VCU and the East Marshall Street Well Project Planning Committee announce fourth community consultation

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Virginia Commonwealth University leaders and the East Marshall Street Well Project Planning Committee will hold a fourth community consultation as part of the continued study, memorialization and reburial of human remains uncovered 20 years ago during construction on VCU’s MCV campus. The remains, believed to be largely of African descent, were discovered in an abandoned 19th-century well.

The fourth session of “Community Consultations on the Well: A Series of Learning and Feedback Sessions" will take place on Saturday, May 30, from 8:30 a.m. until noon at the Martin Luther King Middle School gymnasium, 1000 Mosby St., Richmond.  

Ryan Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University, will share research on Richmond's historic burial grounds. Joseph Jones, assistant professor of anthropology at The College of William & Mary, will present on the African Burial Ground National Monument. The community discussion will include questions focusing on interment and memorialization practices as well as an overview of the Family Representative Council selection process.

Audience members will also divide into smaller groups to hold more detailed discussions. The community consultation will include a continental breakfast and culturally appropriate entertainment.

The planning committee, consisting of community and university members, was established in 2013 to select an appropriate decision-making body to help determine the best way to study, memorialize and rebury the remains.

More information about the East Marshall Street Well Project is available at emsw.vcu.edu. Visit http://www.cvent.com/d/mrqq5f/4W to register or for more information, contact Stephen E. Davenport at davenportse3@vcu.edu