Join the George A. Newman Symposium on May 1

Posted April 9, 2025 in Featured News, Giving to JMU Libraries News, JMU Libraries News, Special Collections News

an image showing the book, "a miserable revenge" side by side with a portrait of the book's author, George A. Newman Sr.

All members of the JMU and local community are invited to a public symposium honoring the recent publication of a novel written by trailblazing Harrisonburg Black educator George A. Newman just after his 1875 arrival in Harrisonburg. The novel, A Miserable Revenge: A Story of Life in Virginia, is set in the antebellum era in Frederick County, Virginia. Newman’s handwritten 1876-77 manuscript is part of the Ruth and Lowell Toliver Collection of Newman Family Papers, available in JMU Libraries Special Collections.

What: George A. Newman Symposium
When: Thursday, May 1, 5:30-8 p.m.
Where: Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center (620 Simms Avenue in Harrisonburg)
More info: The symposium will be preceded by tours of the Dallard-Newman House (4 p.m.), and the Newtown Cemetery, and Lucy F. Simms School (4:45 p.m.). View the JMU calendar for details.

The project to publish the novel was led by Mollie Godfrey and Brooks Hefner, with contributions from experts in JMU Libraries, including Tiffany Cole, Kate Morris, Bodeene Amyot Cairdeas, Liz Thompson, Kirsten Mlodynia, and Kevin Hegg. Other contributors included Jeslyn Pool (MA ’23) and Evan Sizemore (MA ’23).

Co-sponsors of the event include JMU Libraries, Virginia Humanities, the JMU College of Arts and Letters Legacy Alumni Board, and JMU’s College of Arts and Letters, College of Education, AAAD Studies Center, and Department of English.