HomeMy Public PortalAboutTOL PR 2017-05-25 Slave Dwelling Project
Town of Leesburg
News Release
For Immediate Release
May 25, 2017
Media Contact:
Betsy Arnett, Public Information Officer
barnett@leesburgva.gov 703-771-2734
Slave Dwelling Project Coming to Downtown Leesburg on
Friday, June 2, 2017
Project founder Joseph McGill will be on the Loudoun County Courthouse lawn
during Leesburg’s First Friday to talk about slavery and answer questions.
Leesburg, VA (May 25, 2017) – In a joint effort
of the Black History Committee of the Friends
of the Thomas Balch Library, the Loudoun
Freedom Center, Oatlands Historic House and
Gardens, the Friends of the Arcola Slave
Quarters, and the Loudoun County
Department of Parks, Recreation and
Community Service, the Slave Dwelling Project
will present a three-day program of events to
educate the public about slavery and sites of
slavery in Loudoun County.
The Slave Dwelling Project
(www.slavedwellingproject.org) was founded
by Joseph McGill, a Civil War reenactor and
descendant of the enslaved. The
organization’s mission is to identify and assist
property owners, government agencies, and organizations to preserve surviving slave dwellings.
To draw attention to the existence of slave dwellings and other buildings that once housed the
enslaved, Mr. McGill travels the country and sleeps in the dwellings. To date, he and his
followers have slept at sites in 18 states and the District of Columbia.
On Friday, June 2, Joseph McGill will be at the Loudoun County Courthouse to talk about the
institution of slavery, beginning at 6:00 p.m. The Black History Committee will have a display of
information about the role that the courthouse played in the institution of slavery in Loudoun
County. Enslaved people were held at the jail once located on the courthouse grounds and the
enslaved were sold in front of the former courthouse that predated the existing building. That
night, Mr. McGill and other members of the Slave Dwelling Project will sleep on the courthouse
lawn.
From 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, June 2, the Clerk of the Circuit Court will offer an open
house in the old courthouse, during which staff will discuss and demonstrate how the court’s
historic documents are being preserved in the 21 st century.
For more information about the other Slave Dwelling Project events scheduled in Loudoun
County from June 2 through June 4, visit www.oatlands.org.
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