A public convocation to mark the 400th anniversary of the forced arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Virginia will take place 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, at the 17th Street Farmers’ Market Plaza in Richmond, it has been announced.

Sponsored by Ezibu Muntu Dance, Education and Culture, the program, “Remember Them,” is aimed at commemorating that arrival and remem- bering the lives lost in the horrific slave trade now called the African Holocaust or Maafa.

According to Ezibu Muntu, the plaza was chosen because of its use as a slave auction site

for those held nearby at the notorious Lumpkin’s Slave Jail, also known as the “Devil’s Half-Acre,” and other slave jails in Shockoe Bottom.

Sponsored by Ezibu Muntu Dance, Education and Culture, the program, “Remember Them,” is aimed at commemorating that arrival and remem- bering the lives lost in the horrific slave trade now called the African Holocaust or Maafa.

According to Ezibu Muntu, the plaza was chosen because of its use as a slave auction site

for those held nearby at the notorious Lumpkin’s Slave Jail, also known as the “Devil’s Half-Acre,” and other slave jails in Shockoe Bottom.

As part of the program, Ezibu Muntu plans to consecrate the plaza, perform a libation to the ancestors and read a proclamation naming Oct. 1 as a Day of Remembrance of that holocaust and the terrible trials endured by Africans who were removed by force from their native land.

The program also will include a portrayal of Harriet Tubman by veteran actress Marie Goodman Hunter Johnson.

Details: www.ezibumuntu.org