20 YEARS! A celebration and commemoration of learning, reclamation and purpose.

Each year on Oct. 10, the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project (sacredgroundproject.net) of the Virginia Defenders hosts a community gathering at Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground. Oct. 10 was the date in 1800 when the great slave rebellion leader Gabriel was executed at this site. We gather to honor Gabriel and all those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom, to celebrate more than 20 years of learning the history of this sacred ground and to rededicate ourselves to reclaiming and properly memorizing Shockoe Bottom, once the epicenter of the U.S. domestic slave trade.

We’re also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality!

This year’s commemoration will feature three nights of projections, light art, and history of Shockoe Bottom leading to the commemoration event on Monday night.

<<<< Park in the VCU Parking lot behind Main St. Station (accessed from Grace or Franklin streets). See the map to the left of this post. 

Enter the event by walking through the projections in the tunnel, north toward the Burial Ground.