Similar to the Vietnam Memorial, Maya Lin's Memorial to Enslaved Laborers is conceptually precise in idea and execution. exactly 80’ wide, the same as that of the Rotunda on the hill above, it’s the architecture of resistance— a powerful void that invites contemplation as it sits off axis in relation to Jefferson’s rotunda. The walls of the monument rise to eight feet, the height of the original serpentine walls of the Jefferson’s academical village. It is constructed of the same material as the Rotunda’s piazza, Virginia mist granite. By cloaking the memorial in the same materials and dimensions of the campus fabric, Lin prepares visitors for a dialogue with Jefferson’s ideology.
On the sloped stone walls, 4,000 scars are incised to represent each slave counted by historians associated with the University of Virginia. Only 558 are named, the rest are denoted by their occupation, such as stonemason, blacksmith, and carpenter.
Within the inner sanctum of the memorial walls lies a circular fountain where the timeline of slavery is etched into stone. It’s the uncomfortable narrative that one does not see in US history books. Maya Lin’s memorial parallels the past 40 years of historian efforts like john hope Franklin’s work and in franklin’s words “weaves into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly."
Below is the transcription of text within the monument that provides narrative context to Jefferson’s architecture and ideals:
1705 virginia enacts slave codes that formalize race-based slavery in American colonial law
1776 jefferson writes the declaration of independence proclaiming “all men are created equal.” In his lifetime he holds over 600 african americans in human bondage
1776-1865 virginia holds more enslaved people than any other state
1817 ten enslaved people begin to clear the land that will become UVA
1817-1825 during uva construction enslaved people dig foundations, make bricks, quarry stone, do roofing, carpentry, tinwork, and other tasks
1818-1865 UVA temporarily rents enslaved people from a seventy mile radius. This separates families and often forces the enslaved to walk long distances.
1818 willis, warner, gilbert, Caesar, Abraham, sam, and other enslaved people live and work at UVA
1818 sam, a carpenter leads a group of enslaved laborers constructing roofing for pavilion VII and other buildings.
1818 gilbert, working for a uva contractor runs away. The university overseer captures and returns him.
1820 roda, working at the university for less than 2 months, becomes gravely ill and dies. She may have been buried in the university’s cemetery for the enslaved.
1820-22 sam works for two years at the university as a blacksmith
1821 william green works as a blacksmith at the uva construction site. Dick and ned work as carpenters.
1822-24 willis, sam, john, reubin, nelson, Jefferson, ben, barrett, lewis tom, bob, dick, Alfred, moses, randal, George, sharper and other enslaved me modl and fire bricks
1822 fleming runs away. He is captured a mile from the university and returned
1822 willis runs away. He uva overseer pursues and captures him in louisa county
1822-23 henry works as a blacksmith. Charles works as a stonemason, Christo works in a brickyard, sally cooks meals, and davey works as a carpenter
1824 carpenter sam, an enslaved man, supervises the work of three other carpenters: davey, William, and young sam, the last possible his son.
1824 tom runs away. He is captured fifty miles from Charlottesville and jailed in louisa county before the uva overseer returns him to work at the university
1825 uva opens for its first session with 123 white male students, 90-150 enslaved people also live on the grounds.
1825-65 an average of over one hundred enslaved people work annually as blacksmiths, bricklayers, cooks, carpenters, painters, seamstresses, janitors and domestics.
1825 jim and moses cut stone at the uva quarry, primus works in the balcksmith’s shop and zebray cuts stone for construction of the anatomical theater
1825 in October rioting students beat a professor’s enslaved servant
1826 faculty seek stricter control of the enslaved calling for creation of a licensing system that requires African americans waiting upon students on Grounds to carry badges
1826-27 nelson cares for horses at a stable, works as a gardener, chops wood and makes bricks.
1826-9 thrimston hern, a tolerable good stone cutter, does stone work UVA including completing the rotunda steps
1826-29 several professors purchase enslaved people from jefferson’s estate after his death in 1826. Among the enslaved is lucy Cottrell, who becomes a cook in pavilion iv.
1827 prudence cleans bloody linens from the anatomical theater, Humphrey and peyton work as stonemasons.
1828 john Edwards chops wood at the university. Cato cocke excavates bedrock at foundation sites.
1829 disturbed in the night by a noise made by negroes passing thro the university, a professor proposes that the school institute a regular slave patrol
1829 zebray trims and shapes quarry stone to enclose the university cemetery. Alfred lays brick and whitewashes buildings
1830 147 enslaved African americans live and work at the university. 66 people are held by professors, 57 others by hotelkeepers, the remaining 24 by UVA
1831-32 in the wake of nat turner’s slave uprising, the virginia legislature debates the fate of slavery. They choose to uphold the slave system.
1832 three professors purchase Lewis Commodore at public auction for the school’s use. The are later reimbursed and he becomes UVA property
1837 students fire pistols in the lawn then violently attack Lewis Commodore
1838 two students savagely beat an enslaved man named Fielding
1839-57 Lewis, charged with maintaining the Anatomical Theater, cleans up after cadaver dissections and is forced to rob graves
1840 143 enslaved African americans live and work at the university. 55 people are held by professors, 67 by hotel keepers, and 32 by UVA
1843 abraham, Shelton and Kenny lay bricks at the university
1846 isaac and nelson work as stonemasons. Washington, Absalom, and ben lay bricks.
1848 micajah assists a stonemason in cutting and trimming rock while kennedy repairs paved surfaces by laying new bricks.
1849 falling ill during her pregnancy, flora suffers a stillbirth and does not recover for months
1849-50 abraham, lewis commodore, Charles, dick, lewis, Margaret, homer, james, Abraham, johnson, thad, Cassandra, and other enslaved people live and work at UVA
1850 three students attack a 12 year old enslaved girl in a field near UVA. The students are expelled.
1850 93 enslaved African americans live and work at the university. 42 are held by professors, 37 by hotelkeepers, and 14 by UVA
1852 a young man named Charles whitewashes dormitory rooms and cleans lecture rooms
1853 isabella gibbons, a cook who works in a pavilion kitchen, marries William gibbons, a butler enslaved by another UVA professor. They teach themselves to read and write.
1853-54 dick, primus, ryland, Jackson, john, billy and other enslaved people live and work at UVA
1855 lucy suffers from rheumatism aggravated by her sleeping apartment… the brick floor being always liable to dampness.
1856 an enslaved eleven year old girl is beaten unconscious by a UVA student. Claiming his right to discipline any slave he suffers no consequences.
1857 nelson, henry, norman, George, bob, William, galrnad and other enslaved people live and work at UVA.
1859 abolitionist John Brown tries to seize a federal arsenal at Harper’s ferry, virginia, as part of a plan to lead an armed slave uprising
1859 UVA alumnus remembers Lewis Commodore, charged with maintaining Rotunda chemical hearth for decades as known for his “smart, practical knowledge of chemistry”
1860 104 enslaved African americans live and work at the university. 55 are held by professors, 36 by hotel keepers, 11 by the Proctor, and 2 by UVA
1860 parnil, willlis, ned and albert work as carpenters at the university
1861 virginia secedes from the union, invoking the federal government’s “oppression of the slaveholding states”
1861 approximately 14,000 enslaved African americans, over half the population, live in albemarle county when the civil war starts. A half million enslaved people reside in Virginia.
1861 enslaved people flee to union held fort Monroe in eastern virginia. Their wartime flight to union forces across the south paves the way from Lincoln’s emancipation policy
1862 joshua and charlotte work as attendants in the university infirmary
1862-64 Nearly 1000 enslaved local African americans are forced by confederate authorities to do work such as building fortifications.
1863 charlottesville Baptist church’s black congregants, including those enslaved at UVA successfully petition white church leaders to establish separate services for African American members.
1863 more than 250 african American men, born in Albemarle county but dispersed by sale, flight and migration across the south enlist in the union army.
1864 aaron chops wood at the university.
1865 on march 3, Charlottesville and UVA officials surrender the town to union forces. On April 9, confederate forces in virginia surrender at Appomattox
1865 local African americans celebrate both march 3 and April 9 as freedom days.
1865 with general emancipation underway and the civil war over, UVA in September begins to pay wages to those formerly enslaved
1866 isabela gibbons, formerly enslaved at UVA, teaches at a freedmen’s school in Charlottesville with 42 students. One month later, the school has grown to 63 students. It will become the Jefferson school.
1886 baptist minister William gibbons, formerly enslaved at UVA dies in Washington DC. He is buried in Charlottesville.
1889 isabella gibbons dies and is buried alongside William gibbons.
“Can we forget the crack of the whip, cowhide, whipping post, the auction block, hand cuffs, the spaniels, the iron collar, the negro trader tearing the young child from its mother’s breast as a whip from the lioness? Have we forgotten that by those horrible cruelties, hundreds of our race have been killed? No we have not, nor ever will” isablella gibbons 1867.
not maya lin
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