A presentation from author Kristen Green and local historian Greg Roberts.
Meet Kristen Green, author of The Devil's Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South's Most Notorious Slave Jail. The book tells the story of Mary Lumpkin, who was enslaved and separated from her family as a child. She was forced into a secret marriage and had the children of the brutal slave-trader Robert Lumpkin, owner of the notoriously cruel slave jail in Richmond, Virginia, known as the "Devil's Half Acre." When Robert Lumpkin died, Mary inherited the jail. She rented The Devil's Half Acre to a Baptist missionary and helped transform it into 'God's Half Acre,' a place where freed Black men could be educated. This became the cornerstone for Virginia Union University, one of the nation's first Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which is still open today. Kristin will be joined by local historian Greg Roberts, who will discuss Mary Lumpkin's grave in New Richmond's Samarian Cemetery.
The New Richmond Branch is home to one meeting room.
