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Petersburg Rising

56 minutes 42 seconds

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Petersburg, VA was once home to the largest free Black community in America. However, the city fell into financial ruin after a major corporation pulled up stakes. For more than a decade following, schools in Petersburg struggled, failed, and even lacked basic accreditation. Students dropped out in large numbers and faced tough times at home in one of the state's most impoverished communities. It looked to be an all-too-common American story of economic boom-to-bust, until an extraordinary group of leaders entered the picture to turn the tide by investing in children and their education. Petersburg, Virginia was to be a new model for the state, and perhaps the nation.