RICHMOND, VA – The third annual Run Richmond 16.19, hosted by Oscar-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou, will take runners from around the city to celebrate the achievements of African Americans in the British Commonwealth.
Runners running the iconic 16.19km course (just over 10 miles long) experienced the place where enslaved Africans took their first steps on American soil after being brought to Richmond.
Saturday’s run was originally created as part of the Djimon Hounsou Foundation’s Africa Reconnect series.
“I was forced to stop many times along the railroad tracks and look at the landscape, the ground where my ancestors walked centuries ago,” Hounsou said in a 2022 interview with CBS 6. . Look at the settings. ”
Full interview: Actor Djimon Hounsou wants his 16.19 run to highlight ‘travails and achievements’
According to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Richmond was the center of the Upper South’s largest slave trade. It is estimated that up to 2 million people were trafficked from Richmond to the Deep South. In 1860, there were 550,000 enslaved black people living in Virginia.
Richmond was the first stop for the 16.19 event. The run was originally scheduled to be held in Liverpool, England, and West Africa. All of these areas were important areas for the Atlantic slave trade.
Read more: Visualizing the Richmond Slave Trade
