[Archived] City of Alexandria Hosts Luminary Decorating Workshops In Preparation for Re-Dedication of Freedman’s Cemetery

City Press Release


	For Immediate Release	For More Information, Contact
	March 19, 2007 PIO# 070-07/rdo	Steve Mason, Director of Communications, at 703.838.4300 Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300

City of Alexandria Hosts Luminary Decorating Workshops
In Preparation for Re-Dedication of Freedman’s Cemetery
Workshops Will Take Place on Saturday, March 24 and 31
and April 21, at Alexandria Archaeology Museum

The City of Alexandria will hold a re-dedication ceremony this spring to honor the 1,800 African-American men, women, and children buried at the Alexandria Freedmen=s Cemetery from 1864 to 1869.

The re-dedication ceremony will include an illumination of 1,800 candle-lit bags, or luminaries, one for every person buried at the cemetery. Labeled with an individual=s name, age, and date of death, the bags will celebrate the lives of the forgotten people for the first time since the cemetery was abandoned in 1869.

In preparation for the ceremony, the Alexandria Archaeology Museum will host luminary decorating workshops on Saturday, March 24 and 31 and April 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the museum, located in the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St., third floor, studio 327. Once completed, the bags will be photographed, posted at www.FreedmensCemetery.org, and included in the illumination event. The workshops are free and open to the public.

The re-dedication ceremony is the beginning of a three-year process in which the City will demolish modern buildings, conduct an archaeological investigation to ensure the protection of the graves, and create the Alexandria Freedmen=s Memorial Park, scheduled to open in 2010.

The Freedmen=s Cemetery is located on the southwest corner of South Washington and Church streets. It has languished for 138 years and been subject to grading and construction.

Freedmen were enslaved African Americans who fled north during the Civil War in pursuit of freedom. Thousands of Freedmen sought refuge behind Union lines in towns like Alexandria. They lived in crowded barracks and shantytowns hastily constructed to accommodate their swelling numbers. For many, the Freedmen=s Cemetery was their final resting place.

The re-dedication ceremony is the first phase of the Alexandria’s Freedmen=s Memorial Park project, which is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department of Transportation as part of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Improvement Project, the City of Alexandria, and the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures grant.

For more information on the luminary decorating workshops and the re-dedication ceremony for the Freedmen=s Cemetery, call the Alexandria Archaeology Museum at 703-838-4399 or e-mail archaeology@alexandriava.gov.

The museum is committed to the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation, e-mail archaeology@alexandriava.gov or call 703-838-4399, 711 TTY, at least two weeks in advance.

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