Memorial to Enslaved Laborers

This conversation explores the history, form, and process behind the creation of the powerful new Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia. he grounds—designed by Thomas Jefferson and now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—were built and maintained by 4000 enslaved men, women, and children. The memorial features marks and the names of these individuals carved into granite. It was designed with input from their descendants and Charlottesville community members, turning “grief for a hidden past into a healing space,” according to the New York Times.

Conversation among Gregg Bleam; Diane Brown Townes; Frank Dukes; Eto Otitigbe; Mabel O. Wilson, Nancy and George Rupp Professor at GSAPP; Eric Höweler; and J. Meejin Yoon, moderated by Farah Jasmine Griffin.

Co-presented by Columbia University’s School of the Arts, Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Institute for Research in African-American Studies, and The Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University, together with Cornell AAP, the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at the Schomburg Center, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Queens Museum.