CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – City Council will consider a resolution to place a marker at 0 Court Square, otherwise referred to as “Number Nothing,” recognizing a slave auction block that the Historic Resources Commission said never existed.
According to the policy briefing in the agenda, “A group of citizens, identified as the Court Square Enslavement Memorial (CSEM) group, have requested that Council place a marker on a light post near to the building known as “0 Court Square” and that this marker should read, ” Auction Block of Enslaved Persons; Early 1800s – 1865; Removed 1920s.'”
But a position statement, submitted Sept. 17 by the HRC and revised Sept. 21, said, “No credible evidence has been identified or provided to support the concept that a dedicated slave auction block existed within the Courthouse Square vicinity.”
“The apparent theory that an auction block ever existed began with circumstantial second-hand accounts compiled by Mary Rawlings in her 1942 book,” said the statement. “No first-hand primary resource accounts have been identified that mention the presence of a slave auction block.”
The document noted sales of enslaved individuals unquestionably happened in the 1820-1865 period to which the marker would refer, but the sales actually happened in various places throughout Court Square and not at any designated slave block.
“HRC concurs with the view that the brutal reality of sales of enslaved people in Charlottesville and Albemarle County must be kept alive in the collective memory,” the statement said. “HRC is committed to fully, accurately, and formally disseminating the terrible legacy of Charlottesville’s slave trade. We note, however, that the current CSEM proposal is not an historically accurate means to this end and may serve to limit the broader story of enslavement at Court Square.”
There have been markers in the sidewalk at various times over the past dozen years. The latest was a bronze marker that read “Slave Auction Block: On this site slaves were bought and sold.” It was stolen in February 2020.
The CSEM proposal acknowledges, in its resolution, that sales happened all over Court Square, and there was a previous marker in front of 0 Court Square that identified (it) as a location where such sales of enslaved people occurred.”
The resolution proposes the City Manager allow a sign to be “affixed to a light post near the 0 Court Square building” with the auction block wording.
According to the agenda policy briefing, staff has identified three possible courses of action council could take. One option is to accept the resolution as written, and another denying the request for which no action will be taken. Another possibility is, “Council could advise the Court Square Enslavement Memorial group to consider the feedback they have received from the Historic Resources Committee and City Council and bring back a new, different proposal.”
Finally, “In anticipation of upcoming planning for Court Square Park, and the establishment of our Public Art Commission, Council could direct staff to work with the Commission and in conjunction with the park planning process, to consider some form of memorial recognizing the City’s history of the sale of enslaved persons,” according to the briefing. “This work should be done consistent with the Blue Ribbon Commission report recommendations and with public engagement. Unless Council directs that Court Square planning be re-prioritized, the current Parks Master Plan anticipates this work in 2035.”
In other actions, Council will consider allowing “Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) as a construction delivery model alternative to the traditional public procurement model known as Design, Bid, and Build (DBB)”.
“When utilized on appropriate projects, CMAR provides better cost control, reduces the risk of change orders, and reduces unanticipated impacts during construction when compared to traditional DBB projects,” according to the policy briefing. “CMAR is particularly well-suited to complex projects, because it integrates the experience and construction perspective of a contractor into the design development process.”
Council would have to approve such contracting processes for projects, but staff has identified the JMRL Main Library rehabilitation and the new CAT maintenance facility as two current potential projects for such contracts to be appropriate.
Council also will be presented in the first of two readings with a proposal to allocate $12,375,53 earned from electric grid operator PJM for temporarily reducing energy usage at city sites to the city’s Energy and Water Management Program Fund.
They’ll also vote on six pages of General Assembly legislative priorities that include “the Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation’s (DRPT) ‘Commonwealth Corridor’ plan to create an east-west passenger rail connection between Charlottesville, Richmond, and Hampton Roads,” and amending the state code “to specify that ranked‑choice voting applies to all local offices, including school board elections”.
Currently, the city has held ranked-choice voting only for the 2025 City Council primary and general elections.
