Descendants of enslaved Blacks explore Virginia history
But when an archaeological discovery there a few years ago made headlines, he was drawn to the Virginia property once owned by the fifth president in Charlottesville. And when he told a staff member about what his family had always told him about their past, he forged a connection: Now he’s one of a council of descendant advisers who are helping to reframe the way history is told at the site, a narrative that no longer simply glorifies the Founding Father, but also tells a far more complicated history that interweaves the experiences of the elite alongside those of the people Monroe enslaved, those who also lived on the estate.
