Press
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Ginna’s work published at the Smithsonian Magazine
In March 2022, Virginia’s photographs and historical research on the Inner Passage was published as a feature article in the Smithsonian Magazine.
Read the Smithsonian piece “What the Haunting ‘Inner Passage’ Represented to the Enslaved”.
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The MIT Press Reader, “The Enslaved South Carolinians Who Rowed to Freedom"
“Along the Lowcountry’s Inner Passage, they steered south by starlight as slave catchers pursued them toward Spanish Florida. This Juneteenth, their names should not be forgotten.”
Read the article here. -
LitHub, “On Learning About the Enslaved Men Who Dug South Carolina’s Lowcountry Canals”
“I didn’t intend to spend ten years searching for one man’s name. My obsession began in a tidal creek where I went to swim in South Carolina. It was the summer I was pregnant with my fourth child and I longed for a quiet escape from Charleston’s tourist-swarmed streets…”
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ARTDOC Photography Magazine, “Hidden Waterways of the American South”
The Inner Lens Issue #1, February 2026
Feature story on The Inner Passage, read the story here.
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C-SPAN, American History TV: Virginia Richards, “The Inner Passage”
“Author Virginia Richards discusses a southern waterway that the enslaved were forced to build for mercantile shipping, but which they used as a covert route to freedom.”
Watch Live at 9:35 AM CST
June 21, 2026 on C-SPAN 2 -
Palmetto Life, Video: The Inner Passage
Hear from author Virginia McGee Richards about a canal path from Charleston to St. Augustine used to escape slavery.
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The Greensboro Thread, “Connecting the Past and Present”
“About a decade ago, Richards—who grew up in Charlotte and lives there still—was swimming in a South Carolina creek when she was struck with a question: How did this channel come to be?”
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The MIT Press Reader, “A Southern Waterway Scarred With Secrets”
“In an interview — edited for length and clarity — Richards discusses the origins of her project; the slow, tactile nature of her photographic process; and America’s “tendency to ignore the importance of Black labor to the infrastructure of our entire country.”
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WCBD, “Meet Virginia Richards, author of The Inner Passage”
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Tonight, we are excited to welcome author Virginia Richards, who will discuss her new book about the waterway built by enslaved people, and its connection to Charleston all the way to St. Augustine.
Watch the interview to learn about Richards and her new book.
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‘Inner Passage’ received a National Ellie award for best photographic feature story
In March of 2023, the American Society of Magazine Editors awarded Ginna’s Inner Passage photographs a National Ellie award for best photographic feature story published in 2022.
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UNC Alumni Magazine Feature Article about The Inner Passage
In August of 2022, the UNC Carolina Alumni Review magazine wrote about Ginna’s documentary photography and her historical research on Lowcountry waterways and landscapes.