This display of four panels tells the story of African-Americans whose bodies were stolen from graves, used as teaching tools for Richmond medical students before the Civil War and then discarded in a nearby well. Location of panels: Outside the auditorium of the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building, 1217 E. Marshall St., on the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. The bones of the unidentified people were found in a long-capped well in 1994 during the construction of the building. The university and two community committees set up by VCU have considered how to properly honor the remains that are now in custody of the state Department of Historic Resources. Dr. Peter Buckley, dean of the VCU School of Medicine, called the display the latest effort by the school to recognize the humanity of those involved and “to honor and demonstrate our respect for the lives of these ancestors.” The panels, from left to right, present a timeline of events involving the remains from 1844 to 2019.
