About the Anson Street African Burial Memorial
The Anson Street African Burial Memorial (ASABM) honors the reinterment of thirty-six enslaved Africans and African Americans on George Street in Charleston, while also memorializing the thousands buried in unmarked graves across the city. Artist Stephen Leo Hayes, Jr. sculpted a fountain with a basin formed from earth gathered at historic burial sites. Pairs of hands—cast from living individuals reflecting the age, gender, and ethnicity of the deceased—rise from the basin, each with a stream of water flowing behind them in tribute.
Founding Partner:
Wells Fargo
About the Artists
Stephen Leo Hayes, Jr. explores the history of race relations in America through a variety of media, including sculpture, fiber, video, blacksmithing, and installation work. He employs symbolic imagery to represent the physical and mental damage rendered by the psychology of racism. A native of Durham, North Carolina, Hayes received his Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina Central University in 2006 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2010.
“I feel honored to work on a project that acknowledges these individuals who were once natives to this property/land. The memorial will be a vessel that connects the past and the present to the rich history of this state. Although evidence of their physical bodies has naturally become a part of the soil, I hope that the fountain of cast hands and the water speak to the continuous cycle/flow of birth. Life and death.” — Stephen Hayes
Carlton Simmons (1959–2024), nephew of master blacksmith Philip Simmons, began working in the family shop at age 13. Trained under his uncle, he developed a personal style that drew inspiration from nature, creating ironwork with flowers, grasses, hearts, and fish. Simmons collaborated on many of the celebrated gates that define Charleston’s streetscapes, while also producing his own sought-after designs. His commissions include the 2016 entrance gate to the Brickyard Plantation chimney in Mt. Pleasant and gates for Daniel Island’s Simmons Park Apartments. His work, exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, preserves and extends the Simmons legacy.
About the Team
Project Leadership Team
The Anson Street African Burial Memorial (ASABM) team includes Mrs. Brenda Lauderback, Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors for Denny’s Corporation as ASABM project chair, Mr. Nigel Redden, retired General Director of Spoleto Festival USA as AABM project leader, and Ms. Latesha F. Smith of Events by Fabienne as AABM project and event manager. Together, they regularly engage a group of civic committee members formed in 2021 by Mr. John Tecklenburg, former Mayor of Charleston, a capital campaign committee formed by Dr. Maxine Smith also formed in 2021, and a host of community partners. Since taking office in 2024, Mayor William Cogswell Jr. has shown his support.
Brenda J. Lauderback is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors at Denny’s, Inc and is recognized as the first African American Board Chair at a public food service company. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduate of Robert Morris University, Mrs. Lauderback has served on numerous boards of nonprofit organizations and corporations such as Wolverine World Wide and Sleep Number, Inc. She was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors’ Directorship 100 list and has been acknowledged in Ebony, Jet, Essence, Black Enterprise, Forbes, and Savoy magazines. Mrs. Lauderback is on the National Restaurant News’ Power List of Most Influential People in Foodservice and one of Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Women in Corporate America. Congressman Jim Clyburn and Mayor John Tecklenburg presented her with the President’s Lifetime Volunteer Service Award from the White House that resulted in the City of Charleston, SC, Mayor proclaiming May 9, 2022, as Brenda Lauderback Day. A person must have documentation of at least four thousand hours of community service for such an award to be bestowed. Mrs. Lauderback is married to Dr. Boyd Wright, and they have two children. A trailblazer devoted to community uplift, she is a member of The Links, Inc., The Girlfriends, Chums, Smart Set, and the AKA Sorority. Brenda J. Lauderback is currently the Chair of the Anson Street African Burial Memorial Fund. She has raised funds to build a fitting memorial on the grounds of the Charleston Gaillard Center to represent the countless mass burial sites of enslaved people throughout the city from several generous donors and corporations.
Nigel Redden retired as the general director of Spoleto Festival USA in 2021 having rejoined the Festival in October 1995 after having previously served as the festival’s general manager from 1986 to 1991. Redden was director of the Lincoln Center Festival from 1998 to 2017. He has also served as executive director of the Santa Fe Opera (1991 – 1995), artistic consultant to Philadelphia’s American Music Theater Festival (1992 – 1994), and consultant to the chairperson of the New York International Festival of the Arts (1991 – 1992). He was director of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Dance Program from 1981 to 1986 and has served on numerous panels for the NEA, regional arts organization and various foundations. He is president of the Spaulding-Paolozzi Foundation and serves on the board of South Arts. In 2001 he was awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters and was promoted to Commandeur in 2019. He has received honorary doctorates from the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina. He is currently the project leader for the Anson Street African Burial Memorial in Charleston which will honor 36 Africans/African Americans buried in the late eighteenth century whose bodies were disinterred during the renovation of the Charleston Gaillard Center.
Ad Hoc Committee convened by former Mayor John Tecklenburg
- Millicent Brown, Civic Leader
- Adrienne Carrington, Civic Leader
- Julia Eichelberger, Committee on Commemoration and Landscapes
- Lissa Frenkel, Charleston Gaillard Center
- Grant Gilmore, Historic Preservation, COFC
- Joanna Gilmore, Anson Street African Burial Ground (ASABG)
- Darrin Goss, Coastal Community Foundation
- Jonathan Green, Ambassador for the Arts for the City of Charleston, SC
- Anthony Greene, Committee on Commemoration and Landscapes
- Mena Mark Hanna, General Director of Spoleto Festival USA
- Jerome Harris, Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH)
- Kelly (Vicario) Hewitt, Preservation Society of Charleston
- Rev. Willie Hill Jr., St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church
- Rick Jerue, Senior Advisor to Mayor Tecklenburg, City of Charleston
- Amber Johnson, Manager of Equity, Inclusion, and Racial Conciliation, City of Charleston
- Minerva King, Civic Leader
- Angela Mack, Gibbes Museum of Art
- Johanna Martin-Carrington, Gullah Society
- Dr. Tonya Matthews, International African American Museum
- Thomas McGuire, City of Charleston
- Edmund Most, City of Charleston
- La’Sheia Oubre, Anson Street African Burial Ground (ASABG)
- Brittany Pinckney, City of Charleston
- Rodney Porter, City of Charleston
- Bernard Powers, Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston
- Nigel Redden, Spoleto Festival USA
- Victoria Smalls, Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor Commission
- Latesha Smith, Spoleto Festival USA
- Nicole Taney, Spoleto Festival USA
- Brian Turner, Preservation Society of Charleston
- Latitia Watkins, International African American Museum
- Scott Watson, City of Charleston
- Mike Whack, Special Assistant to Mayor Tecklenburg, City of Charleston
- Helen Wolfe, Coastal Community Foundation
Community Committee convened by Dr. Maxine Smith
- Josette Bailey
- Karen Brewerton
- Sandra Campbell
- September Gray
- Jonathan Green
- William D. Gregorie
- Dorothy Harrison
- Deborah Kennedy
- Cheryl H. Love
- Emily-Elise Martin
- Rita Scott
- Ronald Thompson
To the 36 Hand Models, We Thank You!
- Clarence I. Admiral
- Malik Bennett
- Dionah Bryant
- Adrian Capers Swinton
- Harold Carrillo
- Arianne King Comer
- Princeton Dingle
- Melendia Dinwiddie
- Antwon Ford
- Roman Frazier
- Christopher Frisby
- Tyrell Gadsden
- Louis D. Heyward, Sr.
- Jayden Michael Hill
- Phyllis Holmes
- Desmond Howard
- Franklin Jackson
- Crystal Kornickey
- Carolyn E. Lecque
- Edward Lee
- Johanna Martin-Carrington
- Zyaire Massie
- Ervin McDaniel
- Malaysha Middleton
- Gerard Mikell
- DeAndre Muhammad
- Eleanor C. Nelson
- Gus Olalere
- Clifton Polite
- Jonathan A. Richardson
- Olivia Simmons
- Kyle Taylor
- Ron Thompson
- Elder Carlie Towne (Carlestine Denson)
- Brittney Washington
- Joseph Watson
Building Team
- Stephen Leo Hayes, Jr., Sculptor
- Carlton Simmons, Artist (Gates)
- Carolina Bronze Sculpture
- Steve Dudash
- Joanna Gilmore
- Jen Hayes
- Inca Wrought Iron, Addie Rodrigues
- La’Sheia Oubre’
- Outdoor Spatial Design, Evan Brandon and Wade Alexander
- WP Law (Fountain Division), Glenn Clonts
Education
The Charleston Gaillard Center’s Education and Community Program, in partnership with Anson Street African Burial Ground Project and Anson Street African Burial Memorial, curated lessons and arts-integrated workshops to engage students and the overall community in the life and memorialization of the Ancestors. This educational outreach is multi-tiered and includes lesson plans for kindergarten through high school students, a lobby display inside of the Charleston Gaillard Center, two dedicated episodes in our community series, Raising the Volume, and a continued presence in the Gaillard’s Arts Literacy Program, which integrates the arts within classroom curriculum.
As part of the Charleston Gaillard Center’s Education and Community Program’s three-year arts literacy program, which fuses visual and performing arts with literature, art students at Burke High School participated in a classroom history lesson with two members of Anson Street African Burial Ground Project’s staff. Students were taught the process of reinterment and the purpose of the Memorial; they also engaged with the text, Anson Street African Burial Ground: What happens when we recognize our shared humanity? Lessons from our ancestors. Once students were familiar with the project, they worked with guest sculptor, Antwon Ford. Antwon Ford is a Charleston-based, fourth-generation basket weaver, known for his traditional and sculptural sweetgrass baskets. Mr. Ford taught the students the skill of basket weaving over a two-month residency. Students learned the history of sweetgrass basketry and created a basket as their own memorialization to the Ancestors. The residency culminated with an art installation of the students’ works in the main lobby of the Charleston Gaillard Center.
The community as a whole has the opportunity to visit the Anson Street African Burial Memorial lobby display for more information and pick up printed content at our Ticket Office for further information as the project takes shape on the corner of George and Anson Streets.
Two of the students that participated in the residency were invited to be assistants to artist Stephen Leo Hayes, Jr., the sculptor of the Anson Street African Burial Memorial. The students worked alongside Mr. Hayes for two days at the Gibbes Museum of Art as members of the community had their hands casted for the Memorial fountain.
News and Events
Contributors
Wells Fargo, the Founding Partner of the Anson Street African Burial Memorial, has provided catalytic support for the Memorial.
“Wells Fargo is honored to support the Anson African Burial Memorial as a way to preserve the untold stories and heritage of the African American community. For society to truly move forward, we must learn from our past. This memorial offers an avenue to reflect and promote dialogue about the American experience as a way to help advance racial equity.”
— Otis Rolley, President, Wells Fargo Foundation
Special Thanks
- Mayor William S. Cogswell
- Perry Keith Waring, Councilmember
- William Dudley Gregorie, Councilmember
- Mika Gadsden, Director of Sustainability
- Governor Henry McMaster
- SC State Senator Marlon Kimpson
- Tyler Clem
- Matthew Frohlich
- Jason Kronsberg
- Chiresse Smiley
- Zach Smith
- Former Mayor John Tecklenburg
- Rick Jerue
- Mike Whack
- Senator Tim Scott
- Congressman James E. Clyburn
- Coastal Community Foundation, Darrin Goss
- Explore Charleston, C. Douglas Warner
- Catherine Murray Smith
- Carolyn Murray
The Memorial, which is owned by the City of Charleston, depends on public and private support.
Supporters
- Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Founding Partner
- City of Charleston
- State of South Carolina
- Anonymous
- Denny’s Inc
- M. Edward Sellers and Suzan D. Boyd Fund of Central Carolina Community Foundation
- Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust
- Spaulding Paolozzi Foundation
- Mr. Chris Berry and Dr. Joan Robinson Berry
- Mrs. Robyn Cummings Coles and Dr. Tony Coles
- Mrs. Carolyn H. and Mr. Willie Heyward
- Mrs. Deborah Kennedy and Mr. William Kennard
- The Wolverine Worldwide Foundation – In Honor of Brenda Lauderback
- Dr. Boyd Wright and Dr. Brenda Lauderback
- Mrs. Margie and Mr. Wardell Morse
- Mr. Nigel Redden
- Mrs. Cynthia and Mr. Ron Thompson
- Mrs. Jennie L. and Mr. Richard K. DeScherer – In Honor of Nigel Redden
- Mrs. Dorothy G. Harrison
- Dr. Maxine Smith
- Mrs. Vicki and Mr. Leo Williams
- Mrs. Lewann and Dr. Milton Armstrong
- Mrs. Karen and Mr. Michael Brewerton
- Dr. DeAnna E. Cheek
- Cobblestone Construction
- Ms. Mary T. Joseph
- The James H. Wooten, Jr. and Gertrude D. Wooten Fund, Thrivent Charitable
- The Marcea Lloyd Foundation
- Mr. Clarence I. Admiral
- Mr. Tim Ascue and Mrs. Pearl Ascue
- Ms. Gwendolyn B. Boyd
- Mrs. Monique Brown
- Mrs. Joanna Gilmore – In recognition of Anson Street African Burial Ground Project
- Mrs. Reba Hough-Martin
- Mrs. Lisa Shine King
- Ms. Eleanor C. Nelson
- Mr. Augustine Olalere
- Mr. Vincent Sciamanna, In honor of La’Sheia Oubre’
- Ms. Charlena D. Sheppard
- Mr. Kyle Everett Taylor
- Mr. Joseph Watson
- Mr. Michael Whack
- Ms. Marietta Worthy
- Dr. Hsin-Ching Wu
Gifts In Kind
- Charleston Gaillard Center
- Steve Dudash
- Events by Fabienne, Latesha F. Smith
- Gibbes Museum of Art
- Jen Hayes
- Outdoor Spatial Design
- Unstoppable Future Corporation
Support
