The city of Fredericksburg, Virginia, has removed an auction block marking the spot where African Americans were once displayed and sold as slaves.
Local tradition, records, and statements by African Americans themselves have identified the elevated stone as a place where slaves were sold. «There is no direct quote noting that a slave stood on the block to be sold, but there are statements made in the post-Civil War years by African Americans stating they were sold on that corner,» the city notes on its website.
Other similarly contentious sites that have been the subject of nationwide debate are being removed amid protests following the recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has announced plans to remove a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s historic Monument Avenue. In Birmingham, Alabama, a statue of Confederate sailor Charles Linn was toppled by demonstrators and is scheduled to be removed by city officials.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said that a memorial dedicated to Confederate soldiers who died at a Union prison camp in the city will be removed from a local park.
In Fredericksburg, the slave auction block became a site for protests, and it was recently tagged with red, green and white spray paint.
«I think it really hit home when there were hundreds of people at the block saying, ‘Move it,'» Councilman Chuck Frye Jr. said.
Frye, who grew up in Fredericksburg, has childhood memories of people mocking or spitting on the stone as they walked by. He also recalls stories of tourists taking photos with the slave block.
«I think racist folks loved it, historians understood it, and black people were intimidated,» Frye said.
Frye, the only African American on City Council, proposed removing Fredericksburg’s slave auction block in 2017 — shortly after the deadly «Unite the Right» rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, just an hour and a half drive’s west.
