Events

Registration page:  https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/8515984752160/WN_piM90I5FR-2-mGorDr8IMg

This conversation explores the history, form, and process behind the creation of the powerful new Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia. The grounds—designed by Thomas Jefferson and now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—were built and maintained by 4000 enslaved men, women, and children. The memorial features marks and the names of these individuals carved into granite. It was designed with input from their descendants and Charlottesville community members, turning “grief for a hidden past into a healing space,” according to the New York Times.

Speakers: 

Gregg Bleam, Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect

E. Franklin Dukes, Institute for Environmental Negotiation, University of Virginia 

Eric Höweler, Harvard University Graduate School of Design and Höweler + Yoon

Eto Otitigbe, Department of Art, Brooklyn College

Diane Browne Townes, Charlottesville community member

Mabel O. Wilson, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies

J. Meejin Yoon, Cornell AAP | Architecture, Art, Planning and Höweler + Yoon 

Introduced and moderated by Farah Jasmine Griffin, Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Columbia University 

Co-presented by Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Columbia University School of the Arts; Cornell AAP | Architecture, Art, Planning; the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies; the Institute for Research in African-American Studies; the Lapidus Center for the Slavery at the Schomburg Center; The Studio Museum in Harlem; and the Queens Museum.