University of Virginia approves memorial dedicated to the university's enslaved workers

The interior of a circular Virginia Mist granite memorial at the University of Virginia will bear the names of nearly 1,000 enslaved workers from between 1817 and 1865.

The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers is designed to commemorate the estimated 5,000 slaves who either were rented by U.Va. or owned or rented by faculty members, administrators or hotel keepers in the area, said Kirt von Daacke, a U.Va. history professor and co-chairman of the President’s Commission on Slavery and the University.

U.Va. researchers combed through early documents searching for names of the enslaved workers but, in many cases, only found first names, he said.

The schematic design and location of the memorial was approved unanimously Friday by the U.Va. Board of Visitors.