February 2021 Historic Resources Committee Packet, Meeting I February 12, 2021, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM This packet contains various materials to guide meeting discussions. The materials are listed below, linked and with reference to their page in the PDF file. 1. January 8, 2021 HRC Meeting Notes Page 2 of PDF 2. 2016 Report from Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Page 4 of PDF MEETING NOTES Charlottesville Historic Resources Committee Friday, January 8, 2020; 11:00 a.m. – 1 p.m. Remote meeting via Zoom ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….... HRC Members Present HRC Members Not Present City Staff Present Rachel Lloyd, Chair Sally Duncan Jeff Werner Phil Varner, Co-vice-chair Robert Watkins Genevieve Keller Alissa Diamond Jalane Schmidt Heather Hill Margaret O’Bryant Ellen Wagner Dede Smith William Clay III Jordy Yager Kay Slaughter 1. Call to order: 11:00 AM: Chair Rachel Lloyd calls the meeting to order. Lloyd opens the floor up for public comment, but the HRC receives no public comment. 2. Approval of the agenda: Dede Smith moves to approve the meeting agenda. William Clay III seconds motion. Motion passes (11-0). 3. Approval of meeting notes: Genevieve Keller moves to approve the December 2020 HRC Meeting Notes. Phil Varner seconds motion. Alissa Diamond requests that letter to Council regarding Honorary Street Names be attached with the meeting notes. Motion passes (11-0). 4. Staff Update on Pen Park Cemetery: Jeff Werner summarizes archaeological findings at Pen Park Cemetery and describes efforts to identify those buried there and reach out to descendants. Werner asks if research and engagement should be done internally with help from the HRC or by hiring a consultant. Members express that the project is beyond the scope of the HRC and staff, so hiring a consultant is likely necessary. Regarding potential HRC contributions for a consultant, some members communicate a preference that Parks be responsible for the funds. Given that the Mellon grant request includes planned engagement with descendants of enslaved people, the Pen Park project could be included as part of the request. Members ask staff to develop a phased overview of the project, so that the HRC can better assess how it might contribute. The committee recognizes that any work the City undertakes to identify those buried at Pen Park will serve as a model for any other burial sites found in Charlottesville in the future. HRC January 8, 2020 Meeting Notes 5. Coordinate statement on Slave Auction Block Site commemoration: Werner asks HRC to reiterate the status of its projects at Court Square. When the Slave Auction Block Plaque was removed in Winter 2020, the HRC proposed a temporary marker at the site but then after receiving feedback from members of the descendant community, the committee decided to first embark on a robust engagement process to determine how the site should be memorialized. With the ongoing public health crisis, this public engagement was interrupted, but the HRC intends to re-commence this process as soon as circumstances allow. The HRC prefers creating a local sign or memorial versus a state marker to retain local control over its design and text. 6. Mellon Foundation Monuments Project Update: Jalane Schmidt has no update on the draft grant. 7. Coordinate Agenda for Annual HRC Meetings in February: HRC will host two back-to-back planning meetings in February (02/12 and 02/19, tentatively). In preparation of these meetings, the committee proposes the following discussion topics: • BRC recommendations/progress • HRC projects reprioritization due to covid-related restrictions • Best practices for meetings and community engagement due to covid-related restrictions • Subcommittee memberships • New or different methods for interpretation of historic resources • Coordination with tourism outreach (kiosks/mobile units/others) • Partnership opportunities / coordination with advocacy groups • Theme and context studies • Special projects, such as coordination with the CODE Building • Opportunities for archaeology • GIS mapping and documentation for city historic resources 8. Announcements: Smith announces that Riverview Farm has been added to the National Register and the Albemarle Training School marker is going up. Werner announces that archaeology might be conducted at the Levy Opera House site. HRC January 8, 2020 Meeting Notes CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report to City Council December 19, 2016 Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 This page intentionally left blank. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Purpose and Charge................................................................................................................................... 4 Ground Rules ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Principles.................................................................................................................................................... 6 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Lee Park and Robert E. Lee Sculpture ........................................................................................................ 7 Jackson Park and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson Sculpture ...................................................................... 10 Court Square Slave Auction Block............................................................................................................ 12 Daughters of Zion Cemetery .................................................................................................................... 13 Vinegar Hill Community ........................................................................................................................... 15 Highlighting and Linking Historic Places .................................................................................................. 16 Place Names............................................................................................................................................. 17 New Memorials........................................................................................................................................ 18 Other Opportunities ................................................................................................................................ 18 Methodology............................................................................................................................................... 20 Meeting Schedule and Agendas .............................................................................................................. 20 Coordination with City Staff .................................................................................................................... 20 Research and Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 20 Subcommittees ........................................................................................................................................ 21 Legal Review ............................................................................................................................................ 22 Coordination with other Agencies/Commissions .................................................................................... 22 Public Engagement .................................................................................................................................. 22 Expenditures ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Appendices.................................................................................................................................................. 24 Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 1 Public meetings and rallies see intimidating PREFACE confrontations, threats, and anger that verge on Few institutions and communities in the United and occasionally cross into violence. Even when States, if any, have ever fully explored the truths “balancing” change occurs, such as the and legacies of slavery, Jim Crow and white placement of a statue of Arthur Ashe in supremacy. Charlottesville is no exception. Many Richmond, the change rarely connects our of the ways in which our history is presented—in difficult history to contemporary issues of race monuments, memorials, and history books—do and equity; these types of correctives instead more to hide these wrongs, to justify them, and create a superficial understanding of both history even to glorify them, than to reveal them. The and problems in the present, or the false sense impact of this neglect and distortion may be seen that these problems have been resolved and do in continuing systems and structures (cultural not necessitate further action. beliefs, institutionalized policies and practices) that disenfranchise, disempower, and devalue While these conflicts may be painful, the African Americans, Native Americans, and other attention brought to our racial history and people of color. problematic racial narratives is an opportunity to tell a more complete racial history and to change In public squares, college campuses, and other those narratives that may not happen again. institutions, individuals and organizations are beginning to challenge the ways that histories The commission wishes to acknowledge and are presented in public spaces. In Charlottesville, assert the following as fundamental to our work the effort to tell a more complete racial history contained in this report: has led to preservation of Jefferson School, • that far too often African American renovation of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery, history has been ignored, silenced or memorialization of the Vinegar Hill suppressed; neighborhood, and more. In addition, some • that far too often our public spaces and residents have begun calling for the removal of histories have also ignored, silenced or the statues and transformation of public parks suppressed the story of white supremacy that honor Confederate generals Lee and and the unimaginable harms done under Jackson. For those who seek removal of the that cause; statues, these memorials are painful reminders • that the narratives that supported white of the violence and injustice of slavery and other supremacy that began as long ago as harms of white supremacy that are best removed 1619 in Virginia, although challenged by from public spaces. For others, change is many, continue in various forms today; challenged as a revisionist effort to rewrite • that the impacts of those narratives history, and an attack on fundamental values today are evidenced around us in the loss represented in the personal character of Lee and of African American population and in of Jackson. Still others argue that it is precisely racial disparities involving health, because the memorials evoke reminders of this employment, family wealth, public shameful past—and that the legacies of that past safety, education, and more; continue to cause harms—that we need to • that to tell a more complete racial history transform them in place so that they may serve and to transform these narratives in as a public reminder of the visibility and scale and order to become the community we endurance of those harms, while at the same want to become, it is necessary for us use time making clear our rejection of those harms. our public spaces to promote understanding of all of our history, good Across the nation, institutions and communities and bad. struggle over whether and how to take action. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 2 New public history can expand our ultimately prove to be a source of both shame understanding of Charlottesville’s evolution on and pride Charlottesville. race. It helps uncover and explain aspects of the community’s racialized history that may be Members of the commission and public strongly hidden or intellectually and emotionally emphasized a desire to create a better and more challenging. A broad-based public history of complete history of Charlottesville and to Charlottesville demands that we recognize the publicly recognize the places and people that complex relationships between those with embody our community’s hidden stories. political power and those without; that we Although the fate of the Lee and Jackson appreciate the city’s changing social and political sculptures seemed to capture almost all of the context over time; and that we identify and public’s attention, many people, including all interpret the places and people whose stories members of the commission, also expressed very have not been told in the historical record. strong support for the memorialization of the slave auction block, Vinegar Hill, and other sites The places identified for this study include associated with our city’s history. cemeteries, parks, monuments, a slave auction block, houses, churches, schools, and other sites This report offers a range of recommendations located throughout Charlottesville. While many addressing many of these sites and structures. of these historic places have been recognized Some recommendations may be relatively easy through markers, plaques, or other designation, and inexpensive to achieve and others may be they are overshadowed by the city’s dominant more costly and difficult. However, the cost and historic narratives focused on Thomas Jefferson work associated with each recommendation and the World Heritage site associated with him should not imply anything about its importance. (Monticello and UVA’s Academical Village); and There may be strong symbolic importance by the Paul Goodloe McIntire legacy of associated with even the smallest of the changes monuments that depict Meriwether Lewis, recommended in this report. William Clark, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Many of the commission’s recommendations are conceptual in nature or are provided for planning The historic sites studied for this report represent purposes. Supplemental planning and design will a wide range of historic contexts and themes be required to implement many of the options. spanning more than two centuries. They are associated with many people who played critical roles in the evolution of the community. They illustrate topics as diverse as slavery, neighborhoods, education, Jim Crow laws, urban renewal, local business, and the City Beautiful movement. Individually and collectively, these places are important, tangible monuments to the spirit of perseverance and commitment to self- determination within the city’s African American community. Some are also tangible reminders of the role that white supremacy has played in Charlottesville history. Confronting directly and honestly the difficult history represented by many of these places—stories of oppression, struggle, attainment, and defeat—may Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 3 telling the full story of Charlottesville’s history of INTRODUCTION race and for changing the City’s narrative The commission’s work builds on a tremendous through our public spaces.” amount of study and research undertaken by people in the community—local archaeologists, The commission is charged with providing professional and amateur historians, city options to Council for specific ways in which our planners and commissioners, UVA students and public spaces are used, or could be used, to faculty, librarians, historical architects and address race, including but not limited to: landscape architects, genealogists, and many • Relocating or adding context to existing others. The public generously offered a Confederate statues continuous supply of information and ideas • Augmenting the slave auction block at throughout the multi-month process. Court Square • Completing the Daughters of Zion While extensive information about the City’s cemetery African American history exists in multiple • Providing a further narrative for the repositories and online, the documentation still Vinegar Hill community in conjunction requires greater synthesis for use and with the ongoing work of the African understanding by the community and visitors. American Heritage Center Much history also lies untapped. The on-going work of the African American Heritage Center is • Highlighting and linking existing historic places, such as the Tonsler House and a critical component in the endeavor to build and the Drewary Brown Memorial Bridge archive a base of knowledge about the Charlottesville-Albemarle African American • commissioning a new memorial or community and to share this legacy near and far. memorials to an African American leader Other agencies, such as UVA and the city, also • Identifying naming opportunities provide stewardship for information as well as for • Identifying additional opportunities local physical resources. within the City to enhance a holistic reflection of our history Commission Members The commission’s tasks include: Melvin Burruss • Public engagement with the Andrea Douglas Charlottesville/Albemarle community Frank Dukes • Providing Council with a full range of Gordon Fields (Human Rights Commission first options within the mission representative, resigned) • Coordination with the City Attorney for Don Gathers, Chair legal review of the proposed options Susan Lewis (Human Rights Commission second representative, replacing Gordon Fields) • Communication with other related Rachel Lloyd (PLACE representative) agencies or public bodies, such as the John Mason, Vice Chair Governor’s commission, African Margaret O’Bryant (Historic Resources American Heritage Center, Historic Committee representative) Resources Committee, Human Jane Smith Resources commission, Drewary Brown Committee, Daughters of Zion, UVA commission on Slavery, UVA Ad Hoc Purpose and Charge group on the monuments, PLACE, BAR, On May 28, 2016, Charlottesville’s City Council Parks and Recreation, and UCARE approved a resolution to create the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces to “provide Council with options for Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 4 The commission’s work must include • why destructive racial injustices and opportunities for public comment and must racial disparities persist; result in information about the costs, revenue, • how decades of loss of bright, energetic sites and siting, and fundraising related to the black youth (and of the black population charge. The commission’s report to Council must generally), escaping Jim Crow and provide recommendations for public policy or a searching for opportunity, has been the specific plan to implement a strategy for the city's self-inflicted wound; interpretation of the city’s history of race. • how today so many members of the African American community believe The commission has been allotted $10,000 to that the City does not value them; and complete this charge. • why these narratives keep us from becoming, in the aspirations that guide Why the Charge Matters us today, a more perfect union. Meeting this charge means understanding how history has been deliberately distorted to “Over the years, the driving force behind support enduring and pernicious narratives of my scholarly work has been our collective race, and then finding ways in our public spaces white blindness, our "not seeing" — not to tell those histories involving race that have seeing the horror of human bondage, not been forgotten, ignored, denied, or suppressed, seeing the horror of the slave trade, not and demonstrating, representing, and narrating seeing the horror of lynching, not seeing that history through our public spaces. By doing the horror of Jim Crow. How did we so we hope to change the narratives of race that Southerners — my people, multiple have shaped far too much of our community generations of us — manage to look evil in history for far too long. the face every day and not see what was right there in front of us? How could I have Telling the full story of Charlottesville’s history of turned a blind eye to Jim Crow? … If you race—and doing so in ways that change the City’s accept the notion that black men, women, narrative—matters for many reasons. Certainly, a and children are inferior human "stock" — community that admits to the distortions and an idea as old as the Atlantic slave trade omissions of history, that begins an effort to be itself — then slavery itself becomes an honest about that history, and that outlet for this supposedly primitive and demonstrates truth-seeking and truth-telling as brutish race of people. It is this conviction public virtues, provides an example that goes of white superiority and black inferiority beyond the meaning of that history alone. that drives everything else. The generational transmission of this But there is a greater purpose to the charge than pernicious belief has taken place for merely realizing the truths about our racialized centuries in the South, one race superior, past. For our past and the way we understand the other inferior. It was what my our past continues to shape our present. The way ancestors were raised on. It was what I we understand our history is linked to the ways was raised on. we explain and live in our world—our narratives— and failures to confront those faulty narratives How do we break that chain of racist have kept us trapped in desperately unjust transmission? systems. Learning our history, and, just as importantly, understanding the power of the An honest confrontation with our history narratives that have emerged from this history, seems to me to be the best place to start. help us understand much: Both scholars and students have a responsibility here. We need to peel away Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 5 multiple layers of myth and look at the attend who can report back what they results of our embrace of racism squarely missed in the face — from our earlier acceptance • Members may participate by conference of slavery and Jim Crow down to the ready call or other remote means when acceptance of crude racial stereotypes in technology permits our own day. All of these need to be swept • We will use the commission email to to their well-deserved place in the dustbin communicate through official channels, of history. recognizing that all written communication is subject to public History can teach. And all of us must be disclosure willing to learn.” • Members will select a Chair and a Vice- Chair to run meetings and serve as “The Unmaking of a Racist,” in The commission spokesperson Chronicle Review by Charles B. Dew, October 16, 2016. 1 Principles The commission identified several broad Ground Rules questions, or criteria, that generally guided the The commission has been committed to open decision-making process: communication, to respectful consideration of multiple views, and to informed decision- • Would this action help Charlottesville tell making. a more complete and inclusive story of our history? The commission agreed at its first meeting to • In relation to the statues, would this adopt the following ground rules: action lead to greater, not lesser, • We prefer an informal approach during understanding of our racial history, and our meetings to encourage free and open especially the Civil War, its aftermath, conversation among members and the Jim Crow era when the statues • We will treat one another and the public were erected? with respect • Conversely, would this action • We will strive for curiosity before oversimplify, avoid, or ignore our judgment, to fully understand one history? another’s views • Would this action lead to stronger • We can agree to disagree relationships, to healing of long-standing • When speaking to the media, we will harms? speak of our own views and not • Would this be cost-effective, including characterize the views of other members potentially attracting private funding so without their permission as not to compete for public funding with • Reserve time to suggest future agenda other substantive priorities? items at the end of each meeting • No substitutes for members may participate in commission decisions, but members are welcome to have someone 1 http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Unmaking-of-a- Racist/238054, accessed Oct. 24 2016. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 6 sculpture was organized by local chapters of the RECOMMENDATIONS Confederate Veterans, Sons of Confederate Lee Park and Robert E. Lee Sculpture Veterans, and United Daughters of the Background Confederacy. Although a public park, the Philanthropist Paul Goodloe McIntire donated landscape surrounding the Lee sculpture the Robert E. Lee sculpture to the city of retained a reputation as a segregated “whites Charlottesville in 1924. The sculpture was the only” space for decades, consistent with second of four given by McIntire to the city and McIntire’s terms of deed for other racially University between the years 1919 and 1924; the segregated parks he donated to the city. others include the Jackson, Lewis and Clark, and Clark sculptures. Lee Park, a formal urban In March 2016 city council received a petition to square, was also one of five public parks that remove the Lee sculpture from the park and to McIntire gave to the city. The sculpture, a heroic- rename the park in recognition of the sculpture’s sized sculpture of Lee and his horse, Traveler, is troubling symbolism in the city. located in the center of the park. Conceived by sculptor Henry Shrady, the initial models for the Options Considered sculpture exhibited a strong vitality and As the statues now stand, there is nothing that conceptual tension. After Shrady’s untimely indicates any challenge to the values of the Lost death, Italian artist Leo Lentelli completed the Cause and white supremacy that they bronze sculpture, although in a manner that did represented when they were erected and that not fulfill the original vision or meaning of the they continue to represent to many people work. Shrady and Lentelli were both members of today. This commission suggests that the Lee the National Sculpture Society, and were prolific and Jackson statues belong in no public and highly-regarded artists. The sculpture is space unless their history as symbols of white significant as a work of art for its association with supremacy is revealed and their respective parks the late City Beautiful movement, and is listed on transformed in ways that promote freedom and the Virginia Landmarks Register and the equity in our community. National Register of Historic Places as part of a Multiple Property Listing with the other McIntire- The commission therefore considered multiple donated artwork (Four Monumental Figural options, including removal entirely from public Outdoor Sculptures in Charlottesville, VA). view. After months of presentations, public comment, and discussion, two primary options The Lee and Jackson statues embodied the Lost for the Lee sculpture emerged as the best ways Cause interpretation of the Civil War, which of meeting our charge. These included 1) moving romanticized the Confederate past and the sculpture to McIntire Park and confronting its suppressed the horrors of slavery and slavery's history there in a new context; or 2) confronting role as the fundamental cause of the war while the sculpture in place by affirming the enduring role of white redesigning/transforming Lee Park. The work for supremacy. The Lost Cause interpretation was a either option may be accomplished through a key element in the ideological justification of the design competition, the commission of new disfranchisement of African American voters and public art, or a standard request for proposal the segregation of African Americans in virtually (RFP) process. The commission did not identify all walks of life, including employment, specific park designs, treatment for the education, housing, healthcare, and public sculpture, new art, or new interpretive narratives accommodations. as a part of the option development process. Instead the commission identified a list of basic Reflecting many of the racist attitudes of the Jim concepts, parameters, opportunities, and Crow-era south, an unveiling ceremony for the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 7 constraints for each option in the hope that these • McIntire Park is a larger landscape that ideas will assist council in their decision. would not necessarily be dominated by the monumental scale of the Lee sculpture The Relocate Option depending on the site selected for the The Relocate Option suggests moving the Lee sculpture. sculpture to an unspecified site within McIntire • Moving the Lee sculpture provides an Park. Interpretive information and a design opportunity to redesign the central square setting would accompany the sculpture at its (Lee Park) to better fulfill its current role as a new location to help transform our space for public activities. understanding of its meaning. Lee Park would be renamed and redesigned to reflect its history and Some commission members expressed several to maintain its use as a central public gathering concerns about this option: space in downtown Charlottesville. City staff • Moving it would remove what would confirmed that the master plan for McIntire Park otherwise be the most prominent link in included potential locations for public art. the chain of sites that will form a However, the commission cautions that the site powerful, walkable, central and selection for the sculpture must be undertaken prominent challenge to our perverse with great care in order to establish an racial narratives. appropriate context for the art. For example, • Moving the sculpture from its current placing the sculpture on hilltops or other location diminishes the integrity of the commanding locations may allow the artwork to sculpture and the other historic buildings visually dominate large areas of the public park and landscapes downtown. and perpetuate a “supremacy” narrative that the • Moving the sculpture to McIntire Park city wishes to avoid. On the other hand, the would simply shift the interpretive and Dogwood Vietnam Memorial or other historic symbolic problems associated with the places within the park may help provide a new Lee sculpture from one public space to but relevant physical and conceptual context for another. the sculpture that situates it in the broad scope • Moving the sculpture to another park of local and national history. could incur expenses that would be better used to implement the Staff prepared a preliminary cost estimate for commission’s full suite of moving the Lee sculpture. The conceptual recommendations estimate—including engineering, general • Moving the sculpture might occasion conditions, basic site work, relocation, and such considerable delay that nothing contingency among other costs—totaled might happen to meet the charge of approximately $330,000. This estimate did not telling a more complete racial history include design fees or construction costs and transforming the narrative for many associated with other landscape changes that years, if ever. Potential delays include would be required at both parks. likely legal challenges, changes to Council, opposition for relocation from The rationale for moving the sculpture to advocates for McIntire Park, and greater McIntire Park included several key points: expenses. • McIntire Park and the Lee sculpture both share a historical association with Paul The Transform-in-Place Option McIntire. The Transform-in-Place Option focused on the • McIntire Park contains another major historic significance of the sculpture and its veterans memorial which provides a new unique ability to convey an important—although context for the Lee sculpture. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 8 difficult and complex—story about • Significant transformation of Civil War Charlottesville’s past and its legacy today. Using hero and Jim Crow-era monuments has an “additive” approach, this option’s success never been done. To do so in would rely on the inclusion of new accurate Charlottesville would be of national and historical information and transformation of the global interest and could serve to inspire sculpture and its place in the city’s evolution. The many other communities to take action. commission believes the revision needs to be • Numerous Charlottesville African done clearly, unambiguously, and on at least the American residents who have lived same scale as the statue exists now, such as by through decades of suppression of their lowering, covering, de-centering, or otherwise history oppose removal on the grounds indicating the rejection of the Jim Crow-era that it would be yet another example of narratives that dominated when the statue was hiding their experience. For them, erected. New design that deemphasizes the transforming the statues in place forces centrality of the sculpture and counters the Lost remembrance of the dominance of Cause narratives could achieve a real slavery and Jim Crow white supremacy. transformation of both the space and the • Transforming the sculpture in place may narrative. Council may wish to consider the be a less costly solution, freeing up funds desired future use of the park as part of the for other worthy causes deliberations. For example, major transformation of the entire park landscape to Some commission members expressed concerns accommodate an interpretive program may limit about this option: the park’s use for other public functions such as • The Lee sculpture physically dominates festivals; other equally powerful but smaller- Lee Park through its central location and scale transformation of the sculpture’s size, which could complicate the efforts immediate context could address the need to to successfully transform the space. challenge the meaning of the sculpture while • No matter how dramatic the changes, also preserving the full spectrum of current any visible evidence of the statues may programming within the park. be insufficient to transform the park into Commissioners also recommended renaming the a welcoming place for all. park. Significant challenges are associated with The rationale for transforming the Lee sculpture reinterpreting the sculpture in any location. in place included several key points: Minimal or poorly-executed new design and • Retaining the sculpture in the park interpretation for the sculpture and park(s) provides an opportunity to tell the would fail to satisfy many people’s (and the complete story—good and bad—about commission’s) concerns about the negative Charlottesville’s past, and enables the symbolism of the Lee sculpture. Members of the city to confront the Jim Crow-era commission agreed that simply adding new narratives of the sculpture and park in plaques or other small interpretive gestures the public place where its prominence would not fulfill the charge to tell “the full story was, and is, obvious. of Charlottesville’s history of race and [change] • The Lee sculpture is a significant work of the City’s narrative through our public spaces.” public art located in the authentic historic fabric of downtown Preferred Option Charlottesville. • Concept— The commission deliberated • This transformation may also create new and voted on the two primary sculpture interest and uses for the park. options in a two-step process. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 9 commission ultimately chose to may be minimized or mitigated by recommend sending both the Relocate ensuring that the work is undertaken and Transform-in-Place options to under the guidance of art conservators council for deliberation. 2 The specializing in historic sculpture. commission believes that both options • Impact to urban design—The concept offer important opportunities and risks, protects the park as an important as described above. The commission also landscape space in downtown voted unanimously to rename Lee Park Charlottesville and offers the opportunity to reflect a broad and inclusive vision of to redesign it in a way that makes it more Charlottesville's history, consistent with welcoming to the community. the commission's intent to transform the • Public response—Members of the public parks and engage the community and voiced strong opinions for both retain citizens in determining the new names. and relocate options. • Impact to community/human rights— • Legal issues—Transformative new design The presence of the Lee sculpture has and narrative and/or relocation may perpetuated a false Lost Cause historical incite legal challenges and lawsuits. narrative for Charlottesville and has • Costs—Undetermined. Costs would vary made many members of our community depending on the designs prepared for feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in the park. the park. A new name, new design and • Revenue, if any—Likely none. new interpretive material for the park • Fundraising required—To be determined and sculpture may transform the by City Council. Grants and other landscape and situate the Lee sculpture fundraising may defray the costs to the in a new, more complete historical public. context that better reflects the community’s current values and Jackson Park and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson understanding of its past. Sculpture • Impact to historic resources—Both Background options retain the historic sculpture The Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson sculpture was within the City of Charlottesville, which the third of four art works commissioned by Paul protects the McIntire collection of public Goodloe McIntire from members of the National artwork as an ensemble. Moving the Lee Sculpture Society between the years 1919 and sculpture and/or changing the design of 1924. The bronze sculpture of Jackson and his Lee Park would somewhat diminish its horse, Little Sorrel, is set on a granite base historic integrity and the historic carved with the allegorical figures of Faith and integrity of its immediate environs. Any Valor. The sculptor was eminent artist Charles potential damaging impact to the Keck who had created numerous monuments sculpture during redesign or relocation and memorials around the country, including the Lewis and Clark sculpture in Charlottesville and 2 the Booker T. Washington monument at The initial vote was 6-3 in favor of the Transform-in- Tuskegee Institute. His sculpture of Jackson was Place option. A subsequent commission work session considered at the time to be one of the best resulted in a unanimous vote to send both options for equestrian statues in the country. The sculpture council consideration. The commission also voted on the Relocate Option and Transform-in-Place is significant as a work of art for its association individually, resulting in a 7-2 vote in favor of Relocate with the late City Beautiful movement, and is and 5-4 vote in favor of Transform-in-Place. (During listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the the voting, four commissioners voted for Relocate, National Register of Historic Places as part of a two for Transform, and three for both.) Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 10 Multiple Property Listing with the other McIntire- same benefits that could be achieved by donated artwork (Four Monumental Figural relocating the Lee sculpture, including providing Outdoor Sculptures in Charlottesville, VA). a new physical and conceptual context for the artwork. However, some members of the Jackson Park was created from the former commission expressed concern that co-locating McKee block and land adjacent to the county two major Confederate memorials within courthouse. The McKee block had been a busy McIntire Park could alter the meaning of that residential and commercial area lining McKee landscape in ways that may be detrimental or Alley, occupied by white and African American inconsistent with its planned programming and merchants and families. Reputed to be design. Retaining the sculpture in the park, “ramshackle,” the block was demolished— accompanied by new interpretive information originally for the construction of a school for and a new memorial for those enslaved in the white children, although public outcry derailed Charlottesville area presents the opportunity to the plans. McIntire later bought the land for the tell a more complete history of that public space. creation of the park, which he donated to the The commission emphasizes, however, that the city. simple addition of new plaques or other small- scale interpretive gestures would be insufficient Like the dedication of the Lee sculpture, the 1921 to satisfy the need to fully transform the dedication of the Jackson sculpture was sculpture and park. The design for any new organized by local chapters of the Confederate interpretation may be accomplished through Veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and new public art, an RFP or through a design United Daughters of the Confederacy and competition, perhaps through the same effort included a parade, dances, and decoration of the applied to the Lee sculpture. Staff had prepared city with Confederate colors and flags. a preliminary cost estimate for moving the Jackson sculpture to a new location. The Options Considered conceptual estimate—including engineering, The options for the disposition of the Jackson general conditions, site work, relocation, and sculpture and Jackson Park are complicated by contingency among other costs—totaled nearly the undetermined fate of the County Court, $370,000. located adjacent to Jackson Park. The court’s potential relocation may have a major (but Preferred Option unknown at this time) impact on the park and its • Concept— The commission deliberated use. In addition, separate but related and voted on the two primary sculpture recommendations for the memorialization of options in a two-step process. The enslaved people in the Charlottesville region may commission ultimately chose to also transform the use and meaning of the park recommend sending both the Relocate and Court Square. (See the recommendations for and Transform-in-Place options to the interpretation of the slave auction block and council for deliberation. 3 The memorial below). Two other factors influenced commission believes that both options decision-making process for the Jackson 3 sculpture: 1) the Jackson sculpture is a much finer The initial vote to transform the Jackson sculpture in work of art than the Lee sculpture, and 2) in place was undertaken simultaneously with the vote to general, the Jackson sculpture was less of a transform the Lee sculpture in place. A subsequent “lightning rod” for public concern or outrage than commission work session resulted in a unanimous the Lee sculpture. The commission discussed vote to send both options for council consideration. The commission also voted on the Relocate Option relocating the sculpture to McIntire Park and and Transform-in-Place individually, resulting in one retaining it in its current park. Relocating the vote in favor of Relocate and eight votes in favor of sculpture to McIntire Park offered some of the Transform-in-Place. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 11 offer important opportunities and also the Lee sculpture during the public risks, as described above. The engagement process, although public commission also voted unanimously to opinion also varied between transform in rename Lee Park to reflect a broad and place and relocate options. inclusive vision of Charlottesville's • Legal issues—Transformative new design history, consistent with the commission's and narrative and/or relocation may intent to transform the parks and engage incite legal challenges and lawsuits. the community and citizens in • Costs—Undetermined. Costs would vary determining the new names. depending on the designs prepared for • Impact to community/human rights— the park. The presence of the Jackson sculpture • Revenue, if any—Likely none. has perpetuated a false Lost Cause • Fundraising required—To be determined historical narrative for Charlottesville and by City Council. Grants and other has made many members of our fundraising may defray the costs to the community feel uncomfortable or public. unwelcome in the park. A new name, new interpretive material, and a new Court Square Slave Auction Block memorial within the Court Square area Background 4 may conceptually transform the The plaque memorializing one of several slave landscape and situate the Jackson auction blocks around the Court Square area is sculpture in a new, more complete located at a building labeled “Number Nothing.” historical context that better reflects the This building was erected as a mercantile store in community’s current values and the 1820s. A stone block that once sat outside understanding of its past. the building’s southwest corner was used for • Impact to historic resources—Both auctioning both goods and people until slavery options retain the historic sculpture was abolished in 1865. Slave auctions frequently within the City of Charlottesville, which took place on plantations, but enslaved people protects the McIntire collection of public were sometimes traded in town on court days, artwork as an ensemble. Moving the when auctions for many types of goods were sold Jackson sculpture and/or changing the at auction houses or in front of public buildings. It design of Jackson Park would somewhat was common to sell people at the Courthouse to diminish its historic integrity and the settle debts owed to Albemarle County and for historic integrity of its immediate estate probates. Other locations, such as a tree environs. Any potential damaging stump near the court, functioned as auction impact to the sculpture during redesign blocks. or relocation may be minimized or mitigated by ensuring that the work is The slave auction block was memorialized with a undertaken under the guidance of art building-mounted plaque and a plaque set into conservators specializing in historic the sidewalk near the Number Nothing building. sculpture. Today, the plaque is virtually illegible. • Impact to urban design—The concept protects the park as an important Options Considered landscape space in downtown Members of the public strongly supported the Charlottesville and offers the opportunity memorialization of those who suffered to reinterpret it in a way that makes it enslavement during Charlottesville’s and more welcoming to the community. • Public response—The Jackson sculpture 4 This information is taken from city documents, including a received considerably less attention than historic marker inventory for Court Square. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 12 Albemarle’s ante-bellum era, particularly when it • Public response—Members of the public became known that more than half of the consistently supported the replacement county’s population was enslaved during the Civil of the slave auction block plaque and War years. Two options gained support during addition of a new memorial for those the process: who were enslaved in the Charlottesville • Replace the current plaque with a new area. plaque that is legible • Legal issues—The installation of a new • Create a new memorial for plaque and memorial on private and/or Charlottesville’s enslaved population county property may require negotiations between the city and the Preferred Option other entities. • Concept—the commission voted • Costs—The cost to design and fabricate a unanimously to support a two-phased new plaque is likely low (between $500 process for interpreting the slave auction and $1500). The exact costs associated block and memorializing those who were with commissioning a substantial new enslaved in the Charlottesville area: first, memorial are unknown; however, the to install a proper, visible historic marker proposed Vinegar Hill Monument to replace the current illegible marker, provides a recent cost comparison, and second, to commission a new suggesting that $300,000-$500,000 is a memorial through a competitive RFP reasonable estimate. process. The commission suggests that • Revenue, if any—Likely none. the memorial be located on or near Court • Fundraising required—To be determined Square. by City Council. Grants and other • Impact to community/human rights— fundraising may defray the costs to the The installation of a new plaque and public. memorial would fulfill a widely- expressed goal for many members of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery public who advocated for recognizing the Background 5 terrible losses of those enslaved in the The Daughters of Zion Cemetery is a historic Charlottesville area. In addition, a new community burial ground located within the city memorial to enslaved people would be of Charlottesville. The cemetery has already both a tribute to those who endured the been recognized as significant in the history of devastating hardships of slavery and a the community through listing in the National retort to the Jackson sculpture located Register of Historic Places. The cemetery derives nearby. its significance from its association with the • Impact to historic resources—The Daughters of Zion Mutual Aid Society, a installation of a new plaque and Reconstruction-era women’s organization that memorial would not result in any sought to provide a place of dignified burial for damage to historic resources within the the African American community within the Court Square area, and, instead, would context of a segregated society. Established in help interpret the historic events and 1873, the cemetery remained an active burial meaning of the landscape. ground until 1995. It is currently owned and • Impact to urban design—A new plaque maintained by the city of Charlottesville. Many and memorial are appropriate additions members of the Charlottesville community retain to the public space within the Court Square area. 5 The text for this section was taken from the Daughters of Zion Cemetery Preservation Strategies plan prepared in April 2016 by Liz Sargent and Shelley Sass. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 13 familial bonds with those buried at the protect and maintain this important Daughters of Zion Cemetery. landscape. • Impact to community/human rights— Over the course of 2015, several individuals and Preservation of the cemetery will groups, in addition to the city of Charlottesville, perpetuate a respectful environment for began discussing ways to address the concerns those interred and for their descendants, about the deteriorating condition of the many of whom still live in Charlottesville. cemetery. Several individuals formed a group • Impact to historic resources— known as the Preservers of the Daughters of Zion Stewardship of the cemetery will Cemetery to serve as the core organizers of the preserve the only extant place associated effort to improve the condition of the cemetery. with the Daughters of Zion Mutual Aid Society, and offers the possibility to The cemetery has been the subject of a interpret this important aspect of Preservation Strategies plan (April 2016) and a Charlottesville’s Reconstruction-era Historic American Landscape Survey (June 2016). history. It is important to acknowledge The plan provides a prioritized list of projects that cemeteries require specialized that address the cemetery’s need for 1) treatment through professional emergency stabilization of features that are in conservation practices to ensure their poor condition or threatened with failure or loss; long-term preservation. 2) community engagement and development of • Impact to urban design—The Daughters a plan; 3) follow up preservation treatments for of Zion cemetery is a historically- features that do not require emergency significant landscape adjacent to the stabilization; and4) long term care and larger municipal Oakwood Cemetery. maintenance procedure guidance and training. The cemetery helps form a large central green space near Charlottesville’s Options Considered downtown and is a historic landscape The commission endorses the planning currently that possesses a unique character worthy underway for the Daughters of Zion Cemetery of care and protection. However, the and did not formulate or consider additional cemetery’s relationship to adjacent conservation options. streets, which are truncated or disconnected from the adjacent grid, Preferred Option means that the cemetery is relatively • Concept—The Daughters of Zion isolated and therefore may be more Cemetery Preservation Strategies plan subject to undetected vandalism. (April 2016) recommended a series of • Public response—The Daughters of Zion actions designed to conserve the Cemetery was one of the top five places cemetery. The recommendations are identified for memorialization during the based on sound, federally-recognized commission’s first public forum. standards and best management • Legal issues—Legal documentation may practices and focus on the need for be required for the incorporation of non- prioritized landscape stabilization and profit “friends” groups that could support maintenance. The commission the preservation of the cemetery in the unanimously voted to recommend that future. that the city continue to provide financial • Costs—The Daughters of Zion Cemetery support for the efforts of the Historic Preservation Strategies report provided Resources Committee and the Preservers planning-level estimates of probable cost of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery to for priority projects ranging from Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 14 $50,000-$122,500 in total. See the plan Monument proposed for placement at the for details. Jefferson School and plans for a new Vinegar Hill • Revenue, if any—Likely none. Park at the west end of the Downtown Mall. The • Fundraising required—Grants and other Vinegar Hill Monument has been designed by fundraising may defray the costs of the internationally-recognized artist, Melvin landscape stabilization and other Edwards, and has been partially funded by the improvements. City of Charlottesville, private donations, and a matching grant from the National Endowment Vinegar Hill Community for the Arts. The Vinegar Hill Park has been Background 6 proposed by the Historic Resources Committee. Vinegar Hill, one of the city’s first The park would occupy the public walkway neighborhoods, was bordered loosely by Preston between the ice rink and Omni Hotel at the west Ave., West Main St., and Fourth Street. It was end of the downtown mall. Preliminary proposals established by Irish families in the early 1800s for the park include recommendations for the and incorporated into Charlottesville in 1835. addition of interpretive and identity signage African Americans fist moved onto the “Hill” along the walkway. after the Civil War. From the 1920s to the early 1960s it was the city’s principle black business Preferred Option district and the vibrant center of the • Concept—The commission voted community’s social life. Despite barriers to unanimously to recommend that the city education and employment, African Americans provide financial assistance for the gained economic opportunities through a wide completion of the proposed Vinegar Hill range of small businesses in the Vinegar Hill area. Park. The commission also voted Though many rented their Vinegar Hill housing— unanimously (with one abstention) to which often lacked running water, indoor recommend that city council provide plumbing, and electricity—residents lived and financial assistance for the fabrication worked among their homes, schools, and and installation of the Vinegar Hill churches in a close-knit community. Over 55 of Monument, as designed. Finally, because the homes and businesses in Vinegar Hill were of the Jefferson School African American owned by African Americans. Heritage Center’s preeminent position in telling the public history of In the 1960s, noting Vinegar Hill’s large number Charlottesville’s African American of “substandard” homes, the voters of community, the commission voted Charlottesville decided to redevelop the 20 acre unanimously (with one abstention) to neighborhood. Because of a poll tax, many of the recommend that city council provide residents were denied a say in their own future. financial assistance for the fixed costs of By March 1965, one church, 30 businesses, and the Center (rent and common area 158 families—140 of which were black—had been costs). relocated as part of the city’s urban renewal • Impact to community/human rights— process. The Vinegar Hill neighborhood and its importance in the history of Options Considered Charlottesville has been a consistent Two important memorialization plans for the topic of interest for the public. Vinegar Vinegar Hill neighborhood are currently Hill is the best known, but not the only, underway; these include the Vinegar Hill lost African American neighborhood in the city; Gospel Hill, Pearl Street, Garrett 6 This information is taken from city documents available Street, Canada, and others were also online. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 15 wiped out through urban renewal, redevelopment, or gentrification. Highlighting and Linking Historic Places • Impact to historic resources—The Background addition of a new memorial to the The historic sites inventory process identified Jefferson School complex and new over 70 places associated with important aspects interpretive information to the west end of the city’s African American history as well as of the Downtown Mall in a location sites associated with Native American and labor identified as Vinegar Hill Park by the history. The inventory is appended to this report. designer of the Mall will create greater The places include cemeteries; neighborhoods; public awareness of this lost schools; churches; other buildings such as houses neighborhood and the forces that ruined or businesses; roads and bridges; parks; it. The funding of the African American memorialized “lost” sites; and lost sites with no Heritage Center will likewise support its memorialization. While many of the sites are mission to generate public awareness of well-documented, interpreted or protected, the city’s history and historic resources. some are not. • Impact to urban design—The proposed Vinegar Hill Park creates an interpreted The rehabilitation of the Jefferson School—which landscape space at a major threshold now houses the African American Heritage into Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. Center, the Jefferson School City Center, and the Although the current proposal is limited expanded Carver Recreation Center—represents to the addition of new signage, the perhaps the city’s most prominent effort to landscape within the corridor may be revitalize an essential historical place in the city’s suitable for future redevelopment as African American community. Many recently- designed park space. The proposal for added historic markers now identify other the new Vinegar Hill Monument will important buildings and landscapes in the city, place the memorial on the Jefferson such as the Tonsler House and Daughters of Zion School property. Cemetery. The Drewary Brown Bridge’s • Public response—Many members of the association with the Bridge Builders Award has public have expressed a strong interest in revitalized its meaning in the community. telling the story of Charlottesville’s lost African American neighborhoods. Comments during the first public forum • Legal issues—Likely none. emphasized the community’s desire to expand • Costs—The new Vinegar Hill Park signs the memorialization of diverse and “hidden” are estimated to cost approximately places and people and to protect the city’s $5,000-$10,000. The fabrication and historically African American resources, including installation of the Vinegar Hill Monument neighborhoods, churches, and cemeteries. Many is estimated to cost $320,000, a portion also recommended that the city’s stories be told of which the city has already committed through the perspective of the African American to funding. The memorial has a $100,000 community, with no “sugar coating.” matching grant from the NEA. • Revenue, if any—Likely none. Options Considered • Fundraising required—Fundraising is Options for highlighting and linking historic underway by the Dialogue on Race places relate to information-gathering, planning, Vinegar Hill Monument committee. and protection for the city’s historic resources. Members of the public supported initiatives that would result in the collection of additional historical information about Charlottesville’s “lost” history through surveys and oral histories. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 16 Protecting and acknowledging a wide variety of neighborhoods. New design updates and historic sites—such as the Tonsler House and the maintenance of the bridge would also Shelton House—were also important to signal its important symbolism in the members of the public. The community city. expressed some preference for installing historic • Public response markers at a variety of historic sites and • Legal issues—Likely none, although protecting historic neighborhoods against the zoning and design guidelines can impact forces of gentrification. Members of the public property values. and the commission also supported the • Costs—The costs associated with historic improvement and maintenance of the Drewary resource surveys will vary based on the Brown Bridge. size of the areas. Costs for any changes or enhancements in the design of the Preferred Option bridge may be estimated based on • Concept—The commission voted schemes produced through the West unanimously to recommend two Main Street schematic design plans. concepts: 1) To applaud the Bridge • Revenue, if any—Likely none. Builders Committee work to improve the • Fundraising required—To be determined visibility and appearance of the Drewary by City Council. Grants and other Brown Bridge and to encourage council's fundraising may defray the costs to the continued support of these efforts, public. including the inclusion of the Bridge Builders work in the West Main Street Place Names design process and 2) to recommend Options Considered that council provide financial and The commission discussed options for naming planning support for historic resource and/or renaming public places and features, and surveys of African American, Native agreed to avoid renaming current places with the American and local labor neighborhoods exception of the -Lee and Jackson parks as and sites, seeking National Register described earlier in the report. The commission listing and zoning and design guideline understands that there is a city policy that protection, where appropriate. governs the naming of new features. • Impact to community/human rights— Many members of the public drew an Preferred Option explicit connection between the loss of • Concept—The commission unanimously historic African American neighborhoods recommended that the city consider and the current threats to naming new streets, new bridges, new neighborhoods by gentrification and buildings, or other new infrastructure inappropriate new development. after people or ideas that represent the Commissioners also noted the lack of city’s history in consultation with the visible and accurate interpretation of the affected neighborhoods and other city’s sites related to African American appropriate local bodies such as the history. Albemarle County Historical Society and • Impact to historic resources—This the African American Heritage Center. recommendation would enable the • Impact to community/human rights— successful protection of the city’s historic The commission supports engagement built fabric. with the community and local • Impact to urban design—Zoning and institutions to identify appropriate design guideline protection would protect the historic character of the city’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 17 people, events, and ideas to Preferred Option commemorate through naming. • Concept—The commission unanimously • Impact to historic resources—Likely none recommended that the city not pursue to historic resources, although providing the addition of other new monuments to names for new features and structures specific individuals at this time. The related to local history may help convey commission recommends that the city the importance of previously explore other ways to recognize the uncelebrated people and events. city’s leaders and hidden heroes and • Impact to urban design—Likely none. invest in other creative ways to • Public response memorialize the full story of race in this • Legal issues—Likely none. community’s history including, but not • Costs—Likely none beyond the costs limited to, new murals. associated with public engagement or • Impact to community/human rights— other outreach to local institutions. Monuments and memorials are often • Revenue, if any—Likely none. large, permanent installations that are • Fundraising required—Likely none. intended to convey clear and simple narratives. Murals and other forms of New Memorials public art may provide opportunities to Options Considered tell complex stories about the city’s The public offered many ideas for new history through more dynamic means; memorials during the public forums and through they are also less expensive to other communication with the commission. implement and provide opportunities for Suggestions included “hidden heroes” and other community engagement. people and communities significant to the • Impact to historic resources—Likely history of Charlottesville such as: enslaved none. workers at UVA, lost neighborhoods such as • Impact to urban design—Murals or other Gospel Hill, Isabella and William Gibbons, Queen public art may be implemented on a wide Charlotte (Charlottesville’s namesake with variety of city-owned buildings and African ancestry), Peter Fossett, Julian Bond, structures, such as bridge abutments, Eugene Williams, Sally Hemmings, Rebecca walls, or at schools. McGinness, local Native Americans, the Greers of • Public response Ivy Creek, Shadrach Battles, and many others. • Legal issues—Likely none. • Costs—Would vary depending on the The commission noted these suggestions but artist and the medium. also expressed a belief that the other two new • Revenue, if any—Likely none. monuments recommended for Charlottesville— • Fundraising required—To be determined the Vinegar Hill Monument and a memorial to by City Council. Grants and other those enslaved in the Charlottesville area—will fundraising may defray the costs to the be substantial new additions to the city’s public public. art collection and will require equally substantial financial commitment. The commission also Other Opportunities noted the ability of other types of public art to Options Considered convey more complex information than is The commission identified several additional possible with memorials to individuals. opportunities to enhance a holistic reflection of our history. These focused primarily on programming and education. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 18 Preferred Options The commission chose six options that received unanimous votes: • Recommend council sponsor research on the history of Charlottesville, together with the African American Heritage Center, UVA, Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, among others, which may provide the basis for a new more comprehensive story of the city. • Encourage the Charlottesville City School Board to ensure that the curriculum creates an opportunity for all students to learn the fuller history of our community including the difficult history of slavery and racism. This resolution also supports the teacher education required to carry out an effective educational program in local history. • Encourage the Charlottesville City School Board to ensure that courses in African American and Native American history are taught in local schools on a continual basis. • Support the ongoing efforts of the African American Heritage Center to develop curricula related to our complete history and encourage all the institutions that hold the history of Charlottesville— including Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society and the University of Virginia—to be part of that development. • Urge the city to participate in the Equal Justice Initiative's Memorial to Peace and Justice by retrieving the memorial marking the lynching of John Henry James and displaying it locally as a commitment to confronting the truth and terror of white supremacy in the Jim Crow era. • Recommend designating March 3rd as either Liberation Day or Freedom Day in an annual commemoration of March 3, 1865. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 19 sculpture (Appomattox, on South METHODOLOGY Washington Street), changing the name Meeting Schedule and Agendas of the Jefferson Davis Highway, retaining The commission gathered for 15 meetings. These other street names memorializing meetings were held at a variety of locations Confederate military leaders, and around Charlottesville in order to make it easier maintaining the city’s current policy not for members of the public to attend and to fly the Confederate flag. In a comment, and also included three public forums, September 2016 meeting, the Alexandria described below, and a bus tour of relevant City Council voted to move the historic sites. The meeting schedule, meeting Confederate statue to a local history agendas, and audio recordings of the meetings museum near its current location, have been documented on the commission’s pending Virginia legislature approval. webpage. • St. Louis Confederate Memorial Reappraisal Committee in St. Louis, MO. Coordination with City Staff The committee requested cost estimates City staff has provided extensive support of the for the removal and long-term storage of commission’s work. City Manager Maurice Jones, the city’s Confederate memorial. No Assistant City Manager Mike Murphy, Director of suitable entity was identified for the Human Services Kaki Dimock, Manager of the storage or display of the monument and Office of Human Rights Charlene Green, Deputy the city is evaluating the $150,000 cost City Attorney Lisa Robertson, and Executive for its removal. Assistant Terry Bentley set up meeting space, led • Unmonumental and the Sacred Ground meetings, moderated the public forum, provided Historical Reclamation Project in food, transcribed public meeting notes, led the Richmond, VA. Unmonumental and the bus tour, offered interpretation of legal issues, Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation and provided researched background Project are two citizen and non-profit information, among many other critical tasks. groups committed to exploring The commission is very grateful for this Richmond’s history of race, memorials, coordination and support. and public space. Unmonumental, a weekly radio show associated with the Research and Data Collection national initiative called Finding America, Members of the commission undertook targeted funded by the Ford and MacArthur research and data collection as part of the Foundations, collects and shares subcommittee efforts described below. personal stories about the individual In addition, city staff undertook a preliminary histories and experiences in Richmond. “benchmarking” review of work accomplished by The Sacred Ground project has prepared other cities facing similar consideration of public a community proposal for a new spaces and monuments. The benchmarking memorial park in Shockoe Bottom, process resulted in summaries of the recent and including the site of Lumpkin’s Jail and a on-going efforts of the: graveyard. • Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Confederate • City council actions in New Orleans, LA. In Memorials and Street Names in December 2015, the New Orleans city Alexandria, VA. This advisory group council voted to declare the city’s evaluated several initiatives related to Confederate statues a “nuisance” and the city’s Confederate memorials and solicited bids for their removal. The city street names. The group recommended received a cost estimate of $170,000 per retaining the city’s lone Confederate statue for removal to long-term storage; Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 20 however, the contractor’s property was commission also met with Kelley Libby of vandalized and work was stopped. Richmond’s Unmonumental. • Outside of meetings, commission members also received and reviewed Finally, the value of information offered by the information about other efforts. public at each meeting cannot be overestimated. The citizens of Charlottesville have a huge depth City staff also provided information on: and breadth of knowledge about the history of • The City Beautiful Movement, the design our city, the Civil War, and many other topics, context for the Lee and Jackson sculpture. which they generously shared with the The City Beautiful Movement (c. 1890- commission and the public at large. While most 1930) provided a new approach to of what was brought to the commission’s American architecture and urban attention was valuable, some testimony at public planning that focused on beauty, art meetings repeated long-discredited histories as (particularly sculpture), and scale to facts, thereby confirming the need for more inspire civic order, morality, and virtue. complete and visible histories. Commission Leaders posited that large-scale members were particularly grateful for the structured city planning would lead to contributions of the city’s elders who offered harmonious social order. Many their early memories of life in Charlottesville. proponents of the City Beautiful Movement responded to the Subcommittees disorganized growth of cities, including The work of four subcommittees supplemented rapidly forming neighborhoods of the general work of the commission. These immigrants, with new monumental included: architecture, artwork, and landscapes. • Public Engagement (Melvin Burruss , The National Sculpture Society, one of Frank Dukes). This subcommittee several art and design organizations to prepared plans for a public engagement promote the City Beautiful Movement, strategy, organized public meeting “espoused figurative public sculpture of facilitators, set public meeting agendas, historical and allegorical subjects as a and set the format for the first two means of familiarizing people with the community forums. best and most fundamental values of • Case Studies (Gordon Fields/Sue Lewis, past and present cultures.” The National Don Gathers). This subcommittee Mall, Chicago Waterfront, and researched the decisions and results of Richmond’s Monument Avenue are other cities’ efforts to address similar examples of the movement’s grand questions about race, memorials, and urban vision. The City Beautiful public spaces. Movement has been criticized for its • Inventory of Historic Sites (Andrea elitist emphasis on beauty and urban Douglas, Rachel Lloyd). This aesthetics at the expense of social subcommittee created an inventory of reform. historic sites related to the city’s African American history. Invited speakers to commission meetings • Historical Context and Background (John included Karen Van Lengen (UVA Architecture Mason, Margaret O’Bryant, Jane Smith). School), Kirt Van Daacke (UVA History This subcommittee examined the broad Department), and Gary Gallagher (UVA History history of inventoried sites in Department/Nau Center for Civil War History) Charlottesville and explored the “hidden” who shared ideas and information relevant to the history of the city. commission’s mission. Members of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 21 session” and included two open public comment Legal Review periods and a small group discussion period Chief Deputy City Attorney, Lisa Robertson organized around four separate topics: provided a summary of the legal issues raised by • What are the stories you want told about the 2016 Virginia Assembly bill HB587, the Charlottesville? Governor’s subsequent veto of the bill, and the • What places need to be memorialized related court case in Danville that resulted in the that are not being memorialized removal of a Confederate flag from a monument sufficiently? Who are some of our hidden on the grounds of the Sutherlin Mansion. The heroes? City Attorney’s office also provided legal • What does the statue of Stonewall interpretation of the terms of the deeds for Lee Jackson mean to you? What would you and Jackson Parks. The memo provided on like to see happen in that location? September 28, 2016 is included in the report’s • What does the statue of R.E. Lee mean appendix. to you? What would you like to see happen in that location? Coordination with other Approximately 150 people attended the first Agencies/Commissions forum. The attendees were divided into eight Several other commissions and local separate groups for the discussion topics; the organizations shared information and ideas with comments and ideas shared during the the Blue Ribbon commission, including the discussion period are appended to this report. Preservers of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery, Members of the public spoke for and against the Ivy Creek Foundation Board, Preservation removing the Lee and Jackson statues, although Piedmont, the President's Commission on a preponderance of speakers recommended Slavery at the University, the Historic Resources retaining the monuments and adding new Committee, and others. interpretive information that re-contextualizes them for contemporary times. The small group Public Engagement discussions revealed a powerful desire within the The community’s deep interest in the topic of community to publicly interpret the city’s full race, memorials, and public spaces resulted in racial history through an inclusive and complete continuous and vigorous engagement between approach that proclaims our hidden stories, the commission and the citizens of places, and heroes. Members of the public Charlottesville. Every regular commission focused primarily on the city’s African American meeting included two public comment history, but also expressed an interest in the opportunities totaling approximately 20 minutes region’s Native American history and or more. The work session meetings and the bus working/labor history. tour would have one or no scheduled opportunities for public comment. The The second public forum took place at Buford commission received emails from the public Middle School. This forum was intended to elicit through a group address and a comment section the public’s input for a selected set of concepts of the webpage, which was regularly updated and action options related to the commission’s with commission information. Members of the mission. Members of the public were allotted public also attended the bus tour of the historic time at the beginning and end of the meeting for sites. In addition, the commission hosted three general public comment, and then “voted” with public forums. stickers for various recommendations listed at different idea stations. Members of the public The first forum was held at the Jefferson School. focused primarily on the disposition of the Lee This forum was intended to be a “listening and Jackson sculpture and spoke equally in favor Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 22 of removing the sculpture and retaining the sculpture. The third and final public forum took place at Walker Elementary School. This public forum provided the commission with an opportunity to share information about the recommendations provided in this report. The commission read a synthesis of the complete set of recommendations and heard public comment about them. Most speakers focused their comments on the recommendations related to the statues, with a large majority speaking in favor of moving the statues. Expenditures City Council approved of $10,000 to be used for expenses related to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces. Just under $5,000 remains in the appropriated funds. Expenses included $4,246 for meals (regular meetings and community forums), $445 for supplies to conduct the meetings and forums and $255 for two buses used in the historic tour of Charlottesville. Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 23 APPENDICES A. City Council resolution B. Community engagement process (including bus tour) and written comments from the community forums C. Subcommittee information a. Historic context b. Inventory of historic sites c. Case studies Alexandria Richmond St. Louis D. Photographs (Rachel Lloyd images from her walking tour; Richmond field trip images) E. Historic marker inventory (from the Charlottesville Historic Resources Committee F. Information shared from invited speakers: i. Karen Van Lengen , UVA Architecture School ii. Kirt Van Daacke, UVA History Department (did not have materials) iii. Gary Gallagher, UVA History Department/Nau Center for Civil War History G. Legal memo from City Attorney H. Cost estimates to move the Lee and Jackson statues I. Daughters of Zion Cemetery plan J. Vinegar Hill Park plan K. Vinegar Hill Monument plan L. Historical Narrative document Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces Report 12-19-2016 page 24