Thousands of families and students on school field trips visit George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate this of time year, and many will go to the slave memorial. But until 1983, that burial site for enslaved people was virtually unknown and not spotlighted.
Then, Sheila Coates came along with her determination to make sure those buried there were recognized and honored.
Coates grew up in the Leesburg, Virginia, area in the 1940s and ‘50s. She attended segregated schools and faced racism and discrimination…