Officials in Richmond have announced a new funding commitment for an ambitious and long-envisioned memorial campus in the city's former slave-trading district, Shockoe Bottom.
Mayor Levar Stoney, other officials and activists held a news conference Tuesday to outline plans for a memorial campus composed of a museum and a park for reflection.
The city has committed $3.5 million in funding right away. Stoney said he will propose a capital improvement budget amendment of between $25 million and $50 million that if approved would fund the effort over a series of years.
By some estimates, more 300,000 enslaved people were bought and sold in the Bottom.