Legacies of the Great Valley Road: The Continuing Stories of Western Virginia Native Americans

Friday, October 16, 2026; 4-5:30 PM; Memorial Hall Auditorium

As we conclude the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commemoration events, join the Madison Center for Civic Engagement for a roundtable that asks us to consider the stories we tell about the First Peoples of western Virginia, their roles in the Backcountry, and their resilience today. The Great Valley Road (Route 11), the Native American route that runs through JMU’s campus, is the anchor for the discussion. Generations of students went out from here to teach Virginia history at a time when Native Americans were viewed as a people of the past. The roundtable will grow our understandings of connections between past and present by building a more inclusive dialogue.

Participants include

• Dr. Kara Dillard, Executive Director, Madison Center for Civic Engagement
• Victoria Persinger Ferguson, enrolled citizen of the Monacan Indian Nation and Virginia Tech’s Presidential Ambassador to Native Nations
• Dr. Margaret Mulrooney, University Historian
• Dr. Carole Nash, Professor, School of Integrated Sciences
• Dr. Alexa Quinn, Assistant Professor, Early, Elementary and Reading Education

Sponsored by 

• Madison Center for Civic Engagement
• JMU Native American and Indigenous Working Group
• JMU Campus History Committee