Actions

Man admits to removing Charlottesville slave auction marker

Man who stole plaque calls slave block marker ‘insult’
Posted
and last updated

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- A Virginia man has admitted to taking a historic marker memorializing the site of slave auctions in Charlottesville.

News outlets report 74-year-old Richard Allan was arrested by Charlottesville police Tuesday.

He told multiple news outlets he removed the plaque that had been built into a sidewalk because he believed it was insulting to enslaved Africans and their descendants.

A city spokesman says leaders plan to replace the plaque with a more appropriate marker.

Police say Allan is charged with two felonies.

Charlottesville was the site of a deadly white nationalist rally in 2017 where an activist was killed when a man drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters.