Yes, there needs to be a slavery/slave trade museum or interpretive center in Shockoe Bottom, but it doesn’t need to be a $220 million legacy project for people who have played a very mixed role in the ongoing struggle to reclaim and properly memorialize what once was the epicenter of the U.S. domestic slave trade.
BOOK REVIEW: THE LIFE & LEGACY OF ENSLAVED VIRGINIAN EMILY WINFREE
The book that Jan Meck and Virginia Refo have written is the first study of the life of Emily Winfree, a Virginia-born African woman who lived from 1834 to 1865 enslaved in Petersburg and Chesterfield Country and, after Emancipation, in Manchester until her death in 1919.
WILL THE BLACK COMMUNITY BENEFIT FROM THE MEMORIALIZATION OF SHOCKOE BOTTOM?

At this point it’s clear that something big is going to happen in Shockoe Bottom, the long-neglected area in downtown Richmond that for 30 years before Emancipation was the epicenter of the U.S. domestic slave trade. But what, and who will benefit?
Dec. 11 2020 Media Release on: Gov. Northam’s announcement of $9 million for Shockoe Bottom historical memorialization
Statement by the Virginia Defenders on Gov. Northam’s announcement of $9 million for Shockoe Bottom historical memorialization: There’s something missing.
SHOCK & DISMAY AS HEARING REVEALS DESECREATION AT EAST END CEMETERY
There was palpable shock and sorrow at a public hearing as descendants of families buried at the Evergreen and East End cemeteries heard that human bones recovered near the Richmond cemeteries had likely been the victims of medical dissection.
DEFYING RAIN, 18th ANNUAL GATHERING HONORS GABRIEL & PROMOTES SHOCKOE BOTTOM MEMORIAL PARK

The steady drizzle may have dampened the 3.1-acre grassy field, but not the spirits of the nearly 90 people who showed up Oct. 10 at Richmond’s African Burial Ground for the 18th Annual Gabriel Gathering.
TIME TO HIT THE BRAKES ON THE SEABROOK DEAL?
In September 2019, Richmond city council rejected a controversial resolution submitted by Mayor Levar Stoney on behalf of Weimans Bakery LLC.