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In February 2008, the City of Alexandria released the Call for Entries for the Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial Design Competition. The City sought design submissions from architects, landscape architects, artists, students, and other interested individuals to memorialize and honor those who are buried at Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia. The entries were due on April 25, 2008, and the City received a broad range of submissions from individuals and firms from over 20 countries around the world.

Please visit the View Finalists page to view the top six entries.

Competition Mission Statement

The Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia will be a sacred site dedicated to honoring the more than 1,800 people of African descent who were buried in the cemetery during and immediately following the Civil War.

The dignity, perseverance, and courage of Alexandria's freed men, women, and children will be memorialized through reclamation of the forgotten site, thereby protecting hundreds of graves which have survived. The Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial will be a solemn and reverent place, offering opportunities for reflection, commemoration, education, and the search for cultural identity.

The Memorial will educate visitors about the courageous struggles of the thousands of contrabands and freedmen who sought refuge in Alexandria, as well as the heroic role that the United States Colored Troops played in America's Civil War. Visitors will be able to trace the site's history from Native American settlement, to African American burial ground and beyond.

The Memorial will protect the cemetery and stand as a reminder to generations that the struggle for freedom and the people who fought for it cannot, and will not, be forgotten again.