Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday that his proposed budget will include nearly $25 million to transform historical sites and advance historic justice initiatives in Virginia.
“These investments will help Virginia tell the true story of our past and continue building an inclusive future,” said Northam. “At a time when this Commonwealth and country are grappling with how to present a more complete and honest picture of our complex history, we must work to enhance public spaces that have long been neglected and shine light on previously untold stories.”
His proposed investments include nearly $11 million to support efforts to transform Monument Avenue, the historic section of Richmond that was built around Confederate statues as a permanent memorial to the Lost Cause. Seven Confederate statues were removed in 2020, and the state-owned Robert E. Lee statue is expected to be removed in 2021. This funding will enable the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to hire staff and launch a community-driven initiative to redesign Monument Avenue.
“For too long, Richmond’s Monument Avenue told an incomplete and inaccurate story of the city and Virginia’s past,” said Alex Nyerges, Director and CEO of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. “The funding to transform Monument Avenue will allow us to re–envision an inspirational, forward thinking, inclusive and healing place for everyone who lives in and visits our city and Commonwealth.”
“On behalf of many neighbors, this news is exciting and hopeful,” said Monument Avenue resident Alice Massie. “We welcome a future on Monument Avenue that includes a visual expression and experience that is welcoming and inspirational to all people.”
Additionally, this investment will include $9 million for the development of a Slavery Heritage Site and improvements to the Slave Trail in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood. This funding will support efforts to preserve the area known as the Devil’s Half-Acre, or Lumpkin’s Jail, as a historical site.
Northam’s proposed budget will include $100,000 to support the Virginia Emancipation and Freedom Monument project on Brown’s Island.
“This constitutes a massive investment in centering stories of trauma and resilience that have been sidelined by proponents of slavery, the Lost Cause, and segregation,” said Mayor Levar Stoney. “The Commonwealth’s support is the tool we need to commemorate and communicate Richmond’s real history and honor unjustly silenced voices.”
This investment will also include $5 million to repatriate tombstones from the former Columbian Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C. and create the Harmony Living Shoreline memorial. Headstones were removed from this historic African American cemetery and relocated in 1960 to make way for commercial development, including the Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood Washington Metro station. While some headstones were moved to a new cemetery in Landover, Maryland, others were sold by the developer and used to create a riprap shoreline for erosion control along the banks of the Potomac River.
Northam was scheduled to address the Joint Money Committees on December 16 to share the full details of his budget plan.
