Series: Black Power and Black Self-Determination in a New Time and New Spaces On the surface, Lawrenceville, Virginia, looks like many other small rural towns struggling in the wake of economic and social globalization. With a population that has declined more than 29% since 2010 and fast-diminishing employment opportunities in its principal industries, the community is certainly distressed. However, the abandonment manifest in a boarded-up downtown obscures a complex and nuanced past and present.