The Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial is dedicated in ‘a landmark day for the university’

Melanie Balog — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 21:59:30 +0000

The Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial is dedicated in ‘a landmark day for the university’ Melanie Balog Mon, 04/04/2022 - 17:59

Wendi Manuel Scott addresses the crowd gathered for the dedication of the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial on Monday, April 4. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Kye Farrow had previously walked through the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial, and felt proud.

Farrow, BA History ’19, MS Management ’20, was one of the five Mason students whose research into the enslaved children of George Mason IV led to the construction of the memorial, which is the cornerstone of the reimagined Wilkins Plaza on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus.

But on Monday, as several hundred people assembled on the plaza for the monument’s dedication, Farrow, who would later speak at the event, said he was “just happy overall.”

“Studying history is what makes history not repeat,” Farrow said. “Being aware of history is what makes people have informed decisions and do things from a thoughtful perspective. So to have the opportunity to learn about the namesake of our university and for what it means to the student body, that’s the biggest thing for me.”

The event on Wilkins Plaza, named for Roger Wilkins, the late Black former civil rights leader, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and beloved Mason professor, was uplifting and reflective, and kicked off Mason's 50th anniversary celebration.

Mason President Gregory Washington called it “a landmark day for the university,” and praised the students who were involved in the original research — Farrow; Alexis Bracey, BA Global Affairs ’19; Ayman Fatima, BS Systems Engineering, BA Government and International Politics ’21; Farhaj Murshed, BS Statistics ’20; and Elizabeth Perez-Garcia, BS Criminology, Law, and Society ’19.

Those students joined a project launched in the summer of 2017 by Wendi Manuel-Scott, a professor of integrated studies and history; Benedict Carton, a faculty member in History and Art History; and Mason alum George Oberle, Mason’s history librarian and a term faculty member in the Department of History and Art History.

All are leaders in the Center for Mason Legacies, an interdisciplinary and collaborative research center established by the University Library and College of Humanities and Social Sciences that encourages student research to preserve and examine the legacy of George Mason IV. The university’s namesake penned the Virginia Declaration of Rights but also enslaved more than 100 people at his home, Gunston Hall.

Associate Professor of Public History Gabrielle Tayac and Mason students from the University’s Native American and Indigenous Alliance Domi Hannon, Sara Jefferson, and Kayleigh Seng participate in a traditional Native American Water Ceremony during the Dedication of the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

“The Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial represents so much about who we are as a university,” Washington said. “Inquisitive students who seek truth, undergraduate research programs that support these academic pursuits, faculty who collaborate, nurture and challenge our students, and a university community fueled by the shared thrill of discovery and the determination to turn their efforts into positive and sustainable change. … We grow wiser from examining our full truths, no matter how complicated or messy or discomforting they might be.”

Added Trishana Bowden, vice president of Mason’s office of Advancement and Alumni Relations, and president of the George Mason University Foundation: “This project has allowed our students to educate us, to enlighten us and to teach us how to keep moving forward, and how to remember our past.”

That included a water ceremony in which water from the Potomac River was poured into the Wilkins Plaza fountain, which contains stones in a pattern that symbolize an African custom of gathering and prayer. The ceremony, led by Gabrielle Tayac, an associate professor of public history and a Piscataway tribal citizen, also acknowledged that the land on which the university was built was originally inhabited by indigenous people.

"The memorial for all of us was about replacing erased history through silenced voices of the enslaved people in relation to and in dialogue with the traditional voices,” Manuel-Scott said. “We hope that folk who visit the memorial, that it forces them to think about the relationship between the past and the present."

Rev. Jeffrey O. Johnson Sr., pastor at nearby Mount Calvary Baptist Church, said he hopes the memorial will push other universities and institutions to move forward and “that we will not bring the founding fathers down, but in pride and dignity, we will lift their servants up.”

Ayman Fatima (left) and Kye Farrow, both part of the original team of five students researching the enslaved people at Gunston Hall, greet each other at the Enslaved People of George Mason dedication ceremony. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

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Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial highlights Wilkins Plaza

Colleen Rich — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 16:52:21 +0000

Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial highlights Wilkins Plaza Colleen Rich Wed, 11/03/2021 - 12:52

When Wendi Manuel-Scott walks through the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial, she sees more than an acknowledgement that the namesake of George Mason University was both an American patriot and a slaveowner.

She sees the result of Mason students asserting their voices.

“We want students to feel empowered,” said Manuel-Scott, a professor of history in the School of Integrative Studies and associate director of the Center for Mason Legacies. “We want students to carve out spaces to make our communities more inclusive and sustainable for all.”

That is exactly what happened in 2016 when students, mentored by faculty, delved into the little-known legacy of George Mason IV. The result was the Enslaved Children of George Mason Project, which revealed the lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked at Gunston Hall, Mason’s home in Northern Virginia.

That project led to the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial, which recently opened as the centerpiece of the redesigned Wilkins Plaza on the Fairfax Campus, and is the focal point of how the university is addressing its identity as it relates to a complicated Patriot.

See the video to learn more.

“Courage, debate and truth define this reexamination,” said Benedict Carton, an associate professor of history and an associate director of the Center for Mason Legacies. “Our submerged histories can be recovered. Our unknown histories can speak. Our multi-perspective histories are alive with different understandings of evidence and inquiry.”

The memorial includes panels describing the lives of two of the enslaved at Gunston Hall: Penny, who was gifted by Mason to his daughter, and James, Mason’s personal attendant.

A fountain lined with a pattern of stones symbolizes an African custom practiced at Gunston Hall. Enslaved people used the Gunston Hall site to pray and look to their origins across the sea, Carton said.

The fountain includes a quote from Roger Wilkins, the late African American civil rights leader, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and Mason Robinson Professor for whom the plaza is named.

The four quotes added to the base of the George Mason IV statue, which is also part of the memorial, “exemplify four Masons in one,” said Mason historian George Oberle, director of the Center for Mason Legacies.

The quotes highlight the brilliant legal scholar, who penned the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was the basis of our nation’s Bill of Rights; the defender of freedoms for a limited few; the enslaver of Black men, women and children; and the father of nine who provided for his family.

“The memorial is an opportunity to face the fullness of who Mason IV was and who we are as an institution, in the past and present,” Manuel-Scott said. “The memorial gives us an incredible opportunity to reckon with the past and care for those erased by structures of inequality and domination.”

“It is a weighty responsibility,” she said. “An opportunity not to be taken lightly.”

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