The Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees got a glimpse of what the future African Landing Memorial — which honors the first documented Africans brought to English North America in 1619 — will look like.
Artist Brian Owens created small plastic models that were displayed at last week’s board retreat, giving members a better idea of what the final product would deliver. The memorial is slated to be located on Fenwick Road near the state’s marker designating the first enslaved Africans’ arrival.
The planned memorial will consist of three sculptures, the most prominent of which is a 9-foot-tall, 34-foot-long relief wall. The wall depicts the first Africans’ lives in Angola, their assault and capture, journey during the Middle Passage, landing at present-day Fort Monroe, and subsequent trade as property into slavery.
A second bronze sculpture will depict Anthony and Isabella, a couple documented among the first Africans, holding their baby, William Tucker. The infant was recorded as the first African birth in the Virginia colonies in 1624. A third element is an arc sculpture with a flame symbolizing hope.
After many board members expressed satisfaction with the design, the board unanimously voted to request that Fort Monroe Authority Executive Director Glenn Oder negotiate and execute a contract with Owens for the creation of three full-size clay models at a price not to exceed $2.5 million. The clay models will eventually be sent to a foundry for production.
The board also asked Oder to arrange an agreement to transfer intellectual property rights. That way, if Owens could not complete the work, the authority could still proceed with creating the memorial.
The authority hopes to begin landscaping on the surrounding memorial park and plaza and parking improvements along Fenwick Road later this year, with the plaza ready in the summer of 2025. The site improvements are expected to cost $3.5-4 million.
Oder said that the models created by Owens will not be delivered at the same time — they will be gradually completed and phased into the site over the next four years. Oder said the clay figures of Anthony, Isabella and their baby should be completed in July 2025 and then sent to a foundry. He estimated that these figures would be delivered to Fort Monroe by the end of 2025. He believes the arc will be sent to Fort Monroe in the summer of 2026 and the relief wall will be delivered to Fort Monroe in the fall of 2028.
“We’re looking at a five- or six-year commemorative celebratory process for this project,” Oder said.
The authority expects the entire project will cost $9 million. Fort Monroe received $6 million in federal funding for the project and $500,000 in state funding for the memorial. However, the authority also expects to receive about $2.5 million in state funding later this year.
Josh Janney, joshua.janney@virginiamedia.com
