Richmond // Current

Circuit City Files for Bankruptcy

Circuit City Stores has filed for bankruptcy about a week after it said it would close 20 percent of its stores.

ebindelglass
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"Enough is Enough"-Live from Tent City in Richmond,CA-MOVIE

This needs to be on current tv because this is a real issue still relivant in the Richmond community. This contains some in depth... more

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ACLU to join suit against political-apparel ban at polls

Virginia’s policy that bans wearing political apparel or buttons to polling places faces a new legal challenge. The... more

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Edgar Allan Poe honored

Every year at meetings weary, experts ponder fame and theory, over many a quaint and curious request for honor on a stamp. Who... more

Apocalipstick
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Mat V Michael

He Must Be Stopped! Stayed Tuned

MichaelAHagan
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Mat Vs Michael - Mat's Response

The Smearing Continues...

MichaelAHagan
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RIP Shirts

Richmond Ca has one of the highest crime rates in the country. In recent years a trend of making shirts depicting fallen loved... more

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Man dragged to death by bus

A local mayor said Monday the public will want an explanation for the bizarre death of a man who was found under the wheels of a... more

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Portion of slave burial ground saved

A portion of a 250-year-old burial ground for slaves and freed Blacks that now lies beneath a parking lot will be preserved and recognized as part of the city’s effort to confront its slave-trading history.

The 50-by-100-foot section of the former “Burial Ground for Negroes” had been destined to continue as a parking lot under the ownership of Virginia Commonwealth University.

However, VCU, which earlier this summer faced protests over its failure to recognize the burial ground, has changed its mind. VCU recently announced an agreement with the Richmond Slave Trail Commission to preserve that section of its parking lot for a future memorial and quit parking cars in that area. The university has blocked off the portion of the parking lot identified with the burial ground, but is parking cars on the rest of the acre-property at 1554 E. Broad St. that it bought earlier this year. No timetable has been given for development of the memorial. The commission is taking charge of that effort.

Council Vice President Delores L. McQuinn, who chairs the commission, praised VCU for its cooperation. She said she plans to hold at least three public hearings during the fall to gain citizen views on “creating a fitting memorial for this sacred ground.”

The city-created panel is developing a series of historic stops to illustrate Richmond’s robust role in the slave trade and this would be one. Between 1808 and 1865, the city was the second largest slave auction site in the nation. The burial ground lies just north of the former site of Lumpkin’s Slave Jail, which is part of the trail and where the commission is undertaking an archaeological dig.

Before the Civil War, the jail, dubbed the Devil’s Half-Acre, was the largest holding pen for slaves. After the war, Lumpkin’s became the initial site for a school for newly freed slaves that eventually became Virginia Union University. The site lies south of Broad Street near 15th street.

Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, director of the state Department of Historic Resources, which has played a key role in identifying the burial ground’s location, said, “We now have a commitment that will help the community ... do what is right by those people who lie nearby.”

The burial ground was used from around 1750 to around 1812, after which the city approved a new cemetery for Black Richmond residents further north. According to the state history agency, Interstate 95 was built over the main portion of the burial grounds, while the asphalt parking lot seals 10 feet or more of fill that has accumulated since the last person was interred. Dr. Christopher Stevenson, a state archaeologist, used historic maps, documents and other research to confirm the location of the burial grounds. A city gallows stood near the burial grounds, and slave revolt leader Gabriel Prosser met his death there.

Gabriel, as he was commonly known, planned an insurrection in August 1800 before Gov. James Monroe was tipped about the plot. It was snuffed out, leading to the execution of Gabriel and more than 20 other slaves. The insurgency has become known as simply Gabriel’s Rebellion, and is memorialized by a state history marker that now stands beside the parking lot. Philip Schwarz, a VCU professor emeritus whose scholarship includes Southern slavery, said the burial grounds could contain Gabriel’s remains.

“Is Gabriel there? Maybe,” he said.
.--CONTINUES A portion of a 250-year-old burial ground for slaves and freed Blacks that now lies beneath a parking lot will be preserved and... more