African American Burial Ground

Historic African American cemetery in Virginia

The African American Burial Ground is a historic cemetery for the enslaved, located in Ashburn, Virginia, off Harry Byrd Highway (Virginia State Route 7) in Loudoun County, Virginia. Most of the enslaved buried there were from nearby Belmont Plantation.

The abandoned site was rediscovered in 2015 by Rev. Michelle Thomas. Rev. Thomas was the president of the local NAACP chapter in 2019.[1] That year, Governor Ralph Northam appointed her to the Commission on African American History Education in the Commonwealth.[2]

In 2017, the real estate developer Toll Brothers, which owned the land, donated 2.75 acres (1.11 ha) to a new Loudoun Freedom Center. In 2021, the developer agreed to donate an additional 4 acres (1.6 ha), which will be used to re-create a schoolhouse and other structures used by enslaved people.[3]

Also planned are a columbarium and a scatter garden, where people can scatter ashes of their loved ones. In 2020 Michelle Thomas buried the first free Black in the cemetery: her 16-year-old son, dead of drowning.[3]

## References

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1. ^ "School district apologizes for history of racism". The Daily News Leader (Staunton, Virginia). 28 Sep 2020. p. A5.
2. ^ Holtzclaw, Mike (2 Sep 2019). "Putting history into context. Commission to increase presence of lessons on African Americans' past". Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia). p. A1.
3. ^ a b Tan, Rebecca (October 24, 2021). "At a historic cemetery for the enslaved, a mother's personal grief mixes with collective mourning". Washington Post.

## External links

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* Belmont Enslaved Cemetery at Find a Grave

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History of slavery in Virginia

* Slavery in the colonial history of the United States
* History of Virginia

Enslaved people|

* Angela (fl. 1619–1625)
* Henry Box Brown (c. 1815–1897)
* Anthony Burns (1834–1862)
* John Casor (living 1655)
* Emanuel Driggus (c. 1620s-d. 1673)
* Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797)
* Isabella Gibbons (c. 1836–1890)
* William D. Gibbons (1825–1886)
* John Graweere (living 1641)
* Elizabeth Key Grinstead (Greenstead) (1630–1665)
* Left, husband of Jane Webb (fl. 1704–1727)
* Mary and Anthony Johnson (1600–1670)
* Philip Lee (c. 1785–?)
* Dangerfield Newby (c. 1820–1859)
* John Punch (fl. 1630s, living 1640)
* Gabriel Prosser (1776–1800)
* William Tucker (born 1624)
* Nat Turner (1800–1831)
* Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)

Slave owners|

* Presidents of the United States
* Washington
* Jefferson
* Madison
* Monroe
* Tyler
* John Armfield (1797–1871)
* Carter Braxton (1736–1797)
* Landon Carter (1710–1778)
* Robert "King" Carter (1663–1732)
* Robert Carter III (1728–1804)
* Thomas Roderick Dew (1802–1846)
* Andrew Hunter (1804–1888)
* Robert M. T. Hunter (1809–1887)
* Eppa Hunton (1822–1908)
* Richard Bland Lee (1761–1827)
* William Mahone (1826–1895)
* George Mason (1725–1792)
* James M. Mason (1798–1871)
* John Page (1628–1692)
* Thomas Prosser (died 1798)
* Randolph family of Virginia
* William Barton Rogers (1804–1882)
* George Henry Thomas (1816–1870)
* William Tucker (died 1642)
* John Wayles (1715–1773)
* Henry A. Wise (1806–1876)
* Seth Woodroof (1805–1875)

Plantations|

* Beall-Air
* Berry Hill
* Brookfield
* Kenmore
* Monticello
* Montpelier
* Mount Airy
* Mount Vernon (enslaved people)
* Oatlands
* Poplar Forest
* Shirley
* Stratford Hall
* Tuckahoe
* Westover
* Woodlawn
* List of plantations in Virginia

Slave pens|

* Bruin's Slave Jail
* The Cage
* Franklin and Armfield Office
* Lumpkin's Jail

Other sites|

* African American Burial Ground
* Bremo Slave Chapel
* Memorial to Enslaved Laborers
* White House of the Confederacy

Legal history|

* Virginia Slave Codes of 1705
* Virginia v. John Brown

Revolts|

* Gabriel's Rebellion
* Nat Turner's Rebellion
* John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry

Related articles|

* The 1619 Project
* Atlantic Creole
* Burning of Winchester Medical College
* Coastwise slave trade
* First Africans in Virginia
* Indentured servitude in Virginia
* District of Columbia retrocession
* Great Dismal Swamp maroons
* Human trafficking in Virginia
* Liberation and Freedom Day
* Richmond slave market
* Virginia in the American Civil War

39°04′44″N 77°29′58″W﻿ / ﻿39.0788°N 77.4994°W﻿ / 39.0788; -77.4994
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