Roanoke College announces artist and concept for memorial to enslaved laborers

Roanoke College is pleased to announce the commission of Richmond-based artist Sandy Williams IV’s “Authors and Architects,” a memorial dedicated to recognizing and honoring the role of enslaved people in the college’s history. Williams’ commission is related to the college’s extensive inquiry into the history of slavery at Roanoke and the role of enslaved people in the development of the college and the surrounding area. Roanoke College partnered with Creative Time, a public arts nonprofit, to identify an artist for the project and engage the campus community and wider public around the development of the memorial. 

With Creative Time’s guidance, Roanoke’s Community Vision Committee, a group of faculty, staff, students and community members, reviewed proposals for the memorial before selecting Williams (pictured at left). Williams’ winning concept, which will stand in the grass across Maxey Way from the Admissions building, is a bronze sculpture in the form of hundreds of stacked books. Many of the books will be engraved with the names of formerly enslaved Black people with ties to the school’s history, and the books will be cast from 3D scanned replicas of the college’s original library and record books. The sculpture will create a physical presence meant to honor the memory of people who were enslaved at the college, acknowledging the freedom and education denied to them in their own time and underscoring the immense importance they played in the establishment and success of the Roanoke community. The title, “Authors and Architects,” serves to acknowledge their roles as creators in this history, beyond the subjected identities typically used to bind and minimize the legacies of Black and Brown people in the telling of American history.  

“My hope is that this experience at the memorial will help humanize the legacy of people who were enslaved in ways that are currently absent from official records and histories,” Williams said. 

The commission of “Authors and Architects” follows years of work by Roanoke College’s Center for Studying Structures of Race (CSSR) to better understand and make visible the role of enslaved people both in the history of the college and across the wider region. In 2019, the CSSR initiated the Genealogy of Slavery project to develop a database of information about enslaved people in Southwest Virginia before and during the Civil War. This work, conducted by 16 different student researchers over the years, restores the names and stories of people who have been virtually erased from history, and it is some of those names that will be engraved on Williams’ work. The CSSR’s work also has included creating a campus walking tour, installing bronze plaques on the Administration Building to honor enslaved laborers, and coordinating all plans to build an on-campus memorial. As public and private spaces across the nation reckon with their own histories of slavery, the CSSR demonstrates a potential for greater institutional and community investment in these processes.  

Detail of the memorial concept, with the names of formerly enslaved people featured on the spine of each bronze book.

Creative Time and Roanoke College’s partnership has resulted in a capstone course that links students with leading artists and architects to explore the intersection of memorials, monument and memory, as well as a lecture series centered around the mission of the CSSR and the facilitation of a community survey. To actualize the memorial commission, Creative Time reached out to a select group of nominated artists and worked closely with them to refine and complete their proposals, ensuring they were compensated for their time. Williams’ sculpture was selected by a jury of college stakeholders, local community members and representatives of the art world. 

Williams’ interdisciplinary practice layers research, civic action, performance and engagement with public space to create opportunities for communal interaction with public memory, shared agency and forms of emancipation. “Authors and Architects” is informed by primary source books, such as the original 19th century library books, courthouse ledgers and historic texts. With the sculpture’s symbolic depiction of enslaved people, the memorial serves as a testament to the collective work of individuals across centuries while serving as a lasting testament to those whose names had not previously been recorded on campus. Sections of the engraved books will be stacked in a layered pattern, reflecting the brick buildings surrounding the sculpture. Other sections will be arranged more haphazardly to symbolize the more tumultuous aspects of the community’s collective history. Seating space will be created, allowing people to meet, congregate, rest and enjoy the memorial.  

“’Authors and Architects’ represents another important milestone in Roanoke College’s ongoing efforts to better understand and memorialize the enslaved people who played such a foundational role in establishing the college,” said Roanoke College Historian Jesse Bucher. “Sandy Williams’ memorial design offers so many nuances, intricacies and subtle details that will engage our campus and community for years to come.” 

An exhibition of Sandy Williams' art, "Freedom is Not a Metaphor," is on display in Roanoke College's Smoyer Gallery, located inside Olin Hall Galleries, through Dec. 8. Click here for more information.