slave auction marker – C-VILLE Weekly

It’s been over two years since a local resident threw the Court Square slave auction marker into the James River, and Charlottesville is slowly—yet surely—moving toward erecting a new memorial. Since 2020, the city’s Historic Resources Committee has met with several dozen descendants, gathering their input on how to properly memorialize the thousands of enslaved people who were bought and sold downtown.

On Tuesday, SUNY Binghamton history professor Anne Bailey, an expert on slavery in the United States, met with local descendants before giving a talk at the Central Library on memorializing the victims of slave auctions and healing from Charlottesville’s painful history. A recording of the event is available to watch on the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society Facebook page.

“[The descendants] are just going to meet with her and talk about commemorative events, and kind of explain what’s been going on here for the past several years in Charlottesville,” explained committee member Jalane Schmidt during an April 8 HRC meeting. “Dr. Bailey works with descendants of the Butler plantation sale [in Savannah, Georgia], and they’ve been gaining some traction with commemorative events in the last several years.”

Schmidt said she would ask participants to share notes from their meeting with Bailey, so the committee can use them to further guide descendant engagement. “It’s a balance between wanting to give them space, and also wanting that to inform the process.”

Last month, a small group of descendants also met with University of Virginia graduate students Jake Calhoun and MaDeja Leverett, who have been searching Albemarle County’s chancery records for sales of enslaved people for several months. So far, they have identified the names of over a dozen enslaved people who were sold on the courthouse steps.

It’s been more than two years since the Court Square slave auction marker was stolen and thrown in the James River. Photo: City of Charlottesville

Schmidt, director of UVA’s Memory Project, said during the HRC meeting that she may add another student to the research team, so they can try to get through all of the sale records by the end of this summer. However, the time-consuming project may not be completed until next year.

In February, the committee sent a progress report to City Council, detailing the descendant engagement process and requesting up to $1 million for the new memorial, which could be erected at a variety of possible locations, including Court Square, Court Square Park, adjacent to Number Nothing, or in front of the Albemarle County Courthouse—either in place of the old Monticello sign, or where the Confederate Johnny Reb statue stood. It remains unclear when council will allocate funding for the long-anticipated project.

“There is an expectation that one of the future projects is a significant physical memorial, likely in Court Square,” reads the report. “The second desire is an educational component that interprets the chattel slavery system throughout antebellum Albemarle County.”

“We do not anticipate that only one action or construction will be created, but rather a collection of projects serving unique but related purposes,” the report continues. “We anticipate that these projects will cost from $500K to $1M, [covering] locations throughout Charlottesville and Albemarle.”

During last week’s meeting, the committee also briefly discussed the draft of the downtown walking tour map, which is still being edited. Since 2020, a city subcommittee, including HRC members, has been working to revamp the antiquated map.

Member Dede Smith explained that the new map will move away from “broad themes” and highlight about 14 sites in Court Square, on Water and Market streets, in Vinegar Hill, and on the Downtown Mall. “We’re still grappling with what content to include and how to be inclusive,” said Smith.

“I know there’s been continual concern over the progress of this, but we really are trying to do something that is very different,” added chair Phil Varner. “Once we get there, it will be something that is hopefully used for a very long time, that is useful for people, and more representative of the area.”

More to the story: Questions about slave auction marker go back years

Richard Allan in 2013. Photo courtesy Crozet Gazette.

Editor’s note: Last Friday, before being turned in to police, Albemarle County resident Richard Allan came to C-VILLE’s office to tell the story of why he had taken Court Square’s slave auction block marker in the early morning hours of February 6. He asked that we print an article he had written about the issue back in 2014 that explained his concerns about the marker. Below is a condensed version of that story, which was published in the Albemarle County monthly The Echo in December 2014. He adds: “I extend apologies to any fellow citizen who feels I dishonored them or their heritage by my act.’

On June 10, 2014, the following letter appeared in The Daily Progress, from a notable civil rights activist and senior member of the city’s African American community:

It appears that to Charlottesville’s government, black history does not matter. I have not seen one letter or heard any concerns raised about the historic marker that was removed from 0 Court Square. The slate plaque, which marked the site of Charlottesville’s slave auction block, disappeared at some point—even though other plaques on buildings on Court Square remained.

Recently, the plaque—with white text in a large font that was easily visible from a distance—was replaced by an unobtrusive marker set into the sidewalk and a dark-brown marble plaque on the wall. The plaque is difficult to see, let alone read.

These questions come to mind:

When were the slate markers put on buildings on Court Square? Who decided to remove the “Site of Slave Block” slate, and why? When was it taken down? Were the City Council and city manager informed that the slate had been removed?

Slates on other buildings on Court Square can be read from a distance — but the replacement plaque, because it is nearly the same color as the surrounding brick, is almost invisible unless a person is already close to the building.

As for the marker in the sidewalk, I doubt that people walking past even notice it. Are any other historic markers in the city relegated to the sidewalk?

Finally, were any African-Americans or the University of Virginia history department consulted before a marker that documented slavery — such a shameful chapter in Charlottesville’s and Albemarle County’s history—was eliminated?

Eugene Williams—Charlottesville

As a writer/researcher concerned with issues surrounding enslavement of Native and African Americans in our region, the letter piqued my attention. I know that how we remember history directly affects how we live together today. I waited for journalistic follow-up on the questions Mr. Williams had raised. None occurred.

I interviewed Mr. Williams several times. He felt that the original grey sign should be restored, and was disturbed that it had been replaced by a marker on the sidewalk. “No one knows to look down and see that,” he said. “It is like our people’s history is still something to be ignored. To just to be walked on top of.”

Exactly what became of the antique grey plaque? Who decided to remove it? And why replace it with a tiny plaque easy to trample underfoot?

Civil rights activist Eugene Williams stands in front of Charlottesville’s former, more prominent, slave auction marker in the 1970s. Photo courtesy Richard Allan.

I contacted Mary Joy Scala, then the city’s preservation and design planner for the City of Charlottesville. She told me that the grey slate plaque reading “Site of Slave Block” was removed at some time before 2002, and that she didn’t know why it was removed or who removed it. “Since the plaque had been installed on private property, there would have been no need for the owner of #0 Park Street to notify city officials about its removal,” she wrote in her response to me.

“When a citizen expressed concern about the removal and asked that the sign be restored, we approached the property owner, who did not want it placed back on the building. Therefore, our department had a bronze sign installed in the City sidewalk near the building,” her response continued. “You are correct that the black granite plaques are hard to read. The City’s Historic Resources Committee is currently working on a new series of Court Square markers to replace the hard-to-read granite ones.”

Ms. Scala did not reply to my follow-up query about who was responsible for this project or what the timetable was for completion.

There is a small brass marker in the sidewalk, unnoticeable; it mocks enslavement by placing it underfoot. To this writer, this issue is an embarrassment to our community.

Court Square is still dominated by the 25-foot-tall column and statue commemorating a Confederate soldier, which reads: “Lest We Forget—Warriors, your valor, devotion to duty and fortitude under privations teach us how to suffer and grow strong.”

I found myself thinking of a new marker to replace the present, unnoticed ones. It would be erected at Charlottesville’s historic Court Square, on a monument equally as large as that memorial to rebel courage. It would read almost the same:

“To Albemarle’s Enslaved and Original Builders—Lest We Forget—Warriors of Labor, your valor, devotion to duty and fortitude under terrible privations teach us today how to suffer and grow strong.”