NEWS
13
Slow and steady Historic Resources Committee kicks off descendant outreach for Court Square memorial By Brielle Entzminger reporter@c-ville.com
A
ON SALE NOW MARCH 5-29 R
E X T E N D E D R E TA I L E R I N F O R M AT I O N
AMERICAN LEATHER RE-INVENTED RECLINERS AND COMFORT RECLINER ON SALE MAY 14-JUNE 1
1/14/21 4:19 PM
218 West Market Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902 434-970-1900 I Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm www.lodgerva.com
@cville_weekly
➢ Affordable, flexible learning
“It seems to be that we should be prioritizing those who can trace their ancestry to Albemarle County, especially since this is the county courthouse.” JALANE SCHMIDT, HISTORIC RESOURCES COMMITTEE MEMBER
➢ Transfer agreements with top VA schools Summer classes begin May 24 – REGISTER NOW!
www.pvcc.edu/succeed
facebook.com/cville.weekly
➢ Programs in high-demand career fields The city continues to work on creating a memorial to replace the Court Square slave auction block plaque, which was stolen last year.
May 19 – 25, 2021 c-ville.com
fter over a year of debate surrounding Charlottesville’s stolen slave auction marker, the Historic Resources Committee began meeting with descendants of enslaved laborers, seeking their input on how to best pay tribute to the thousands of enslaved people bought and sold in Court Square. The memorial’s story serves as an example of the process of creating new public monuments. And as Charlottesville continues to reevaluate its physical public spaces, stories like this will become more and more common. At the beginning of the month, committee member and UVA history professor Jalane Schmidt, joined by city planner Robert Watkins, met virtually with nine descendants, including DeTeasa Gathers, Myra Anderson, Calvin Jefferson, Bertha French, and Diane Brown Townes. While most attendees have recent connections to the Charlottesville area, several live outside of Virginia. During a May 14 committee meeting, Schmidt shared that the descendants urged them to be patient and not rush the descendant engagement process. “The process itself is just as important as what any eventual memorial might look like,” she said. City Councilor Heather Hill asked if the descendants wanted the city to erect a temporary marker while the committee works on a permanent memorial, referencing the city residents who have placed homemade markers in Court Square since the plaque was stolen last year. “We have heard from some facets of the community that would like to see something done sooner versus later,” Hill said. Watkins and Schmidt explained that the descendants did not provide a definite answer, but were not anxious to put up something temporary. “The thing I kept hearing was don’t feel pressured to move too fast, and to be listening to people into the process,” said Schmidt. “I did not hear from them, ‘yeah get something up there right away, that needs to be in place.’”
Committee co-chair Phil Varner questioned which descendants should have the most say in the creation of the memorial. “It’s this huge spectrum of voices in this conversation,” he said. “How do we determine who we should listen to the most?” “It seems to be that we should be prioritizing those who can trace their ancestry to Albemarle County, especially since this is the county courthouse,” responded Schmidt, pointing out that before emancipation, over half of the county’s populaR E T A I L E tion was enslaved. Moving forward, Schmidt said she will meet again with the leaders of Descendants of Enslaved Communities at UVA, and ask them to help get more descendants involved. CS_SALE-ADS.indd 3 “Fortunately, there’s been some really important work done by [genealogist] Shelley Murphy in tracking down people,” she said. “They’ve steadily built a database of names of descendants.” Committee member Kay Slaughter also suggested reaching out to the Central Virginia History Researchers, which has engaged with descendants from the area. Before next month’s committee meeting, Schmidt and Watkins plan to do one or two more virtual descendant engagement sessions. And as more people get vaccinated, the group hopes to host in-person meetings with descendants at Washington Park over the summer.
