Garden of the Egun

The African Burial Grounds are referred to as the Garden of the Egun. The sacred grounds speak to the legacy of Gabriel and the Liberation Army, the US Colored (African) Troops who also stood to free the enslaved and indigenous blood and bones. 

Gabriel’s Liberation Army planned an attack to Richmond’s Capitol in 1800, but were met by a torrential rain that thwarted the effort. There were no shots fired, and no deaths, but for the threat of rebellion Gabriel and his comrades were convicted of conspiracy and executed at the former Negro Burial Grounds.

Under a parking lot and without tombstones for decades, the site remained in obsurity though it is documented as one of the oldest municipal cemeteries in the country. Adjacent to one of the busiest highway corridors in the nation, this grassy plane received its transformation through hurricanes, floods and reclaimation protests. Like throwing off a blanket, Tropical Storm Gaston visited Ricmond on August 30, 2004 drowning cars, buckling pavement and shifing the legacy of Gabriel who had on the same day in 1800 planned his rebellion. Whirlwinds began to intensify in the new millennium, people knew that the winds signaled a sacred change of season.

and a liberation statue built by black hands,