In Spring 2019 the Monuments Working Group commissioned the graphic artist Bizhan Khodabandeh (aka Mended Arrow; visit his website here) to create an image of the revolutionary Gabriel to feature on posters and a T-shirt that could amplify the efforts of Ana Edwards and the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project in Richmond, Virginia. The front of the design shows Gabriel with his hammer breaking chains and beneath him the message “Free Shockoe,” referring to the need to build The Shockoe Bottom Memorial Park in Richmond, Virginia (you can learn more about Gabriel, his collaborators, and their uprising against the institution of slavery in Richmond in 1800 by clicking here and here). The reverse reads “Protect Sacred Ground,” a reference to the community proposal for a nine-acre park that includes Lumpkin’s Jail and the African Burial Ground. The design will be distributed in Richmond in Spring and Summer 2019 as doubled-sided posters/fliers with a limited-run T-shirt produced by Triple Stamp Press. The design draws increased attention to the efforts of the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project in 2019 as we mark 400 years since the first enslaved people were brought to what would become the state of Virginia.