By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Art Center (RAC) will host “From Africa to Richmond,” a free online event Mon., Feb. 28 from 7-8 p.m. during which Patricia Mapps will give a special presentation on her family’s “path from freedom in Africa to enslavement and emancipation in the American South and on to Civil Rights activism in Richmond.”
Mapps—who attended Walter T. Helms Junior High School and Richmond Union High School and later worked as an IBM Computer Systems Engineer—traced her ancestors to Africa via archival research, oral history and DNA, according to the RAC. What she uncovered was a story of “enslavement, emancipation, the decision to purchase and live on the land they ‘tamed’ when enslaved” and their transition to “farm laborers then to farmers and Civil Rights activism in Richmond.”
During her special online presentation, Patricia will share the revelations of her research. It will be followed by a Q&A session.
To RSVP for the free event and to receive the Zoom link, click here.
