Preface
This was written 3 months prior to the events of August 11th and 12th, 2017.
The University of Virginia had a funny way of making itself the center of attention. That was true during the events of the 2014–2015 academic year. A fellow classmate was murdered, fraternity’s stoned heads were rolling, and ABC officers were quick to utilize force and project power.
There is a history that finds a way to escape into the vacuum of our minds. We forget and erase the most important things, the truth of humanity and our biggest flaws.
We want to forget the pain we inflict on others. The pain inflicted on us holds on a bit tighter.
I was not present to witness what occurred, but the harm was felt miles away.
Introduction
The year 2017 marks the beginning of the bicentennial commemoration of the University of Virginia. The history and its founder are celebrated and honored for their contributions. There have been two hundred years of individuals leaving their mark here. This space is permanent, but the memory of some who have occupied it is not. The role of African Americans and their ability to shape this institution is ever changing. Built by slaves, the Lawn serves as a crux of the moral philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. It is considered his lawn, made of his labor. The pathways of the lawn do not have an apparent visual acknowledgement of the 300 men and women who built this University. A plaque placed on the outside walls of Garden I reads: “These garden walls, originally designed and built by Thomas Jefferson…”. It was placed there in 1952, a time where the majority of the University’s inhabitants were white men, as it was originally intended to remain.
Walking through the University of Virginia, many locations serve as an academic space as well as a museum of names and acknowledgements to those who once walked these grounds. When you travel to the University for a tour, there are two options: a historical tour and an admissions tour. At the center of the historical tour is Thomas Jefferson’s “Academic Village”. As a modern college campus, this place comes alive in the fall. During the college football season, on any given Saturday, the lawn turns into the location of day drinking, a popular indulgence by undergraduates and alumni. By night, it is safe to assume the Lawn is one of the few UNESCO World Heritage sites where it is encouraged to streak without fear of punishment.
In 1789, Jefferson envisioned his University to be established “on a plan so broad and liberal and modern, as to be worth patronizing with the public support, and be the temptation to the youth of other states to come, and drink of the cup of knowledge and fraternize with us”. I was one of those out of state student who made the decision to attend U.Va., but without prior knowledge or visit. I did not understand what drew so many people to this University. I was more excited that Tiny Fey went here as opposed to having the opportunity to study in Thomas Jefferson’s “Academic Village”. Before I could fall in love with this University the way so many students do, I was met with the reality of being black in a white space.
This place is referred to as a plantation to this day, 152 years after the abolishment of slavery. This is a perspective of the space felt by many. Tongue in cheek, many refer to Thomas Jefferson by a name other than “TJ”, a nickname used by many white students. In comparison, “Massa’ Jefferson” can be heard casually thrown around by those who are not as fond of the man. Approximately 300 laborers, white, black, free, and enslaved, contributed to the construction of the University between 1817 and 1826.[1] The bicentennial celebration uses the year 1817 as the establishing year of the University. This was the year the cornerstone was laid. This commemoration does not only recognize the origin of the University but also its first utilization of slave economics.
Acknowledging the varying degrees of perspectives one may hold with in the University, many black students, staff and faculty members can feel the history of the University when they walk its columned grounds. My subject position as a black woman does not allow me to escape or ignore the reality of the servitude that built this University and served its faculty and students. Slavery was a part of the everyday lives of those who inhabited the University after their labor was needed to construct it. No longer needed to lie bricks; their time was used to maintain the buildings and service individuals. Students were not allowed to bring their own slaves; instead hotelkeepers were required to have one slave for every ten students. Interactions with slaves was embedded in the experience of students. There are numerous accounts of violence committed against slaves by students, and their protection was not guaranteed or monitored.[2]
On the Rotunda, there is a plaque that memorializes the fallen students of the University who fought for the Confederate Army. The top of the two plaques placed by the entrance reads “Honor Roll” of those who lost their lives during the Civil War. Was their commitment to fighting in an army a selfless and honorable act? Or does honor refer to the philosophy they were fighting for? The plaque was placed there in 1906, when Jim Crow was still law of the land. As the University’s bicentennial approaches, the last few years have seen a public debate over the necessity of public confederate memorials, and many are being taken down, including the successful vote to remove the Robert E. Lee statue in downtown Charlottesville. [3]
Coming to terms with the past of a space and the desire tell a new truth is a value held by many. There are certain memorials that can be viewed as questionable, and there is a desire to introduce new acknowledgements today. I do not know what information was presented in the Rotunda before its renovation. Today, the bottom serves as a small museum for guests and guides them through the history of the Rotunda and the establishment of the University. There are many scholars, researchers, and administrators who dedicated their time to investigate the artifacts and histories of the University, so the stories of black individuals that once lived and worked here, can be told. As the demographics of the space begin to reflect the realities of the United States, the speaking of minds is allowed to push for a shift in focus of who is remembered and how.
Part I
Reintroducing 18th and 19th Century African Americans in and around the University of Virginia
The 21st century sees an onset of once silenced narratives being reintroduced at many universities across the country. The institution of slavery is older than many of the United State’s first universities. Their labor was used for its construction and to service students and faculty for decades. As students and faculty of color began to inhabit the space, they push for increased awareness towards a more truthful depiction of the history and contributions of enslaved individuals, families, and their relationships with the universities they lived on or in close proximity to. When the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors passed a resolution in 2007 to express regret for their use of slaves, former board member Warren Thompson, whose great-grand father was born a slave and whose own father was denied entry into the University because of his race, said this vote meant “a lot to him personally”. Thomas F. Farrell II, rector of the University during this term, said this resolution serves to reaffirm “the philosophy of our institution”. [4]
Coming to terms with their shameful pasts is not an act only delegated to southern universities. Columbia, Yale, and Harvard, to name a small few, are universities located to the north of the “Mason-Dixon line” that have begun to publicly acknowledge their institutional history of contributing to the slave economy and have dedicated resources and scholars toward the research and completion of projects to help tell a history of the University that was once ignored. The Harvard and Slavery Research Project brought to light the identities of three Harvard College presidents who owned slaves, residents of the University who were enslaved, how slave labor contributed to the success of Harvard’s early private benefactors, and the connection between University donations and slave-related industries.[5] [6] Historians have been tasked to analyze the records of slave purchases at Georgetown, archaeologists are uncovering artifacts left behind and reconstructing the daily lives of slaves, and ad-hoc committees are established to work on the construction of slave memorials. Once the historical ties to slavery become unquestionable, how should the public be informed of this? Archaeologists are able to uncover the remnants of forgotten slave quarters and historians are able to comb through countless records that detail the transactions between institution and slaveholders. The cross discipline cooperation between scholars helps to compile a plethora of information that can be used to create a body of text, visual presentations or databases for public interaction.
Although the University of Virginia does not own the Monticello property, it is a very important location that should not be ignored when understanding the past and modern university. Also a UNESCO World Heritage site, many visit Thomas Jefferson’s home to learn more about him. Slaves lived and worked on the grounds of this plantation. “Mulberry Row” was home to slaves who serviced Thomas Jefferson and his family. The validity of the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings is still controversial today. The oral histories passed down are discredited because they do not point to tangible evidence. Written documentation of those who interacted with Thomas Jefferson detail the “yellow litter” of children that resided on the estate, as detailed by James Callender.[7] Thomas Jefferson and his sexual relationships were a topic of discussion in many papers of the time. The obsession draws slight comparison between the gossip tabloids of more recent, which are consumed with the sexual actions of former President Bill Clinton and current President, Donald Trump.
There was a code of public silence regarding affairs across colored lines and it was expected to be adhered to. Callender used the information he obtained on Thomas Jefferson as political capital when he published an article in the Recorder. Titled “The President Again”, he wrote:
“ it was well known that the man, whom it delighteth the people to honor, keeps, and for many years past has kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves. Her name is Sally”.
He claimed to obtain this information when he traveled to Albemarle County by speaking to a number of residents. As an outspoken racist, it is assumed he ignorantly only relied on the affirmation of white gentleman, and not slaves, who, because of community networks, had great access to detailed information about Sally and her children. Whose accounts are accepted as more truthful? How is this determined? How are the social identities of those who speak considered when determining their potential for credibility? [8]
The paradox of Thomas Jefferson originates from his writings. The moral philosophy inside his words stands in opposition to the oral histories and written documentations about him. A man who violated his own principles, that all men were created equal. The texts he left behind are investigated for its true meaning, or the true meaning of Thomas Jefferson. He wrote what he saw, and about whom he interacted with. Jefferson observes and writes of the “difference of condition, of education, of conversation, of the sphere in which they move…. In general, their existence appears to participate more of sensation than reflection. . . .”. [9] The Notes on the State of Virginia includes his perspective of a location and those who inhabit it, as inquired by the Secretary of the French Delegation, François Barbé-Marbois. He tells the experience of being a slave in Virginia, their misfortunes and their condition. This body of text is examined as evidence of how a slave master viewed those he enslaved.
I am as true to that bell as to my God.
— Henry Martin (July 4, 1826-October 5, 1915)
I was given a name, it came out of a book —
I don’t know which. I’ve been told the Great Man
could recite every title in order on its shelf.
Well, I was born, and that’s a good thing,
although I arrived on the day of his passing,
a day on which our country fell into mourning.
This I heard over and over, from professors
to farmers, even duel-scarred students;
sometimes, in grand company, remarked upon
in third person — a pretty way of saying
more than two men in a room means the third
can be ignored, as I was when they spoke
of my birth and Mr. Jefferson’s death
in one breath, voices dusted with wonderment,
faint sunlight quivering on a hidden breeze.
I listen in on the lectures whenever I can,
holding still until I disappear beyond third person —
and what I hear sounds right enough;
it eases my mind. I know my appearance
frightens some of the boys — the high cheeks
and freckles and not-quite-Negro eyes
flaring gray as storm-washed skies
back home; it shames them to be reminded.
So much for book learning! I nod
as if to say, Uncle Henry at your service,
then continue on my way through darkness
to start the day. This is my place:
stone rookery perched above
the citadels of knowledge,
alone with the bats and my bell,
keeping time. Up here, molten glory
brims until my head’s rinsed clear.
I am no longer a dreadful coincidence
nor debt crossed off in a dead man’s ledger;
I am not summoned, dismissed —
I am the clock’s keeper. I ring in their ears.
And every hour, down in that
shining, blistered republic,
someone will pause to whisper
Henry! — and for a moment
my name flies free.
by Rita Dove
Narratives are an important way to document the self. The narratives of slaves have a pattern of beginning with an explanation of their origin. To tell your story is to personalize your experience. Henry Martin was born a slave at Monticello in the year 1826. He was sold to William Carr; of the family that Carr’s Hill is named, in 1827. He worked in and around the University, as well as Richmond, Virginia. After the Civil War, he returned to Charlottesville as a free man and continued to work for the University. Popular with students, he was known as “Uncle Henry”, a faithful laborer who knew and accepted his role. The student publication College Topics published a recount of his life story in 1890. He recalls his life at the University, describes the condition of his life and his interactions with faculty and students:
“I have been kindly treated by both the faculty and the students, and it has been my aim to treat everyone respectfully, and if, in any instance, I have done otherwise it was when I was in a passion and was a mistake of the head and not one of the heart. As the years have gone by, and students have come and gone, I have always welcomed the new ones, and have always been loath to part with old ones. Men who now occupy places of honor and distinction in this government, I have known and served, and I hope that for many years to come shall be treated as kindly as I have been in the past. Respectfully, HENRY MARTIN.” [10]
Henry Martin was memorialized after his death. His funeral was attended by “the largest and most distinguished crowd of white people” and the account of the service was published in the Daily Progress. Outside the chapel, beside the University lawn, there is a stone tablet to pay tribute to the former bell ringer. The memorial reiterates the love he had for the University and the love those of the University had for him.[11]
Memorials recognizing the presence and contributions of free and enslaved African Americans are increasing in quantity at the University of Virginia. The newest underclassman dormitory to open was named Gibbons, after Isabella and William Gibbons. William was born a slave in c. 1825 on the Albemarle county plantation of Arthur Gibbons, a member of the Cabell family and a student of the University. During his life, he was owned by professors Dr. Henry Howard and William McGuffey and his wife Isabella was owned by physics professor Francis Smith. University president Teresa Sullivan states the naming of the building as a “part of a broad, ongoing effort to recognize the role of slavery in the University’s history and to educate the members of our community about the role of enslaved persons at U.Va. as we approach our bicentennial”. [12]
The grounds of the University of Virginia were not as expansive as it is today. There were communities of African Americans that lived beyond the reach, but not beyond the sight of the University. The Canada community was home to Katherine Foster, a seamstress, who as a free black woman who purchased her own property in 1833. The graves of her decedents were accidentally discovered during the construction to expand a parking lot. What remains of her home was excavated and the artifacts found are now displayed in Nau and Gibson halls. A “shadow catcher” lies above the original site of the Foster home, and represents what was once and still is there. The graves uncovered were left in place to be left undisturbed and can be glanced at by onlookers who cross its path everyday. [13] [14]
Slave memorials are important for the reshaping of the University narrative. It presents a more complete depiction of those who once lived and worked at and near the University. Their lives and stories are not of less importance because there were not professors, students, or benefactors. Their memorialization as African Americans and individuals stripped of many freedoms awarded to white men are identities of contention to those who were traditionally allowed to occupy and shape the narrative of the University of Virginia.
Part II
The Legacy of African American Students at the University
Resistance within an institution is expected to not receive much attention in the public facing storytelling of its history. Many students are unfamiliar with the history of protest and activism on grounds. Unless involved directly with organizations that have played a historical role in shifting the racial, social and economic policies of the University, it is hard to come across the images and documentations of these events.
The Cavalier Daily is the independent student-run newspaper that presents the events of and on the University grounds with varying opinions. When important events occur, the Cavalier Daily has served to debrief the outcomes to a wider audience. During 2015–2016 school year, there was a short-lived column titled “What’s the Word”. This platform published articles written by black students about topics of importance to black students, including affirmative action, confederate memorials on grounds, and instances of hate speech and intimidation against students of color.[15] [16] [17] Having the ability to write our own stories without censorship is important.
When third-year student Martese Johnson was arrested on March 18th 2015, the Cavalier Daily served as a mechanism for sharing information to the wider university about his arrest and the following legal proceedings.[18] [19] Although the Cavalier Daily did not have access to information about every facet of this case, it permanently documents that these events happened in a public facing archive of the University. In 2003, Daisy Lundy, who at the time running for Student Council President, was assaulted near the former range room of poet Edgar Allen Poe. [20] One thing I have noticed as a student who has been here for almost four years, is the ability for institutional memory to fade so easily here. Undergraduate students are only here for a short time. Issues and events that consume the memories of one generation is only a story to be heard one day in passing for those who come after. To many younger students Martese Johnson is a name as unfamiliar as Daisy Lundy was for me.
Due to its current digital platform, it takes a simple search on the Cavalier Daily website to uncover many articles about student activism, and the experience and opinions of African American students. These articles should not serve as the complete truth of the black experience at U.Va., instead they are a small sample of the documentation of some students. As an online archive, it is available to anyone with an Internet connection to investigate. No longer is it necessary to comb through pages within the bounded archives of the Cavalier Daily from the 19th and 20th centuries.
“Black Fire” is a popular course taught by Claudrena Harold, Associate Professor of History at the University. The goal of this class is to present students the histories of black students, faculty and staff here and their engagement within and against the University. The majority of reading materials for the class are articles and images published by the Cavalier Daily. There is also a class website by the same name. [21] Composed of interviews of current and former students of the University as well as staff and faculty, it is a curated archive of varying black experiences across several decades. When I took this course in the spring of my second year, the final group project I helped to complete sought to share the experiences of former African American lawn residents. It is important to document the stories of African Americans who once occupied this space. The best way to tell the story of a group of individuals is for them to tell it themselves. The interaction between current students and those who were the first group of African Americans to attend the University in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and considered “trail blazers” by Professor Harold, helps inform us of the varying perspectives of this space and how it has changed and how it has stayed the same.
Every two years in April, African American alumni of all ages make the journey back to the University. “Black Alumni Weekend” serves not only as a reunion with old friends, but also as a way to reaffirm the generational presence of African American students at U.Va..[22] As a student volunteer I was able to briefly interact with alumni who graduated in the 1970s. Although their time here was met with many trials and setbacks, there is still a love for this school. While volunteering, I overheard a conversation between a woman who graduated in 1975 and a man who graduated in 2009. They mentioned the memorialization of slavery at the University. The man told me how he and the student groups he was involved with during his time here, were pushing the administration to produce a memorial for enslaved laborers. When these projects go forward, who receives the majority of the praise for the accomplishment? Student involvement is essential to the construction of a memorial for enslaved laborers. In 2011, Professor Harold encouraged student to join the process. She stressed the importance of history as “the architecture of people’s memory”.[23] When the history of a space is presented to the public, it has the capacity to shape their perspective and frame their way of thinking.
Whose experiences can be shared here? There is a focus on the past, those who are no longer here, and who can no longer control their narratives. Students have the ability to use the mechanism available to them to promote their stories and experiences, whether it student programming or opinion pieces in the Cavalier Daily. There is a group of people who do not have the freedom to speak honestly about their daily lives and how the practices of the University and those affiliated with it hinder them.
Part III
Testimonies of Low Waged Contracted Workers at the University of Virginia
Students of the University have the privilege to establish and promote their own narratives within the institution. For generations yet to come, it is important that access to these modes of transcriptions not be infringed. But African American students are not the only black population that occupies this space. Low waged staff, in particular contracted staff, have a long and controversial history here. In 2014, the University signed a 20-year, $70 million contract with Aramark, the private food provider for numerous universities and prisons.[24] This was met with disappointment, particularly with students involved with the Living Wage Campaign.
Contracted workers at the University mainly work service, maintenance, or janitorial jobs. As non-direct employees of the University, the minimum wage for full-time employees established by the University of $11.76 does not apply to them. Aramark chooses not to release the employment compensation data of its U.Va. workers. The University of Virginia is the largest employer in central Virginia. Although the unemployment rate as of December 2016 is 2.9%, the poverty rate hovers around 25%. [25] The objective of the Living Wage Campaign is to advocate for the rights of waged workers at the University.
An Audacious Faith was commission by former University president Robert O’Neil in 1987. The task force included the current Dean of the Office of African Affairs, Maurice Apprey and faculty and students. This report and list of recommendations was a comprehensive outline of the concerns of the African American community. Topics included the desire for increased black enrollment and retention, increased hiring of black faculty and called for a change in promotion practices for University staff members. The discrepancy between workers in low-tier positions and middle and upper manager alarmed the authors of the document because low waged position do not carry guaranteed job security, grievance rights and retirement, health insurance, life insurance, disability, vacation, or sick leave benefits. [26]
In 1996, the University’s Office of Equal Opportunity Programs (EOP),
now called the Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, published the Muddy Floor Report. This 18-month study focused on the situations of African American staff at the University of Virginia. It sought to examine the working conditions, opportunities, and instances of discrimination faced by individuals of color using data analysis of employee wage patterns and promotion practices. There is acknowledgement of instances of complaints and concerns expressed African Americans and their treatment by managers. The EOP deemed it necessary for these “anecdotes” be confirmed or dispelled by objective employment data and analysis. [27]
As an official initiative by University administrators, there should have been increased optimism for a significant change in the hiring and promotion practices and treatment of low waged workers. Unfortunately, when a committee of black students published An Audacious Faith II, there were still concerns addressing the conditions and experiences of low-waged staff members. The relationship between the University and its staff was described as “exploitive”.[28] The 2007 report suggests the importance of empowering African American staff at the University and to allow for the creation of the Staff Union (SU), which was pledged by the Board of Visitors in 1997, a year after the completion of the Muddy Floor Report.
Following the Martese Johnson arrest, Towards a Better was published by members of the Black Student Alliance in April 2015. The section titled “Culture of Truth” expressed concern for the current environment for people of color at the University. Calling out the “University’s past and current mistreatment of people of color”, the proposal wishes for administration to work more diligently to “acknowledge past and present racial and gender discrimination, address inequality, cross-cultural biases, and the very real feeling of isolation by some in the University community and that the “tense racial history” of U.Va. “did not end with emancipation, nor with integration of the University’s student body”. Writers of Towards a Better University sought the commission to reexamine the condition of Black students, faculty, and staff, as well as the relationship between the University and the local Black community, thoroughly using both quantitative and qualitative measures.[29]
The Living Wage campaign has lobbied for increased attention for the conditions of low-waged staff at U.Va. In February 2017, the Living Wage Campaign reaffirmed their demands. One reads:
“All UVA workers must be guaranteed safe, just, and humane working conditions. This includes clearly publicized avenues for reporting wage violations and/or unsafe working conditions. UVA must protect workers’ rights to organize, to speak out about poor working conditions or low wages, and to file grievances without fear of retaliation. The University must also acknowledge the disproportionate number of women and people of color at the bottom of the wage scale. UVA must take concrete steps to address these disparities through the equitable promotion of people of color and women.” [30]
Contracted staff members do not have the freedom to speak to their experience. Last year a close friend of mine and other students rented out Open Grounds on the Corner to showcase a project titled “Workers Voices of UVa”. The goal of this project was to tell the stories of waged workers and to humanize them to the wider community. The perspective of low waged workers is one not heard very often. Completed by a group of ten students, faculty sponsor Walt Heinecke, and funded by the Bucker Clay Endowment for the Humanities, it compiled first person anonymous narratives of those who work for low wages at the University.
One staff member expressed concern over the treatment of many of their co-workers, likening to the conditions of slaves: “Workers are treated like slaves…The only thing the bosses are missing is whips, and they do whip them: ‘I’m gonna fire you. I’m gonna write you up. No raises.’ You know how much the raises are? If you are excellent, ten cents.” They are not the only one to express this. One staff member says:
“I feel like when it comes down to the campus and hospital, UVA treats their workers like slaves. Literally. And I feel like it’s easier for them to treat us like slaves when all of the service workers are black. If you notice, everyone who has manual labor positions — custodians, retail assistant positions, food service positions — they’re black. You rarely see a black person working in the IT department, or the human resources department. There’s people who have been working in positions of power since the ’80s, since the ’70s, and they have a specific mentality on how to handle or treat people of color within the Charlottesville community. It’s disgusting. It’s crazy because I feel like even being treated like that, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, because UVA’s the only place that pays enough for you to make ends meet.”[31]
It’s hard to separate the past of this University and their experiences today. The role they serve reminds them of the relationships between slave and master.
“I still view the University as a plantation. You have several people who are in charge. You have the powers: Board of Visitors, supervisors… even if the President has good intentions, who is monitoring to make sure the good intentions trickled down to those plantation masters…the field workers aren’t going to speak out. Same thing, different century.”[32]
To speak out against their treatment is meet with a fear of retaliation. With the instances of mistreatment mounting, it is imperative for University administrators to help establish a Staff Union for their workers. As Virginia is a “right to work” state and Aramark is the direct employer for many of the staffed employees, this will be hard to do. The lack in transparency and accountability of the University’s contracting practices allows for the continuance of low pay and poor conditions for many of their workers.
Their experiences are silenced by those who hold the power to make decisions concerning their work conditions. Listening to what they say candidly is the best representation for how they feel. Gathering these testimonials and publishing them gives others insight into the real experiences of those who still believe their labor is exploited by the University of Virginia, although it claims to be working diligently to make right the wrongs of those it exploited in the past.
Conclusion
Reflecting on my Perspective in this Space
No memorial or narrative can stand in place of the reality of actual people. As I write this paper, I am reminded of this during some conversations with friends. I was a second year during the 2014–2015 school year. To say the least, this was an interesting time to be a student at U.Va.. There was the Hannah Graham murder, the Rolling Stone article, and the Martese Johnson arrest. They signify recent University events that gained national attention. Like clockwork, news vans made residence on grounds, every three months. There was a public facing story, and then there was experiencing the story. Depending on who you were, the experience was different. There is an individual at the focus point of each. But the event does not solely belong to that individual. No matter what or whose account is published, posted on a plaque or expressed, it should not entirely mask the reality of the person.
The Lawn is a controversial location for me. I do not allow myself to disconnect from the space. Although I do not experience or witness the actions that took place there before I was there or when I am not directly there, I inform my mind with the accounts presented to me. I am only able to see from my perspective, but I am able to acknowledge the variance of experience of that same space or event. Expressions of experience are not the truth of the reality of living it. I can only account for what I come into contact with. Unearth homes, 200 year old writing on parchment, interviews of individuals are not to substitute real people. I allow myself to know the truth of people who once and currently do occupy the space I am in through mechanisms of communication. No recollection or account can trump the lived experience.
The site or location of a place or event allows for a certain connection to be established through social relationships. The University, and those who occupy the institution, is acknowledging the social relationships it has established and reaffirmed over the years. This is why slaves are being memorialized. Although the people in contact with the University do not have a directed lived social relationship with slaves of the past, they are unable to ignore their reality because of the artifacts left behind and the reality that it is only the passage of time that separates the two. Locations have a way of doing that. How we remind ourselves of past events and share the truth of the event varies depending on what is being told, and who is telling it. There is great work being done in today’s universities to memorialize, study, and promote the history of slavery in this country, and more narrowly, at universities. Universities are viewed as locations of knowledge and moral excellence, even if the events that take place in and around the University do not fit that category.
This paper itself serves as an account of what I experienced. I traveled to the Foster site for the first time with my Introduction to Archaeology class as an onlooker, learning of Katherine Foster for the first time, I was here during the 2014–2015 school year, I drive past Gibbons dorms regularly, I have eaten at the dining halls and lived in dorms at the University. As a student, my experience is one to be surveyed, by my peers and administrators. It is impossible for words on paper to define it, instead it serves to archive that I was once here.
[1] Information gathered from exhibit in Rotunda (2017)
[2] Oast, Jennifer. Slavery: Slaveholding Churches, Schools, Colleges, and Businesses in Virginia, 1680–1860. Cambridge University Press. 2016.
[3] Suarez, Chris. “Charlottesville City Council votes to remove statue from Lee Park”. The Daily Progress. Feb 6, 2017.Web. http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/charlottesville-city-council-votes-to-remove-statue-from-lee-park/article_2c4844ca-ece3-11e6-a7bc-b7d28027df28.html
[4] Kinzie, Susan. “U-Va. Board Regrets Past Link To Slavery”. Washington Post. April 25, 2007. Web. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402180.html
[5] Ireland, Corydon. “Harvard and slavery”. Harvard Gazette. November 18, 2011. Web. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/11/harvard-and-slavery/
[6] http://www.harvardandslavery.com/media/
[7] 30, Rothman, Joshua D. Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families Across the Color Line in Virginia 1787–1861. University of North Carolina Press. 2003.
[8] 30–35, Rothman, Joshua D. Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families Across the Color Line in Virginia 1787–1861. University of North Carolina Press. 2003.
[9] Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia. London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1787. Print.
[10] http://slavery.virginia.edu/henry-martin/
[11] Bromley, Anne E.”Plaque Honors Henry Martin, Who Rang the University Bell for 50 years”. UVA Today. Oct 05, 2012. https://news.virginia.edu/content/plaque-honors-henry-martin-who-rang-university-s-bell-50-years
[12] Bromley, Anne E.”New U.VA. Residence Hall, Gibbons House, Named for Former Slave Couple”. UVA Today. March 26, 2015. Web. https://news.virginia.edu/content/new-uva-residence-hall-gibbons-house-named-former-slave-couple
[13] Kelly, Matt. “FOSTER HOME, CEMETERY REMEMBERED WITH MEMORIAL PARK” UVA Today. November 10, 2006. Web. https://news.virginia.edu/content/foster-home-cemetery-remembered-memorial-park
[14] Dillard,Carolyn. “OUT OF THE SHADOWS: EVENT TO COMMEMORATE KITTY FOSTER AND CANADA COMMUNITY”. UVA Today. March 31, 2011. Web. https://news.virginia.edu/content/out-shadows-event-commemorate-kitty-foster-and-canada-community
[15] Frazier, Aryn. “Keep Affirmative Action”. The Cavalier Daily. Mar 14. 2016. Web.http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2016/03/frazier-affirmative-action.
[16] Jenkins,Vj.”Why white people can’t use the N-word”. The Cavalier Daily. Feb 08 2016. Web. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2016/02/jenkins-why-white-people-cant-use-n-word
[17] Frazier, Aryn.”On the over-policing of black students”. The Cavalier Daily. Sep 21 2015. Web. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2015/09/frazier-police-black-students-uva
[18] Heskett, Chloe. “University student, Honor Committee member Martese Johnson arrested”. The Cavalier Daily. Mar 18 2015. Web. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2015/03/university-student-honor-committee-member-martese-johnson-arrested
[19] Wilkin, Katherine. Provenzano, Lianne.”Martese Johnson appears for initial court hearing following ABC arrest” . The Cavalier Daily. Mar 26 2015. Web. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2015/03/martese-johnson-appears-for-initial-court-hearing-following-abc-arrest
[20] Unkovic, Alexis.”Lundy assaulted behind Lawn, election postponed”. The Cavalier Daily. Feb 27 2003. Web.http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2003/02/lundy-assaulted-behind-lawn-election-postponed
[21] https://blackfireuva.com/
[22] http://alumni.virginia.edu/reunions/black-alumni-weekend/
[23] Molloy, Baylee.”Memorial Group Meets”. The Cavalier Daily. Nov 03 2011. Web. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2011/11/memorial-group-meets
[24] McCance, McGregor.”U.VA. RENEWS DINING SERVICES PARTNERSHIP WITH ARAMARK FOR NEXT 20 YEARS”. UVA Today. August 28, 2014. Web. https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-renews-dining-services-partnership-aramark-next-20-years
[25] http://livingwageatuva.wixsite.com/lwc-uva/basic-info-sheet
[26] http://www.bsaatuva.com/an-audacious-faith.html
[27]http://vpdiversity.virginia.edu/sites/vpdiversity.virginia.edu/files/1996%20the-muddy-floor-report.pdf
[28] http://www.bsaatuva.com/an-audacious-faith-ii.html
[29] http://www.bsaatuva.com/towards-a-better-university.html
[30] http://livingwageatuva.wixsite.com/lwc-uva/keeping-our-promises
[31] https://uvaworkervoices.wordpress.com/worker-testimonials/
[32] http://livingwageatuva.wixsite.com/lwc-uva/worker-testimonials
