As of January 2010

1. Jan. 5, 2010: Suit filed against the Commonwealth of Virginia, naming Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources for failing to preserve and protect state owned site of historic significance, Richmond's African Burial Ground and calling for the state to pay for a test excavation to assist in determining the boundaries of the burial ground. This Writ of Mandamus was filed by Sa'ad El-Amin, director of the Society for the Preservation of Richmond's African American History and Antiquities and includes the deposition of Dr. Michael Blakey, director of the Institute for Historical Biology, College of William and Mary, as expert witness. This suit was publicly supported by the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, SGHRP and the State Conference NAACP.
2. Participation in the Future of Richmond's Past planning committee to conduct Community Conversations to provide the public the opportunity to input their stories and interests into the programming of our regional cultural institutions as they plan for the upcoming Sesquicentennial of the Civil War and Emancipation.
3. Participation in the Lincoln Memorial Subcommittee of the Martin L. King, Jr. Commemoration Comimission of the commonwealth of Virginia, serving on the sub-subcommittee, Slave Burial Grounds/African American Cemeteries project - identification and cataloguing of all such sites and the interred throughout the state. Details to follow.
4. Planning a Richmond Community Delegation visit to the New York African Burial Ground newly opened interpretive center.
5. Community discussions on the range of options for the community to be informed about the range of options for reclamation and use of Richmond's African Burial Ground; and to document the community's responses.