Greetings, I pursued this issue a bit when I was a graduate student. In fact, an article on amusements in Richmond at this time -- including the issue of racial segregation and mentioning the fairs -- is forthcoming in the next . . . and, sadly, last . . . issue of the Virginia Cavalcade. Here are a few things I found: Blacks were mostly invisible in the white press coverage of fairs – perhaps few attended, perhaps the press avoided mentioning them. Judging by other evidence, African-Americans were not made at all comfortable in such places (see the Richmond Planet, May 11, 1907 on Jamestown Exposition, for instance). For its part, the Planet never mentions the State Fair in this era, which I think is telling. The special Exposition of 1888 in Richmond included a “colored department” and “colored day” when blacks could attend at half price (was it an accident that “colored day” also happened to be Halloween?). Another aside, “colored day” was the day of highest attendance of the Exposition and perhaps was the largest concentration of African Americans in one spot in Richmond’s history to that point. There was no Virginia State Fair from 1896, in the midst of depression and after years of shortfalls, to 1906, when a revived (and moved – from where the DMV is now to where the Diamond is now) State Fair began again. Eddie Drummond, a black Richmond youth, attended the fair in 1910 and 1911 according to his diary in the Valentine Museum. So at that point it was not segregated . . . or rather blacks could attend, but they MUST have been forced to use different, segregated bathrooms and eating/drinking facilities. I think that is just a given. There were also separate black fairs. In July 1915 there was a particularly large Negro Historical and Industrial Exhibition, lauded by the white press and criticized by John Mitchell’s Planet. Other black fairs were held in 1884, 1891, and 1892 . . . and perhaps other years I did not find. This is a very interesting issue – good luck pursuing it. Michael Trotti Ithaca College To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html