Memorial to Enslaved Laborers
The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers is a memorial in honor of the enslaved laborers who helped build the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Construction began in January 2019, with concrete pouring beginning in early March. The memorial is scheduled for completion in October 2019.
The memorial is to be sited near the University of Virginia Corner, east of Brooks Hall and the Rotunda, and will consist of a granite wall in the shape of a broken ring, to symbolize broken shackles and completion. The names of about 900 of the approximately 5,000 enslaved people known to have worked on the university campus will be engraved on the inside of the ring, with space for the remainder. On the outside will be sculpted a likeness of the eyes of Isabella Gibbons, a teacher who had been enslaved locally. It is to be paid for by $2.5 million in donations matched by the university.
