Two numbers, 34, contain one of Richmond’s most historic events and is now forever preserved in a monument at CarMax Park.
The masterpiece reflects the bravery of a group of 34 Virginia Union University students who participated in a peaceful sit-in at the Thalhimers Department Store on February 22, 1960. The students became known as the “Richmond 34” and marked one of the first mass arrests of the Civil Rights Movement.
Sir James Thornhill, a Richmond native, oversaw the creation of the aluminum-made monument. He was a child when the protest happened and remembered the reaction of his neighborhood in Jackson Ward…