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Join the Valentine to explore our newest exhibition, Dissent! Liberty & Loyalty in Early Virginia, with free admission all day.

We tend to forget that not everyone wanted "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness," nor have the goals of the Declaration of Independence ever been fully achieved. Between the 1770s and the 1830s, the Richmond region was center stage for the battles over if and how Virginians would live up to these stated ideals. Tories, including John Wickham, free Black residents, enslaved workers, and those with new wealth adjusted their loyalties and sought their own form of liberty. Dissent! Liberty & Loyalty in Early Richmond explores the first 60 years of American independence and reveals how the Richmond region was center stage for the battles over if and how Virginians would live up to these stated ideals.