Team Visit to College of William & Mary

December 5, 2022

The Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project team and the Lemon Project team stand together in front of the Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved at William & Mary in Virginia. Photo courtesy of the Lemon Project.

On October 30-November 2, 2022, the Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground team traveled to the College of William & Mary (W&M) to meet with the Lemon Project team and their community partners for nearly a week’s exchange of ideas on both respective historic preservation projects. The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation works to reckon with the College of W&M’s more than 300-year- old past concerning African Americans, from the enslavement era to the contemporary university. The multifaceted project is named for Lemon, an enslaved man who was owned by W&M. According to their mission statement, “The Lemon Project builds bridges between William & Mary and African American communities through research, programming, and supporting students, faculty, and staff.”

Sign for Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved at the College of William & Mary.

Upon arrival, the cemetery team met with community organizations and student researchers over dinner on campus to learn about the different ways of engagement they use to serve the public locally. Earlier the following day was a historical campus tour of W&M. The Clemson team visited the Wren Building (the nation’s oldest academic building), Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved, and the Sankofa Seed statue dedicated to the first Black students to integrate the school. The focus later during the same day was on historic preservation as the cemetery team visited the Bray School, the First Baptist Church Archaeological site in Colonial Williamsburg, the Historically Black History exhibit at Bruton Heights School, and Oak Grove Baptist Church.

View of the Hearth Memorial at night.

Close-up view of names of enslaved people memorialized at the Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved, including Lemon.

The “Sankofa Seed” statue created by Steve Prince to honor the first three African American students in residence at William and Mary.

A visit to special collections in the library occupied the first part of the final day. The cemetery team examined early African American artifacts about W&M, learned about oral history projects, and toured the “Strollin” exhibit, highlighting Black Greek Letter Organization history at the college. The Community Quilt Project capped off the second half of the last day, where members of the cemetery team contributed to the storied year-long endeavor. The Woodland Cemetery team would like to thank Dr. Jody Allen, Dr. Jajuan Johnson, and Dr. Sarah Thomas for hosting this fruitful exchange.

Explore the rest of the November 2022 WC Newsletter and December 2022 Newsletter.