in recognition of the historical importance of these documents, The Ealey Project was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 2023 to act as a steward of the collection and to support further research into its contents; and
WHEREAS, to date, The Ealey Project has identified numerous records in the collection that shed light on Duke Ealey's contributions to the civil rights movement, the legal system in Richmond, and the development of Jackson Ward, including material relating to Brown v. Board of Education , family displacement from the development of the Interstate Highway System, Massive Resistance, and the desegregation of federal court houses, which was successfully litigated at the United States Supreme Court in the case Johnson v. Virginia ; and
WHEREAS, in 2023, The Ealey Project established an amended deed of gift with the Library of Virginia to deposit the collection at the library and ensure that it would be professionally archived and digitized and made available to the public; and