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Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project

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SCROLL DOWN TO LEARN MORE: HELP RECLAIM RICHMOND'S AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND AND RE-ASSERT RICHMOND'S BLACK HISTORY INTO THE BOOKS, OUR CONSCIOUSNESS AND OUR ANALYSIS OF LIFE TODAY.

Nov. 5 – Film Screening: Natural Women, produced and directed by Ms. Cindy Hurst and featuring Dr. Darryl Scriven, American Family Enrichment Institute. East District Family Resource Center (EDFRC), 2405 Jefferson Avenue (23223) 4pm at VCU and 7pm at EDFRC - Contact Shawn Utsey at 828-1144 for details.

You have got to see a new documentary film entitled "Meet Me in the Bottom: The Struggle to Reclaim Richmond's African Burial Ground" a Burn Baby Burn production directed by Shawn Utsey, filmed and edited by Dr. Utsey, Jennida Chase, Shanika Smiley and Calvin Jamison Jr. To inquire about copies or screenings for educational purposes contact Dr. Utsey at 828-1144 or soutsey@vcu.edu.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Petition to Reclaim our Richmond's Oldest Municipal Burial Site for Free and Enslaved Black People. Included with the petition is a form to complete so you can Tell Us Your Vision for memorialing the Burial Ground and the ancestors buried there as well as for Shocke Bottom.

Download petition!

Institute for Historical Biology (IHB) Review of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) Validation and Assessment Report on the Burial Ground for Negroes, Richmond, Virginia by C. M. Stephenson, 25 June 2008. Prepared by Michael L. Blakey, Ph.D, Director, Institute for Historical Biology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, 20 September 2008

About the Institute for Historical Biology: http://www.wm.edu/as/anthropology/research/ihb/index.php

Download the IHB report

 

Burial Ground for Negroes, Richmond, Virginia: Validation and Assessment - Prepared by C. M. Stevenson, Ph.D., for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Ricmond, Virginia, 25 June 2008

About the Virginia Department of Historic Resources: http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/

Download the DHR report

News coverage of August 2009 protest of repaving of VCU parking lot:
 
RVANews
  • http://tinyurl.com/lvhfdc
Richmond - Richmond Times Dispatch
  • http://tinyurl.com/ktfghc
  • http://tinyurl.com/kwm8vs
 
Daily Press - Newport News
  • http://tinyurl.com/m9v5td
"The 300-year struggle for the African Burial Ground, from a strictly scientific standpoint, constitutes a continuing assertion of human identity against those who would belittle or belie that status for reasons of economic expediency." - Dr. Michael L. Blakey, from The New York African Burial Ground Project: An Examination of Enslaved Lives, a Construction of Ancestral Ties, presented August 19, 1997 to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights Sub-Committee on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
 
 CLICK HERE  TO READ THE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
 
 CLICK HERE  TO VISIT THE SACRED GROUND PROJECT WEBSITE
 

What is Shockoe Bottom now? It is a singular site of far-reaching historical importance for the Black Community and for all who would come to Richmond to experience history, to absorb it, to understand it. And because of where they will be able to place their feet, and what they will see from this vantage point, they will remember and they will share it. And others will come.

Mayor Dwight Jones - (804) 646-7970 - askthemayor@richmondgov.com

Delegate Delores L. McQuinn - (804) 698-1070 - DelMcQuinn@house.virginia.gov

ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE MISSIONS ARE DRIVEN BY SIGNIFICANT HISTORIC EVENTS:

BLACK AUGUST - www.thesoulplanet.com

"The Origin of Black August: Black August originated in the California penal system 30 years ago. Black August rose to prominence in the Black Liberation Movement after freedom fighters John Jackson, William Christmas, James Mclain and Ruchell Magee were gunned down outside of Marion County Courthouse on August 7, 1970 in an attempt to liberate the highly respected and significantly influential Geoge L. Jackson (Soledad Brother/Blood in My Eye) from prison. George Jackson was assassinated one year later on August 21, 1971.

Black August is a reflection and commemoration of history, of those heroic partisans and leaders that realistically made it possible for us to survive and advance to our present level of liberation struggle." www.happilynaturalday.com

The Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project: Contact Ana Edwards at richmondburialground@comcast.net to learn more about the The Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project. 
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