Sluggish fundraising mires national slavery museum

By DIONNE WALKER

No one can say when it will open.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Near battlefields where soldiers fought to preserve slavery, a solemn stone figure stands, arms outstretched, face turned skyward as if rejoicing over the broken shackles etched into its thick arms.

The sculpture anchors the Spirit of Freedom Garden, a gathering of artwork that’s the first, and so far the only, sign of a $200 million national slavery museum long anticipated in a region heavy with Civil War history.

It was 1993 when L. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s first black elected governor and the grandson of slaves, proposed a museum that would tell their story.

Years later, the museum’s future has become clouded by shifting opening dates and stalled fundraising.

Despite millions of dollars in private and public dollars committed to the museum, organizers have given an unclear accounting of their finances: While the museum cites $50 million available, a 2006 tax return obtained by The Associated Press details $17.6 million in assets, much of that believed to be the value of a 38-acre proposed site.

And nearly five years after a ceremonial groundbreaking, the opening has drifted to 2008 and beyond. Contacted by the AP, neither developer Silver Companies nor architect C.C. Pei could say when the museum would open, though Pei said of a 2008 date, “We’d have to get started right now.”

Asked to clarify the museum’s future, Wilder said he was “finished explaining anything.”

“We comply with every reporting schedule we have to comply with,” said Wilder, 77, now mayor of Richmond. “If you want to help raise some money, then help. Other than that, quit worrying us.”

Conceived of by Wilder during a trip to Africa, the project was considered for several Virginia regions before organizers chose a Fredericksburg plot donated by developers in 2001. When complete, the center will feature a full-scale replica slave ship and artifacts — from manacles to slave logs — detailing one of America’s most horrific chapters within more than 100,000 square feet of exhibit space.

A $500 million National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution, is planned to open in 2015 about an hour north, in Washington, D. C.

For now, though, grass marks the site of the Fredericksburg museum along the Rappahannock River.

Organizers blame fundraising, which they say has slowed amid a struggling economy; Wilder has tapped powerful friends to help out.

In June 2006, entertainers Bill Cosby and Ben Vereen hosted a fundraiser in Washington, and that September, Cosby called on Americans to each donate $8, a number symbolizing slave shackles. Museum director Vonita Foster said the efforts raised about $50,000 and under $1 million, respectively.

Cosby declined an AP request for an interview.

Foster said donations arrive at her office daily — just under $20,000 in gifts each month.

“People do want us to begin construction, and I want us to begin construction. Nobody wants it as much as I do,” Foster said. “It’s a viable project. It will happen. We will build in 2008.”

Despite her optimism, Foster acknowledges funding fits and starts.

“The money was just flowing in at one point,” she said. But it stopped after Hurricane Katrina as people focused on hurricane relief efforts. At the same time, Foster said museum officials had to pay an army of consultants and exhibit designers.

“We have blueprints, we have drawings, we have exhibit designs,” she said.

Tax records for the museum show expenses outpacing income.

A 2006 return showed functional expenses totaling $550,171; Foster makes $85,000. The museum received $383,582 in direct public support during the same period. The document shows the museum raised $2.6 million in contributions from 2002 to 2005.

“As far as I know, we still have the pledges and the cash in kind around $50 million,” Foster said.

She said Wilder, who heads the museum’s board, recently told her that construction of a visitor center could move forward.

“That’s the first time he’s ever said we’re going to build in 2008,” she said.

Foster deferred to Wilder when asked how much of the $10.8 million price tag museum officials had available. Days later, Wilder directed questions back to Foster.

“I really don’t have access to the books,” Wilder, the museum’s founder, told The AP.