David Ramey: A Gift of Memory

David Alexander Ramey, Sr. (1939-2017) was a self-taught artist who spent decades working for the Norfolk and Western Railway. In the later years of his life, he turned with remarkable focus to drawing from memory the Gainsboro and Northeast neighborhoods of his youth. Working in colored pencil, graphite, and ink, he recorded the storefronts, churches, railroad yards, celebrations, and daily exchanges that defined Roanoke’s thriving Black community — scenes later irrevocably altered by urban renewal. His works are at once intimate and expansive, personal recollections that together form an irreplaceable visual archive.

The Taubman Museum of Art’s 75th Anniversary marks a defining moment for the Museum and for Roanoke. Through the collective generosity of a consortium of supporters, the Museum has acquired 40 works by Ramey — an extraordinary body of drawings that now enters the Permanent Collection, securing a lasting place for the artist’s work within our Collection.

A selection of original drawings is presented here alongside reproductions of additional works from this acquisition. This approach allows the Museum to share Ramey’s work year-round while caring responsibly for these works on paper.

This acquisition ensures Ramey’s legacy as a permanent presence at the Taubman. His drawings are now preserved for future generations and presented in ongoing dialogue with the city whose history they record.

We gratefully acknowledge our community partners whose work continues to sustain and expand David Ramey’s legacy: Roanoke Public Libraries, the City of Roanoke, the Roanoke Higher Education Center, and the Harrison Museum of African American Culture.

This exhibition is on view in the Media Lab March 6-June 28, 2026.