CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The University of Virginia is one of the nation’s premiere institutions of higher education with roots stretching back more than two centuries.
But on the grounds of this renowned school, a new landmark of learning encourages students and staff to ponder the past in a new light.
Jessica Harris, the president of Descendants of Enslaved Communities at UVA, says the Memorial to Enslaved Labor honors the estimated 4,000 forgotten men and women who built and maintained the school from the early to mid-1800s.
“History isn’t relegated to the classrooms. It is something we live and breathe every day,” Harris explained. “When we think about an institution and a place, we wouldn’t know the UVA today without the work of enslaved laborers.”
Historians are poring over documents discovering names of the enslaved whose stories vanished. The ongoing project providing a measure of dignity 200 years later.
“There are diaries, letters. There is so much you have to uncover. It is not as easy as looking at a census. Not till 1870 were people fully counted on a census,” Harris said.
Some individuals known only by their profession are carved into 56 panels in the shadows of the Rotunda.
For Harris, this memorial is personal as two of her ancestors' names appear on the wall.
“Getting to see the university acknowledge this history that I’ve known and that my family has known for a long time, but that had never been fully addressed was transformative,” Harris said. “We learn in spaces like this it is not just when we read textbooks. It is not just when hear lectures.”
Cauline Yates II, Sally Hemmings’ seventh-generation great-niece, first saw plans for the memorial in 2009.
“It is not a pretty story, but we’re out to tell the truth,” Yates said. “It is hard when you have someone tell you when to get up. When you need to go to bed. When you can stop working. When you can go to the bathroom. And that is dehumanizing.”
Ms. Yates says while the story is raw, the living memorial is healing.
“It is designed for contemplative thinking," Yates said. "I think it is a place to find some peace and solace and reclaim the narrative.”
That narrative is now reaching beyond Charlottesville as the memorial is the subject of a documentary featured at the Richmond International Film Festival.
“Lives Between the Lines” details the construction and dedication of the landmark, but the film dives deeper than just names carved in granite.
The documentary illuminates hidden secrets behind an American institution.
“We’ve been super heartened by the response to the film. I know it has impacted me personally,” Harris said.
For Harris, as a descendant of enslaved people who toiled on these grounds, the journey is far from over.
“It is difficult work," Harris noted. "It is hard work, but it is meaningful work."
The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at UVA is an outdoor classroom where lessons learned are long overdue.
“Again, this is a painful history. We recognize that,” Harris said. “We recognize that it is heavy, but our hope is that by honoring names on the wall we are never forgetting where we came from and use that as our north star to move forward.”
The documentary film “Lives Between the Lines” will be featured at the Richmond International Film Festival at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30 at Bowtie Movieland Theatre.
Watch Greg McQuade's stories on CBS 6 and WTVR.com. If you know someone Greg should profile, email him at greg.mcquade@wtvr.com.
