Healing in the Black community focus of spring symposium
Debora Timms | 3/21/2024, 6 p.m.
Healing in the context of community will be the central theme of this year’s 14th Annual Lemon Project symposium taking place March 22-23 at the William & Mary School of Education.
The two-day event, titled “Taking Our Time: Healing Through Black History, Family and Communities,” is free to attend either in person or virtually via Zoom, but those interested in attending are asked to register in advance.
On Saturday morning, Queen Quet, chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, will deliver the symposium’s keynote address.
She is an advocate for the continuation of the Gullah/Geechee culture and has spoken on behalf of her people before the United Nations. Her address, “Healing de Black Famlee: A Gullah/Geechee Circle of Healing Session,” will share traditions of the Sea Islands from the Carolinas to Florida.
On both days, panel discussions will feature students, faculty and alumni of William & Mary as well as scholars and community members sharing their expertise and lived experiences on a range of topics from the legacies of school integration to the role free Black Virginians played in the establishment of Liberia, West Africa.
Some of the panels may be of particular interest to Richmonders.
The University of Virginia’s Descendants of Enslaved Communities will present “Preserving Legacies: Memorialization and Commemoration” on Friday morning. It will explore the importance of honoring legacies and the organization’s work in fostering community engagement on memorialization projects such as the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at UVA.
That afternoon, Richmond native Viola Baskerville will be one of the panelists on “Using Public History such as Markers and Statues to Heal Communities of Color,” discussing the challenges faced by public projects seeking to restore the history of Black communities.
Ms. Baskerville was the organizer of a recent protest in opposition to Virginia Union University’s stated intention to tear down the historic former Richmond Community Hospital building on Overbrook Road as part of a multimillion dollar development project between VUU and the Steinbridge Goup, a New York-based investment firm. VUU’s President Hakim Lucas recently has agreed to the “adaptive reuse” of the hospital and an “ongoing community engagement process,” Ms. Baskerville has said.
Another Friday afternoon panel will focus on the East Marshall Street Well (EMSW) Project at Virginia Commonwealth University. The project was named for the well where, in 1994, the remains of more than 50 Black Richmonders were discovered. Their bodies were stolen and used for dissection between 1848 and 1860 by professors of the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), now the VCU School of Medicine.
The EMSW Project documents the history of medical racism at MCV and how that history continues to impact health equities today. It also works to enact recommendations of the Family Representative Council, who represent the descendant community, that prioritize ethical research, memorialization and dignified burials for ancestors.
For more information on the symposium program or to register to attend, visit William & Mary online at
