Originally published in the Spring 2022 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 68, printed April 21. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Spring 2022 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

By Phil Wilayto

April 3 should be a state holiday in Virginia.

That was the date in 1865 when Union troops, led by Black soldiers, marched into Richmond and ended slavery and Confederate rule in Virginia’s capital city.

For years afterward, April 3 was celebrated by Black Richmonders as Emancipation Day. A famous photo from 1905 shows thousands marching in the streets on the 40th anniversary of the Liberation.

This April 3, several events took place to mark the occasion, including one by the Virginia Defenders. About 20 members and friends gathered at 8 a.m. at the site on East Main Street overlooking the James River where the Union troops entered Richmond.

Defenders and public historians Ana Edwards and Joseph Rogers read from eyewitness and historical accounts of the day: How the the soldiers were met by wild cheering by Blacks and also many whites, not all of whom had supported the slavery-defending Confederacy; how the Union soldiers tore open the slave jails and freed the enslaved prisoners; how thousands of Richmonders held a rally on East Broad Street to celebrate the day.

The day after the ceremony, Rogers was interviewed about the significance of April 3 on the Gary Flowers Show, a popular Black-oriented radio talk show in Richmond.

A state highway marker (see the photo on page 12) was erected at the site in 1994, but was missing this April 3. In response to an inquiry by The Virginia Defender, Department of Historic Resources Highway Marker Program Historian and Manager Jennifer Loux sent this email:

“DHR was notified on March 7 that this marker had been knocked to the ground. We don’t know whether the damage was caused by an errant vehicle or by vandalism. Richmond Public Works picked up the marker and determined that it is damaged beyond repair.

“This marker was installed in Nov. 2020 and was a replacement for the original one, which was damaged in or before May 2020.

“We hope to replace the marker, but it will take some time.”

So the marker – the only official recognition of Richmond’s liberation – has been damaged twice: Once in 2020 and again in 2022, both times close to the anniversary of the liberation.

The Defenders decided that, rather than holding the April 3 ceremony without the highway marker, they would recreate it, as a large print made at a local copy shop. The “new” marker can be seen in the photo above.

A photo of the original marker is on page 12.