Supporters of efforts to reclaim and memorialize Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom district will gather Friday, Oct. 10, for the 23rd annual Gabriel Gathering. The event, set for 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground, will mark the 225th anniversary of the execution of Gabriel, the enslaved blacksmith who led a planned rebellion against slavery in 1800. 

Gabriel was executed on Oct. 10, 1800, near the area that later became the center of the U.S. domestic slave trade. For decades before the Civil War, Shockoe Bottom served as a major hub where more than 300,000 enslaved men, women and children were sold out of Virginia. 

The gathering comes as the city’s Shockoe Project — a 10- acre memorial park now in development — continues to take shape. The project, the result of more than 30 years of community advocacy, aims to honor those who were enslaved and to recognize the wealth their forced labor helped create. 

Scheduled speakers include Pamela Bingham, a descendant of Gabriel and a member of the Binghams of African Descent National Family Association; Ana Edwards, chair of the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality; and Phil Wilayto, editor of The Virginia Defender newspaper. 

The program will also highlight a new city-sponsored banner at the site illustrating the historical importance of the Shockoe Project. The event is free to the public, and attendees are encouraged to bring a flower to honor the ancestors. 

More information is available on the Facebook page “23rd Annual Gabriel Gathering.”