Roanoke Diaspora: Urban Renewal’s Lasting Impact on the Roanoke Valley

Community High School hosted a panel discussion featuring several speakers who shared their experiences with urban renewal in Roanoke from the 1950s-1990s. The speakers, Mr. Richard Chubb, Mr. Richard Ross, and Ms. Claudia Whitworth, witnessed the degradation and destruction of several historically African American neighborhoods first-hand — including Gainsboro and northeast Roanoke — as a result of the city’s urban renewal policies. Ms. Mary Bishop, who was responsible for much of the original Roanoke Times reporting on these issues in the mid-1990s, served as the panel’s moderator. The panelists shared their wisdom as well as their stories, and answered questions from the audience, which was composed of Roanoke community members, a local government representative, and CHS students, families, and faculty.