The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, also called the Freedom Ring, is a memorial still under construction on the University of Virginia’s campus. It is dedicated to over 5,000 slaves that served the college prior to the Civil War from 1817 to 1865. It is just one of many actions taken by the University’s Commission on Slavery and the University in order to address the history it has with slavery. Zainab sat down in an interview Mabel O. Wilson, a cultural historian who teaches architectural design and history & theory courses at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Wilson was a collaborator on UVA’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers and gave Zainab insights into the design and construction of the memorial structure.
