Photo by Jay Paul
Once the epicenter of the city’s domestic slave trade, Shockoe Bottom has its share of ghosts. They reside just north of Main Street Station at the site of Lumpkin’s Jail, the most brutal of the city’s auction houses, and the African Burial Ground, Richmond's first municipal cemetery designated for the burials of Black people, active from 1799 through 1816. In the old town gallows nearby, Gabriel Prosser was executed by public hanging on Oct. 10, 1800, for attempting to lead a slave revolt and overthrow the government.
Roughly 100 people gathered to mark the occasion 222 years later, following a weekend of illumination and video projections by Recontextualizing Richmond. The 20th annual Gabriel Gathering took place on a section of the burial grounds. The history, of course, stretches much further, points out Vanessa Bolin, founder of the Richmond Indigenous Society.
“This is traditional Pamunkey territory. It was part of the Powhatan confederation. This land was sacred before the Europeans ever arrived, before the settlers stole the land, extracted the resources, moved our people out or murdered them,” she says. “Even though we are still fighting our struggles today, … we always recognize the struggles of enslaved Black Africans that were brought here.”
Two decades ago, the area was devoid of historical markers, paved over and largely lost on the map of Richmond history. But it’s been reclaimed and is now a central part of a new Heritage District and a planned memorial park in the Bottom.
This article has been updated since publication to reference the correct location for the event.
