“Each year on Oct. 10, the Sacred Ground Project hosts a community gathering at the African Burial Ground to mark the date in 1800 when the great slave rebellion leader Gabriel was executed at the town gallows,” said Ana Edwards, founder and chair of the project. “We gather to honor Gabriel and all those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom, to celebrate more than 20 years of learning the history of this sacred ground and to rededicate ourselves to reclaiming and properly memorializing Shockoe Bottom once the epicenter of the U.S. domestic slave trade. This year we also are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality!”
