RICHMOND, Va. — A consecration and dedication ceremony took place at the University of Richmond on Wednesday for the permanent memorial to the enslaved people buried on the school's historic campus.
UR graduate student Shelby Driskill began researching the site in 2018 with her Paths to the Burying Ground project, which explored the history of "what may have been a burying ground" and the lives "of those who were enslaved on the property."
That led to the university to recommend Driskill continue her research on the land, which the school first acquired in 1910.
"There is an undeveloped hill close to the center of the University of Richmond campus," reads a section of the introduction from Paths to the Burying Ground. "It rises up from the corner of a parking lot, shaded by pine and oak trees, then slopes down to the base of the university's gothic-inspired Steam Plant. Nothing marks it. One could spend years on the campus and never notice the place, yet evidence indicates that it sits at the heart of intersecting histories of enslavement and erasure."
That research turned up evidence that over the course of a century, university officials uncovered burial remains at the site of a former plantation lying beneath the campus.
The study cited documentary evidence from 1912 to 1956 showing officials previously acknowledged the existence of the burial grounds, and workers uncovered remains during construction.
As a result, the school tasked a committee with identifying how to memorialize the site.
The final design, which featured input from descendants and the campus community, was centered on three design principles: the site "should remain sacred and lightly touched," be "unique, accessible and inviting" and "balance sentiments of reconciliation and resilience with the certainty of an enduring struggle."
Features of the memorial include the Witness Tree, portraiture, a stone and symbols.
The Burying Ground memorial is located at 112 UR Drive at the intersection of Richmond Way and UR Drive. It is open to the public with free visitor parking near the memorial, officials said.
Click here for more information about the memorial.
RELATED: Volunteers work to clean up Richmond cemetery where enslaved are buried
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