THE "HEALING THE HEART OF AMERICA" CONFERENCE IN 1993 WAS THE GENESIS OF HOPE IN THE CITIES' WORK.

News is traveling fast around the nation and world about the proposed Richmond National Slavery Museum in Virginia’s historic Shockoe Bottom district.

The museum is envisioned to span nine acres and will include 100,000 square feet of infrastructure as well as a memorial park and water gardens. On January 10th, 2022, City Council approved 1.3 million in funding towards the development of this heritage project.

According to The SmithGroup, the architectural and engineering firm that completed the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, “The concept design of the museum building is a metaphor representing the idea of the earth being pulled or pushed up to expose the hidden history beneath the site. The raised earth is tilted to create an iconic gesture of upliftment and hope. At its peak, an outdoor terrace creates a lookout point to the adjacent African Burial Ground, the James River, the Virginia State Capitol, and to the network of other slave-trade sites throughout Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom district…The themes that emerged and drove the design are that of resistance, resilience, light and Afrofuturism.”

Over the years, the SmithGroup has been working with the city of Richmond and a team of historical experts to manifest this vision that has been decades in the making. What is lesser known is how Hope in the Cities, Initiatives of Change USA’s flagship program, has played a critical role in the journey towards this museum coming to life.

Formally organized in 1990, Hope in the Cities’ framework for dialogues, healing history and building interracial partnerships has been replicated in cities across the nation, including Portland, OR, Selma, AL, Baltimore, MD, Hartford, CT, Natchez, MS, Dayton, OH, Troup County, GA as well as Norfolk and Franklin, VA. 

In June 1993, Hope in the Cities hosted the “Healing the Heart of America” conference which for the first time publicly acknowledged Richmond’s complicated racial histories and drew nearly 1,000 people from 25 states and 10 countries. Following this, a widespread program was launched featuring dialogues, public forums and history walks involving thousands of residents throughout the region.

Hope in the Cities’ Richmond Slave Trail Walk, led by Rev. Sylvester “Tee” Turner, has also become a model for communities around the nation and world working through histories of unequal power steeped in pain, trauma, division, neglect and loss. The Trail provides intimate experience of what newly enslaved Africans encountered from the Middle Passage from water to land.

Hope in the Cities and Richmond Hill also facilitated a partnership among the administrations of Richmond, Liverpool, England and Benin to acknowledge its role in the transatlantic enslaved trade through a Reconciliation Triangle where identical statues were placed in each locale, and unveiled to over 5,000 people in Richmond on March 30, 2007.

“You must understand the journey that has been traveled. We honor the story when we know the history,” shares Rev. Tee Turner. Now retired from Hope in the Cities, he will serve as Co-Founding Director of Richmond’s National Slavery Museum Foundation.

Rev. Turner continues, “This is a testament to being consistent about preserving the history of those that were enslaved. It’s a fulfillment of a responsibility that I have, our country and our city has, in bringing healing. It’s about us being consistent in doing the work of racial reconciliation. This work isn’t a quick fix, it’s a journey you have to stay on. The work is not complete until we get this museum up.”

Continue reading and hear more from foundational members of Hope in the Cities and our community partners about what Richmond’s National Slavery Museum coming to fruition means for them.