The Rev. Delores McQuinn explains the history of the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail site in Richmond. PHOTOS: Jay Paul

By Egan Millard

Statue was the first visible reminder of slavery in Richmond in over a century, Campbell told ENS. Lumpkin’s Slave Jail had been razed by the 1880s. Part of the site was later buried by Interstate 95, and part of it was under a parking lot. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that it was rediscovered by archaeologists and researchers who “exposed something that nobody in Virginia knew anything about,” Campbell said. The section under the parking lot was excavated in 2006-2008, exposing building foundations and other remnants of the complex.

The Rev. Delores McQuinn and the Rev. Sylvester Turner, two Baptist pastors, along with Campbell, helped develop the Richmond Slave Trail – which now links the Lumpkin site and the statue. Turner and McQuinn, who is also a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, gave Curry and Stevenson a tour of the sites. They were also joined by Bishop Beverley Mason and the Rev. Malcolm Rogers, representing the Diocese of Liverpool as part of the Triangle of Hope. Representatives from the Diocese of Kumasi also traveled to Richmond for Stevenson’s consecration but did not arrive in time for the tour.

Through the Triangle of Hope, teenagers from the three dioceses learn about the role that their home regions played in the “triangle trade” of slaves and goods between West Africa, America and Europe. Since 2012, groups from each diocese have taken pilgrimages to the other dioceses, establishing bonds through repentance, reconciliation and mission. The group from Virginia will visit Liverpool in the summer of 2023, host other groups in 2024 and go to Kumasi in 2025.

Stevenson designated the Triangle of Hope program to receive the offering at his consecration service – which took place at The Saint Paul’s Baptist Church outside Richmond, because no Episcopal church in the city was large enough.

“Standing on the site of Lumpkin’s Jail, where unspeakable atrocities were committed against thousands of our African American siblings in God, was overwhelming,” Stevenson told ENS. “It’s so important to continue to share this story with young people making the pilgrimage to Richmond, Liverpool and Ghana through the Triangle of Hope.”