Library to Host Freedmen’s Cemetery Memorial Lecture

Beatley Central Library and the Office of Historic Alexandria will co-host a lecture March 21 about the resting place for 1,800 African Americans who fled slavery during the Civil War and sought asylum in Alexandria.

The lecture, “Preserving Alexandria’s African American Heritage: The Development of Freedmen’s Cemetery Memorial,” will begin at 7 p.m. Francine Bromberg, acting director of Alexandria Archaeology, and Audrey Davis, acting director of the Alexandria Black History Museum, will lead the lecture.

Guests will learn the history of the cemetery that was built in 1864 by the military governor of Alexandria, then occupied by Union forces. The lecture will also touch on the results of archaeological investigations of more than 600 protected graves, the freedmen's contributions to the city, the legacy of freedom carried out by their descendants and the story of how a community came together to build the memorial on South Washington Street.

Alexandria Library welcomes guests to join this lecture that commemorates the Civil War Sesquicentennial. The lecture is geared to kick off the Alexandria Freedman’s Memorial opening, which is being constructed at the intersection of South Washington and Church streets in Old Town.