Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
The marker “Joseph R. Holmes” will be dedicated at 1 p.m. at the Old Court House in the town of Charlotte Court House. Holmes, born enslaved, served as a delegate to the Virginia Republican Party conventions in 1867 and 1869 and was elected to represent Charlotte and Halifax Counties in Virginia’s Constitutional Convention of 1867-68. On May 3, 1869, four white men murdered Holmes on the county’s courthouse steps. The men charged with his murder were never tried.
