A Witness to History

For more than 170 years, a sandstone block stood on this Fredericksburg corner as a witness to the auctions of enslaved people. It was placed there in 1843 for use when the adjacent hotel was built, and that building still stands. Over the years, the auction block remained a controversial reminder of the city's slavery era. In 2017, after a City Council member urged officials to find it a new location and called it "A relic of time gone by—a time of hatred and degradation—on a main thoroughfare of our city," the city undertook extensive study and public engagement. The City Council then voted to move the block to the Fredericksburg Area Museum, and it was removed on June 5, 2020. Efforts are underway to tell a more comprehensive story of the community at this site and across the city, drawing on oral histories, archival research, and recent archaeological investigation to amplify underrepresented voices and make public spaces more inclusive.

Fredericksburg, Virginia · United States