[Virginia Commonwealth U.] to create memorial for people, most of African descent, whose remains were dumped in a well

Source: Associated Press, via WTOP

VCU to create memorial for people, most of African descent, whose remains were dumped in a well

The Associated Press
April 24, 2026, 4:33 PM

Virginia Commonwealth University will spend $3.6 million on a memorial for dozens of people, most of African descent, whose bodies were stolen from their graves, dissected by medical students and then dumped in a forgotten well. ... The Richmond school’s board of visitors voted Friday to fund what VCU calls the East Marshall Street Well Project, an effort to right wrongs committed more than a century ago. Construction of the memorial and burial site are expected to start in summer of 2027.

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Workers in 1994 uncovered a brick-lined well containing human bones during construction of the Kontos Medical Sciences Building on the VCU medical center campus. Sifting through mud, researchers also found hair and skin, as well as remnants of leather shoes and glass bottles. ... Based on archival records from the Medical College of Virginia, researchers believe the remains were dumped in the well between the 1840s and 1860s.

“A preliminary anthropological analysis of the recovered human remains showed some postmortem signs of dissection and amputation consistent with anatomical training and surgical procedure practice,” VCU researchers concluded in a paper published this year. “The constant demand for cadavers led to routine grave robbing practices, mainly targeting African American burial grounds, to supply the medical school.”

Archaeologists were given a short time to examine the burial site after the 1994 discovery. Before construction continued, the remains were removed by backhoes and sent to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Initial analysis estimated that a minimum of 44 adults and nine children were recovered from the well. ... Interest in the remains was renewed in 2011 after the release of a film by a VCU professor and a separate report by two forensic anthropologists.

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