October 10
It rained almost without a stop for the entire 1.5-hour 18th Annual Gabriel Gathering and, yet, people stayed.
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| Nearly 90 people attended the Gabriel Gathering on Saturday, October 10, 2020, standing at pairs of white and yellow carnations laid out in a 10-foot grid across the grounds. Photo credit: Brian Palmer |
The program drew attention to the community's long-time efforts to ensure that the African and African American public history landscape in Shockoe Bottom is known, made visible, and preserved for the future. Presentations pointed to Gabriel and the attempt to end slavery early in our nation's development, the work to reclaim Richmond's first municipal burying ground for enslaved and free black people as well as the current work to reclaim the second site, the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground, established in 1816.
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| Joseph Rogers of the Virginia Defenders. Photo credit: Brian Palmer |
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| View of guests from speaker's tent. Photo credit: Brian Palmer |
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| Gabriel descendant Pamela Bingham of Writing New Narratives Project, Ana Edwards of the Sacred Ground Project, and Joseph Rogers of the Defenders. Photo credit: Brian Palmer |
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| Queen Zakia and Steve Shabazz of the Afrikan Ancestral Chamber. Free Bangura and friend from Untold RVA. Photo credit: Brian Palmer |
