The Washington Post has a story today on the emerging battle over the  
fate of an important, recently-rediscovered African-American burial  
ground in RIchmond:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/26/AR2008102602162_2.html

Highlights:

The burial ground is "at the edge of a parking lot between a train  
trestle and Interstate 95. . . .  Beneath the blacktop are the graves  
of slaves and free blacks from the 18th and 19th centuries. The city  
gallows once stood nearby, where a slave named Gabriel was hanged for  
planning a revolt.

Everyone agrees that the cemetery will be commemorated. But exactly  
how to do that has led to debate in a city that was once the capital  
of the Confederacy and still struggles with those ghosts.

The state's largest school, Virginia Commonwealth University, bought  
the parking lot this year and has agreed to carve out a piece of it  
for a public memorial. But a prominent anthropologist at the College  
of William & Mary, along with many residents, contends that the  
graves probably extend beyond the strip that the university is  
donating. They are leading a movement to identify and reclaim the  
entire site. . . .

The 250-year-old cemetery, used until about 1816, faded from public  
memory as the city grew up around it. But several years ago, a local  
historian stumbled on records of its existence. Gabriel was executed  
there after a failed 1800 rebellion, and some historians believe he  
could be buried there. . . .

The drive to preserve the cemetery gained momentum after VCU bought  
the three-acre downtown lot for $3 million in February. A few months  
later, as the university took steps to repave the lot and improve its  
lighting, a small grass-roots protest raised questions about the  
project's impact on a place of historical interest. Work was halted to  
allow the state to delve into the land's history.

In June, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources concluded that  
much of the old cemetery and the site of the gallows lay under the  
interstate and that old records don't define the burial ground's  
limits. It's unclear how large the cemetery was. But some graves are  
believed to extend past the highway and into the parking lot, under 10  
to 15 feet of fill.

The department, drawing on the work of a local historian, also  
considered the possibility that the graveyard's edges could be defined  
by a label on an 1810 map that notes "Burial Ground for Negroes." VCU,  
citing that interpretation, has agreed to turn over a 50- by 200-foot  
piece of the lot, worth about $350,000, to the city for a memorial.

But last month, Michael L. Blakey, director of William & Mary's  
Institute for Historical Biology, said there was no reason to assume  
the mapmaker's label encompassed the entire cemetery. Blakey called  
the estimation of the boundary "implausibly small." He estimated that  
there could be graves under most, even all, of the parking lot, and  
recommended digging archaeological trenches, which would not disturb  
the remains, to determine the cemetery's scope. . . .

VCU officials said they recognize the site's historical and spiritual  
importance, and that is why they are ceding land for a memorial. But  
the only practical option is to use the remainder of the lot for  
student and staff parking because the university is relying on parking  
fees to pay for the purchase, said Don Gehring, VCU's vice president  
for government relations and health policy.

"We have reached a consensus that this is the most reasonable way to  
memorialize the site and recognize its significance and at the same  
time go forward with our purpose for parking," Gehring said. He said  
VCU would sell the property -- for the $3 million it is paying -- to  
anyone who wants to preserve the entire site.

Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the historic resources department,  
said her staff reviewed available records and research to study the  
cemetery.

"Nothing short of archaeology will determine the actual boundaries,"  
she said. "But I don't want to lose sight of the larger goal, which is  
how best to memorialize the site. The issue is where we go from here  
to get it right, to honor the people there and to educate the public."  
She said the department has agreed to work with the Slave Trail  
Commission to raise money to buy the land."

More at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/26/AR2008102602162_2.html

-- Jurretta Heckscher

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