“ The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History mission is to be the Dan River Region’s Leader for integrated awareness of History, culture and community. The DMFAH connects the local Dan River Region communities to their historical and cultural roots while also giving research, loan access, and engagement opportunities for other museums and historical sites. Inclusion and Diversity are cornerstones of the Danville Museum’s experience.”

News Reel

The Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History on Feb 1, 2022 announced that it has received designation as a site on the historic U.S. Civil Rights Trail, which debuted in 2018, and includes more than 120 sites — churches, schools, courthouses, museums — across 15 states, mostly in the South.

The sites are places where activists challenged segregation and inequality in the 1950s and 1960s to advance social justice.

Inclusion and diversity are cornerstones of the Danville museum’s experience. We invite everyone to visit the museum and discover the many remarkable stories.

Danville is one of three locations in Virginia with sites on the trail. The other sites are in Farmville and Richmond. 

With Gratitude

The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History would like to extend their gratitude to all who helped to put Danville on the Map of the US Civil Rights Trail. We thank those who moved forward our application and wrote letters of support: Dr. Larry Wilburn, Mr. Torrey Dixon, Mr. Tommy Bennett, Mr. Willie T. Fitzgerald, Sandy and Sherman Saunders, Rev. Lawrence G. Campbell, Doris E. Wilson, Paula M. Smith, Carolyn Hill Wilson. And to our speakers: Mayor Alonzo Jones, Justin Reid from the Virginia Humanities and the VTC, Justin Ferrell who serves on the DMFAH executive committee, and also a special thanks to our virtual forum speakers: Councilman Sherman Saunders, AKA President Gayle Breakley, and President of the NAACP, Tommy Bennett.

Heart in the Park

The Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History has teamed up with Dr. Stephanie Lovely from Danville Parks and Rec, and Ashtyn Foddrell, community Liaison of the Danville Police Department. On Feb 12, 2022 we invite the DMFAH members to participate in an exciting community engagement art installation, at the Doyle Thomas Park on February 12, 2022 at 11am. All you need to bring is yourself and a mirror – Yup, you heard right – Bring a mirror! The Doyle Thomas Park is named for the civil rights leader Doyle Thomas who was head of the NAACP during the turbulent civil rights-year of 1963. Doyle Thomas arrived in Danville in 1946, when he became the pastor of Loyal Baptist Church. He became a member of the Danville City Council, and long-time civil rights leader in the Danville.

Special thanks to DMFAH Board member Kelly Cunningham (manager at Burke’s Outlet). As the store was relocating last month, Kelly helped our Collections Team find some of the store’s shelving units that would work well to house some of our small furniture pieces. We thank Annie Chappell and Mary Kent as well as Arden Dalton for their tremendous efforts to make our archives and museum collections look amazingly organized! We also want to thank Board Member Kelly Cunningham for her help in procuring collections shelving for us that is “just right”. Thank you, Mary and John, for your donation that procured this tremendous asset for collections. Together, we are building a better collection, a more organized collection and an inviting space for researchers.