May 29, 2008
protest @ 15th and Broad Streets
A protest/rally will be held on June 2 beginning at noon at the soon-to-be-renovated parking lot @ 15th and Broad Streets. A ground breaking for renovating the parking lot, which “may be the site of the largest slave burial ground in the nation”, is also scheduled for that day. The land which was established as a burial ground for both slaves and free blacks in the 1700’s also doubled as the town gallows for public execution. It is believed that this is where Gabriel Prosser was hanged and buried.
Hey John! Could you post this on CHPN too? And perhaps everywhere else. This is important for our community to know about. It’s time to stop paving over our sad past and finally acknowledge it.
I would like to see a memorial erected there such as Berlin has done. Check out http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4646810 . And like Berlin’s memorial, it could have an information center/museum.
Not far from 15th street slaves were sold at the docks and worked in the warehouses. In Richmond, we have memorials, monuments, museums on everything but this part of Richmond’s ugly past. We should be courageous like Berlin, face it and learn from it. In parts of the world today slavery still exists.
Why not a Holocaust type museum??????????
If we have a slavery museum anywhere, it should be here in Shockoe Bottom, Richmond. I remember something about a possible Black History museum in Fredericksburg. Did that ever take off?
Yes a museum, memorial, and walking tours. They have this in Africa, now we need it here.
We need to see the history of slavery and open our eyes to where it exists today. The world never got rid of this ugly institution.
If this was a Confederate Soldier cemetery we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Or just a regular ol’ cemetery filled with white people. There would be monuments everywhere. Flags flying. Flower petals in the air. Weeping men in Civil War attire guarding each grave.
It is UNLAWFUL for this land to exist as a parking lot. We are smarter and better than this.
As of now, the United States Slavery Museum exists only as an idea, a plot of land, and a website. They have teaching plans, community outreach, traveling exhibits, but no real museum yet. It will eventually be located in Fredericksburg. There are a few articles here and there about recent problems with funding, etc. In other words, it’s going to take a while.
I read a quote from Wilder a while ago, and he said the reason the museum didn’t happen in Richmond was due to “land costs and civic indifference.” The land in Fredericksburg was donated and the town government wanted it to be there, unlike our fair city.
We can’t even get someone who owns a parking lot to acknowledge that it’s also a cemetery. We have a long way to go in this town.
Virginia Commonwealth University’s plan for lot is opposed (RTD 6/3)
VCU is a business. I’m guessing my history degree from there is worthless.
I heard on NPR about (what I recall) a dozen people in a group that protested but couldn’t really see anything from my window (I overlook I-95 right by Main St Station - in James Monroe bldg)….
VCU, Wilder ignore duty to history (RTD 6/5/08)
Confederate group joins protest (RTD 6/6/08)
[...] VCU has decided to delay repaving the parking lot that may cover a burial ground for slaves and free blacks, a decision reached after grass-roots protests earlier this week. [...]
There are a lot of good ideas being posted here and in other conversations. There are a lot of good models for what could happen to this site, but this is a unique opportunity for Richmond which has only a single U.S. model for a community-engaged process –the New York African Burial Ground. And so precisely because the black community has not had enough opportunities to weigh in on a project like this, with historical and scientific implications that bear on matters that relate directly to their history as a people of this nation, as many voices from the black community as possible must weigh in. And if, while respectfully following their lead, the kind of support that is being demonstrated on these blogs could be brought to public meetings and in suggestions to the Slave Trail Commission, the mayoral candidates, DHR, VCU, the NAACP, Virginia Historical Society, Black History Museum & Cultural Center, the governor’s office, the presence of that kind of community attention and frankly, oversight, could make a big difference in the outcomes. How much richer would the contemporary and future community of Richmond be if we could all play a part in ensuring that this site is allowed to reveal its full potential?
Ana Edwards, Whenever meetings are scheduled, could someone make sure they are posted on various community blogs like this one and chpn? I would love to participate.
[...] up on the protest last Tuesday of the repaving of what “may be the site of the largest slave burial ground in the [...]
[...] up on the protest last Tuesday of the repaving of what “may be the site of the largest slave burial ground in the [...]
Matters continue for slave burial site (Richmond Voice 6/18/08)