Last semester, History PhD candidate and CHR residential fellow Laura Brannan Fretwell presented part of her dissertation research to the public at Chimborazo Park in Richmond, Virginia. The event was called "Buried Histories at Chimborazo Park" and was sponsored by the National Park Service's Richmond National Battlefield Park.
Laura spoke about the different “buried” histories of Chimborazo Park’s landscape in the post-Civil War. She especially discussed the history of African American residents who lived and worshipped on Chimborazo Hill alongside the Freedmen’s Bureau and how they were affected by the construction of the city park in the late 1870s.
Here is a blog post she wrote about the event: https://laurabrannanfretwell.org/2023/10/buried-histories-at-chimborazo-park-event/.
Laura also recently presented her work to the Southern Historical Association in Charlotte, North Carolina. She presented a similar part of her project—about the construction of Chimborazo Park—but to an academic audience. Her panel was titled “Placemaking: Violence, Remembrance and the Urban South.”
Congratulations, Laura!
