Memorial to honor slaves who built Emory

At a time when many institutions and organizations across the country are acknowledging history in the past wasn’t recognized, Emory University has formed an assembly of faculty, staff, students and alumni to develop a memorial honoring the labor of enslaved persons who built Emory’s original campus, according to a news release.

This idea was first proposed by the Task Force on Untold Stories and Disenfranchised Populations in a report to Emory President Gregory L. Fenves in the spring.

This summer Fenves announced the creation of the Twin Memorials Working Group, which he charged with implementing a plan for the memorials and associated programming.

Co-chaired by Douglas Hicks, dean of Oxford College and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Religion, and Gregory C. Ellison II 99C, associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at Candler School of Theology, the Twin Memorials Working Group is committed to finding inspired ways to articulate and connect the shared histories of the two campuses.

By taking advantage of relevant scholarship, learning more about similar initiatives at peer institutions and building on the aims stated in the task force report, the Twin Memorials Working Group will draft requests-for-proposal for architectural firms to design and construct the twin memorials.

In addition, the group will develop plans for annual events, universitywide programming and orientation for new students — all designed not only to memorialize enslaved laborers and their descendants but also to recognize those who continued to work on both campuses following emancipation.

A key part of the working group’s ambitious agenda is coordinating community input to ensure that what is created, both for the memorials themselves and the related programming, reflects the diverse stakeholders who will engage with it.

Inf o rmation: president. emory.edu/advisory-committees/twin-memorials.html

J.J. SMITH