They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Isaiah 2:4
Photo Credit: © Eze Amos Photography
What is Swords into Plowshares?
Swords into Plowshares draws inspiration from the prophetic vision of Isaiah 2:4, which celebrates turning tools of violence into ones of peace and community-building. Swords into Plowshares is spearheaded by Charlottesville’s Jefferson School African American Heritage Center a Black-led non-profit whose mission is to honor and preserve the rich history and culture of local and global African American communities.
Since its inception, the project has shaped national conversations around toppled Confederate statues by modeling a community-engaged democratic process of creative transformation. The goal is to transform– historic trauma into an artistic expression of democratic values and inclusive aspirations.
In December of 2021, after years of activist work to update Virginia state law, Charlottesville’s City Council accepted the JSAAHC’s proposal to take possession of the Robert E. Lee statue. Although immediately confronted with spurious lawsuits by two Virginia neo-Confederate organizations against JSAAHC and the City of Charlottesville, the Swords into Plowshares team forged ahead, gathering community engagement and input. The Heritage Center prevailed in the lawsuit, and Swords into Plowshares team fulfilled the first part of their promise to the community to melt the statue.
In 2024, Swords into Plowshares began its second phase: RECAST / RECLAIM.
In 2024, the Swords into Plowshares team began to develop the second phase of the project, entitling it RECAST / RECLAIM. This phase continues our public outreach, and includes research into our public landscapes where an object could be placed. It also includes the main project goal: the search for an artist to create a new work from the former Lee statue.
To date we have completed a public parks survey, obtaining over 500 community responses on preferences for new artwork and favored Charlottesville public parks, which will inform the site of the new work of art. The analysis of the survey results is underway, with an anticipated release date later this year.
Through our park research we make ancestral connections across the region, revealing relationships between enslaved families, plantations, and free Black families. By joining this research with the creation of new public art, the Swords into Plowshares project highlights a continuous counter narrative to the narratives of white supremacy.
Phase II: RECAST / RECLAIM
Photo Credit: © Eze Amos Photography
The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center
Since its founding in 2013, The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (JSAAHC ) remains as Charlottesville's only Black-run historical site and public history research institution. It is the Center’s mission to promote a greater appreciation for and understanding of the social and cultural contributions of African Americans and peoples of the Diaspora. Through its Center for Local Knowledge (CLK), its exhibitions and publications, the JSAAHC tells the story of the African American community from the 19th through the 20th century. CLK researchers are investigating the history of our local parks during this period to help identify an appropriate site for the Swords into Plowshares object.
