National slavery museum set for 2007, more funds needed

WASHINGTON (AP) – A national slavery museum still is scheduled to open on the banks of the Rappahannock by the end of 2007, but Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder acknowledged Tuesday that the $100 million facility may not be fully complete by then.

Wilder, chairman of the U.S. National Slavery Museum, touted the project Tuesday at a National Press Club luncheon. The former Virginia governor said more than half of the construction costs have been raised but issued a plea for corporate donors, philanthropists and the general public to step forward.

“Please send checks,” Wilder said in a speech that was broadcast nationally on C-SPAN 2.

Plans call for a 290,000-square-foot facility on a 38-acre undeveloped site in Fredericksburg. Some site work has been done, but construction has not yet started.

“When you drive south on I-95 and cross the bridge … into the city, you’ll see a sign for a Shoney’s. That’s where it is,” Wilder said, jokingly describing the site.

When completed, the museum – designed by architect C.C. Pei – will include a full-scale replica of a Portuguese slave ship.

Pei said it “will be very difficult” to complete the project by the end of 2007. And Wilder said he does not necessarily expect the entire museum to be built by then, and said he won’t be bowed by critics if the museum does not meet its self-imposed deadline.

“I don’t have time for that,” he said.

Wilder said he recognized the need for a slavery museum on a trip to Africa where he toured the old slave trade ports in Senegal and West Africa.

He initially sought to select a site near Jamestown, where the first African slaves came to North America. He also unsuccessfully sought a site in Richmond, and he admitted he was initially skeptical about the viability of Fredericksburg.

“Once I saw those majestic 38.5 acres on the banks of the Rappahannock, pristine … I said, ‘This is it,'” Wilder said.

The project has received some criticism for its links to proposed retail and tourism development around the site, and some Fredericksburg officials have sought more detailed information about how the museum spent a $1 million loan provided by the city.

But Fredericksburg Mayor Thomas Tomzak said the city has received a reasonable accounting of the museum’s expenses, and said the council fully supports the project.

“I feel it’s a very good project for America. And pragmatically, it’s good for Fredericksburg and will increase Fredericksburg’s stature,” said Tomzak, who acknowledged that much of the debate in the city over the museum was tied to the debate over development in the fast-growing city.

Wilder said some people have been opposed to the museum from the start. “But I’ve got some bad news for those people: This museum is going to be built,” he said.

Museum director Vonita Foster said fundraising has lagged in recent months because so many charitable dollars have been dedicated to relief and recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina.

Wilder called slavery “one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented chapters in American history” and recalled how his grandfather, a former slave, bristled when asked about life as a slave.

“He would not want to talk about it. He would bite down on his pipe and almost clinch it in two,” Wilder said.

Actor Ben Vereen, a museum supporter who played the role of Chicken George in the TV miniseries “Roots,” joined Wilder at the luncheon and said a museum is needed.

He described school textbooks that covered slavery by writing that “we were slaves and, all praise to Lincoln, we are free.” He said the success of “Roots” shows that people hunger for the truth about slavery.

“We have the opportunity to do just that – unveil the truth,” he said.