Virginia Commonwealth University will spend $3.6 million on a memorial for dozens of people, most of them African-American, whose bodies were stolen from their graves, dissected by medical students and then dumped in a forgotten well.
The Richmond School Board of Visitors voted Friday to fund what VCU calls the East Marshall Street Well Project, an effort to right wrongs made more than a century ago. Construction of the memorial and burial site is expected to begin in the summer of 2027.
“Years ago, VCU began this journey because we recognized a deep commitment to restoring human dignity to people who were not respected in their physical existence,” VCU President Michael Rau said in a story about the effort posted on the school’s website. Website. “The sacred mission of the East Marshall Street Well Project is to ensure that every life is honored with the permanence and reverence it deserves.”
The circular memorial will feature a “Unity Room” inspired by the Togona structures of the Dogon culture of West Africa. Its design “is intended to encourage humility and thoughtful discussion by intentionally having a low ceiling to facilitate seated reflection,” said Stephen Davenport, associate vice president for social and economic development in VCU’s Department of Community Engagement and administrative lead for the project.
In 1994, workers discovered a brick-lined well containing human bones while constructing the Contos Medical Sciences Building on the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center campus. By sifting through the clay, the researchers also found hair and skin, as well as the remains of leather shoes and bottles.
Based on archival records from the Medical College of Virginia, researchers believe the remains were thrown into the well between the 1840s and 1860s.
“Preliminary anthropological analysis of the recovered human remains showed some signs of postmortem dissection and amputation consistent with anatomical training and surgical practice,” VCU researchers concluded in a paper published this year. “The constant demand for bodies has led to routine grave-robbing practices, primarily targeting African American cemeteries, to supply the medical school.”
Archaeologists were given a short time to examine the burial site after their discovery in 1994. Before construction could continue, the remains were removed by backhoes and sent to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Initial analysis estimated that at least 44 adults and nine children were recovered from the well.
Interest in the remains was renewed in 2011 after the release of a film by a Virginia Commonwealth University professor and a separate report by two forensic anthropologists.
Results of a DNA study released in February identified at least 43 adults and three juveniles of “predominantly African heritage,” most likely from central-west Africa. Several groups of remains bear traces of European origin.
The study found that analysis of the skeletons “provided insight into the hard work these individuals endured during their lives and the neglect of their bodies after death.”
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Associated Press reporter John Rabe contributed to this report.