Celebrating Oliver Hill

Since 2003, a portrait of civil rights activist and attorney Oliver Hill Sr. has hung in the halls of Richmond Law. On June 23, the painting found a new – albeit temporary – home in Richmond’s Executive Mansion.

Best known for his work to end racial discrimination, Hill had a longstanding association with Richmond Law. Reis Alsberry, L’03, and Thor Hoyte, L’03, led the drive to honor Hill’s work and that relationship with the law school by fundraising and commissioning a painting by local artist Elaine Bankston.

Earlier this year, Governor Terry McAuliffe and First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe selected the law school’s portrait of Hill to hang in the Executive Mansion on loan. “We didn’t feel that all the paintings [in the Executive Mansion] truly represented the diversity of our great state, the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said McAuliffe at the June 23 unveiling ceremony. “We also thought it important to recognize accomplishments of African Americans here in the Commonwealth of Virginia.” Hill passed away in 2007 at the age of 100, and “was a trailblazer like none other,” said McAuliffe.

Son Oliver Hill Jr. and his family joined representatives from the University of Richmond and Richmond Law, including members of the Black Law Students Association, for the unveiling ceremony. The timing of the ceremony aligned with Virginia’s celebration of Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. “I think it’s when we understand, as my father used to say, that ‘We’re all human earthlings,’ we’re all in this together, and we have a common story and a common destiny, that we can finally get past the divisive barriers that have separated people,” said Hill Jr.

While the portrait is on loan to the Executive Mansion, a copy will hang in its stead at Richmond Law. “It’s important for us to be able to have this symbol in our building,” said Dean Wendy Perdue. “I’m happy to say that we’ve made a reproduction of it that we’ll keep in the building with a sign that tells people where the original is, and that tells its own story.” The reproduction will be installed later this summer.

View the event photo album on the Richmond Law Flickr page.