Recording of the livestream of the vigil, courtesy of Virginia Humanities and WTJU.

Last Sunday, Feb. 28th, Beloved Community Cville hosted the “Slave Auction Block Vigil: Honoring the Ancestors” at the Historic Court Square to acknowledge the trauma which took place there and honor the ancestors. The event served as a kick-off to the events of Liberation & Freedom Day, which celebrates the arrival of Union soldiers into Charlottesville in 1865.

During the vigil, the history of the human sales which took place in Court Square was brought alive through song, prayer, reading of names, and ritual by the following community members:

• Dr. Jalane Schmidt, Associate Professor, Dept of Religious Studies at UVA
• Don Gathers, deacon at First Baptist Church on Main Street; a founding member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville; organizer with Beloved Community Cville
• Cauline Yates, Virginia Humanities Receptionist, the seventh-generation grand-niece of Sally Hemings
• Rev. Dr. Lehman Bates, Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church
• Apostle Sarah Kelley, Pastor of Faith, Hope and Love 
• Dr. Kevin McDonald, University of Virginia’s Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships
• Kim Swift, Singer and Special Events Coordinator for Ebenezer Baptist Church 
• Rev. Xavier Jackson, Pastor of Chapman Grove Baptist Church

PROGRAM OUTLINE
1) Albemarle County Courthouse steps  

• Overview of event -- Don Gathers and Jalane Schmidt
• Fountain Hughes recording -- 1949 interview with a 101-year-old formerly enslaved Charlottesville man.

2) Eagle Tavern

• Read aloud the names of 33 people sold there in 1829 -- Cauline Yates
• Prayer for those who were named and their descendants -- Lehman Bates

3) Slave Auction Block Marker

• Apostle Sarah Kelley -- Gave testimony & sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

4) Swan Tavern

• Kevin McDonald -- Read out loud the 1852 letter by Maria Perkins 
• Kim Swift -- Sang “Steal Away to Jesus”

5) Courthouse steps area 

• Ritual -- Libation led by Don Gathers (Bowl & table from Jalane Schmidt)
• Rev. Xavier Jackson sang “Lift Every Voice & Sing”
• Final words of thanks -- Don Gathers

Please click on this link to read NBC29.com’s coverage of our vigil.​

Below are a few photos from our vigil. 

Photo credit: Eze Amos. 
https://www.instagram.com/ezeamosphotography/
​https://www.facebook.com/EzeamosPhotography/

Most are familiar with MLK’s vision of a society based on justice, equality, and the love of one’s fellow human beings. What is often forgotten is how threatening his vision of “the beloved community” was to people. When King was killed, he was not well liked. In fact, he had a 60% disapproval rating. Why was that? Essentially, he was asking people to come into another way of being, to start matching our actions to our values and ideals, and to end white supremacy for the sake of everyone’s well-being.
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“Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls. as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

How do we work towards creating the beloved community in Charlottesville? The pathway to a community that sustains us all involves cultivating trust, more mutual aid, radical compassion, less individualism, and more humility. It has been said: “Social change happens at the speed of relationships. Relationships are built at the speed of trust.” In order to do this work we have to do it right here, right now within ourselves and within our hometown. And.... we won’t do it perfectly. We’re definitely going to make mistakes, that’s part of the practice.

Another essential part of social change work involves learning your community’s racial history. How did things become the way that they are today? What are the unhealed stories? Whose shoulders do we stand on and who’s already involved in the work now? It’s really important to respect the past leadership in the movement for black lives within Charlottesville, as well as the leadership of today, both established and emerging.

With this in mind, we’re developing the Beloved Community Virtual Tour as a resource to help folks learn the local black history of Charlottesville. And very importantly, to learn it from people who grew up here! The tour isn’t ready for viewing yet, but we’ll keep you posted. In the meanwhile each issue of our e-newsletter will contain a small piece of local black history, along with links to learn more.
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Another important feature of the e-newsletter will be a spotlight on local black leadership. We will be featuring a black-owned business or a black-led organization in each issue. The goal is to increase awareness of these resources, as well as to help increase participation, donations, foot traffic (brick & mortar and online), and sales. Supporting these black-led/owned organizations and businesses will help our entire community to be more successful!  

We hope that you will grow to appreciate the content of our newsletter, which will also include announcements of local events, with an emphasis on those being led / for / to benefit Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). The content will be carefully chosen to focus on racial justice and it will be hyper-local, with the goal of inspiring learning, increasing awareness, and activism for social change within our beloved community.

Change is coming!

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Shillue
On behalf of the Beloved Charlottesville Cville team

On Saturday, September 12, the "At Ready" Confederate statue and accompanying cannons and cannon balls were removed from the front of the Albemarle County Courthouse, after being there for 101 years. The following day, a group of citizen activists gathered (led by Don Gathers) to offer personal reflections and prayers, together with a cleansing ceremony involving the burning of sage and the pouring of libations.  Read the Daily Progress article and view their pictures of this ceremony.

Pictures taken by Michael Cheuk and Lisa Draine.

Beloved Community Cville held a “Slave Auction Block Vigil” on Sunday, March 1st at the Historic Court Square in downtown Charlottesville to acknowledge the trauma which took place there and to honor local enslaved ancestors. The experience of the descendants, and their enslaved ancestors, was at the forefront of the event and was brought alive through song, prayer, story-telling, reading of names, and ritual.

Don Gathers, Organizer with Beloved Community Cville, gave an introduction to the vigil: “On this first night of the week’s observances of Liberation & Freedom Day, we are acknowledging & honoring the enslaved ancestors of our city and county. This solemn event is a reminder of the pain and trauma of the enslaved community — who were the majority of area residents. Tonight, we descend to the depths of pain before we celebrate, on Tuesday, the beginnings of emancipation.”

Professor Jalane Schmidt described the route for the vigil and reminded the crowd of the solemnity of the occasion.  “We are going to walk around this corner of Court Square and stop at 3 stations where local enslaved people were bought and sold, before we return here to the Courthouse to conclude our vigil.” She said that the descendants should go first and be up front, if they so wish, because “we are honoring their ancestors.”
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Participants began by walking to the former site of Eagle Tavern where, Myra Anderson, a sixth-generation descendant of the Hern family, who were enslaved at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson, read aloud the names of the 33 people who were sold there. Four enslaved families were torn apart to pay Jefferson’s debts after his death in 1829. The sale was the largest in Charlottesville’s recorded history and included some of Myra’s ancestors. 
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The gathering listened to a portion of a 1949 interview with Fountain Hughes, a 101-year-old formerly enslaved Charlottesville man. The voice of Hughes was projected throughout the square, recounting the pain of the enslaved local people just over a century and a half ago.
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Following the reading of this desperate letter, Apostle Sarah Kelley said a few words and sang, “Trouble of the World.” She is a Charlottesville native, and pastor and founder of Faith, Hope and Love International Healing and Deliverance Center.
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NBC29 - Slave auction block vigil honors enslaved ancestors as Liberation and Freedom Day celebrations begin. 

CBS19 - Vigil honors local enslaved ancestors.

Daily Progress - Photos of the Vigil.

The Cavalier Daily - Community gathers for vigil honoring people sold as slaves in Charlottesville.

Culpeper Star-Exponent - Vigil Sunday at Slave Auction Block site in C’ville.

The Washington Post - Charlottesville won’t celebrate Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. It will mark slavery’s end instead.​

Article by Professor Jalane Schmidt - Humans Were Sold Here:

On August 11, local anti-racist activists and survivors held a candlelight vigil in downtown Charlottesville to reclaim the spaces where people were injured and traumatized two years ago. Elizabeth Shillue of Beloved Community Cville led the effort with support from Don Gathers, Jalane Schmidt, and Walt Heinecke. The event was held in honor of those who showed up on August 12, 2017, to express gratitude for their protection, pray for their continued healing, and issue a spiritual call for transformation.

“Tonight is about reclaiming the locations where folks were injured and traumatized 2 years ago. Singing and praying for our healing and transformation.
As we continue working to create the beloved community here in Charlottesville.”
-- Elizabeth Shillue
 
“The tragic and traumatic events that took place here on A11 and A12 perpetrated by the white supremacist have permanently stained our community and scarred our individuals. It is an act of power to have the community acknowledge the suffering and sacrifice that took place and hold it with deep care. For many, it’s a cathartic and therapeutic step towards the healing process.”
-- Don Gathers 
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We began by gathering at First United Methodist Church, a location that was used by many as a safe space on Aug 12, 2017, and then we proceeded by foot to 5 downtown locations where people were injured by white supremacists two years ago, as well as other spots of historical significance. At each location local leaders offered prayers, songs, and words of history to the activists, organizers, and survivors of August 12th.

Contributors included Elizabeth Shillue, Brenda Brown-Grooms (via Susan Minasian & Michael Cheuk), Sharon McCord, Dr. Jalane Schmidt, Dr. Wes Bellamy, Apostle Sarah Kelley, and Don Gathers. 
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Locations included: First United Methodist Church, Market Street Park, Congregation Beth Israel, Court Square, Market St parking garage, and 4th street where the car attack took place. We finished our vigil at the public art exhibit on the Violet Crown wall, where many of the activist's photos are currently on display as part of the Inside Out project.

It was a Spirit filled time of reflection and community care! ​

Photo credit: all pictures taken and copyrighted by Kristen Finn