Behind a bank branch off Lakeside Drive and Park Ave, lies Spring Park that was the site of some of Richmond's darkest history. Here Gabriel, now known as Gabriel Prosser planned rebellion in the summer of 1800 designed to free all the slaves in Virginia by kidnapping the governor and negotiating their release. The ambitious plan fell apart when severe thunderstorm forestalled a meeting the night of the rebellion and two participants recanted and told their masters.
From Wikipedia
Governor James Monroe and the state militia suppressed the rebellion. Gabriel and 26 other enslaved people who participated were hanged. In reaction, the Virginia and other legislatures passed restrictions on free blacks, as well as the education, movement and hiring out of the enslaved.
In 2002 the City of Richmond passed a resolution in honor of Gabriel on the 202nd anniversary of the rebellion. In 2007 Governor Tim Kaine gave Gabriel and his followers an informal pardon, in recognition that his cause, "the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality for all people - has prevailed in the light of history.
This little park is a place to comtemplate the past and think the value of freedom. The orignal sulpher spring is still surrounded by Granite stones and a pretty little creek through it helping to mask the sounds nearby I95. Here are a few park photos. No pictures exist of Gabriel Prosser.
Books on Gabriel Prosser
No comments:
Post a Comment