Interview with Carmen Foster Part 2

Interview with Carmen Foster Part 2

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    Interviewees

    Foster, Carmen

    Accessibility Note

    Content is digitally accessible 2026.

    Interviewer

    Edwards, Ana

    Producer

    Sunshine, Daniel

    Description

    This interview was conducted as part of the East Marshall Street Well Project. Ana Edwards, a public historian and teaching professor, interviewed Dr. Carmen Foster, who serves on the Family Representative Council. This is the second and final interview with Dr. Foster. In this interview, Dr. Foster reflected on the organizational challenges of the East Marshall Street Well Project, but also the opportunties for tying this reparative work into a larger vision for Black public history in Richmond.

    In this second interview, Dr. Foster returns to finish her discussion with Ana Edwards about the East Marshall Street Well Project’s goals and broader implications. This wide-ranging conversation was built on several core themes: organizational challenges within the EMSW Project, building community support, VCU’s opportunity to reimagine public history in Richmond, and spiritual healing. Throughout, Dr. Foster reiterated that the FRC are volunteers providing a community vision for the EMSW Project, but that VCU must supply the leadership for realizing that vision. Her hope is that the EMSW Project can align with Project Gabriel and the city’s plans to redevelop the historical landscape of Shockoe Bottom to tell a comprehensive history of race in Richmond.

    Biographical Note

    Ana Edwards is a public historian and community activist. Currently, she is a teaching professor in VCU's Department of African American Studies. Most of her work centers on preserving the history and public spaces associated with Gabriel and the African Burial Ground in Shockoe Bottom.

    Dr. Carmen Foster is a member of the Family Representative Council of the East Marshall Street Well Project, where she co-chairs the Memorialization and Interment Committee. She is a public historian with a doctorate in education from the University of Virginia. She holds master’s degrees in public administration from Harvard University and in communication from Clarion University, as well as a certificate in public theology from Union Presbyterian Seminary. She is a proud VCU undergraduate alumna. She has over thirty-five years of experience as an administrator, leadership educator, and facilitator in local, state, and federal sectors as well as in higher education.

    Note

    This interview description and biographical information was written by Daniel Sunshine.

    Corporate Name Subject

    Hampden-Sydney College. Medical Department--Corrupt practices; Virginia Commonwealth University--Corrupt practices

    Topical Subject

    Reparations for historical injustices; Human remains (Archaeology)--Repatriation; African American cemeteries--Desecration; Body snatching; History--Virginia--Richmond; Medical colleges--Corrupt practices; Universities and colleges--Corrupt practices; Racism in medicine; Racism against Black people; Public history; Community organization

    Place of Interview

    Virginia Commonwealth University, The Workshop

    City/Location

    Richmond (Va.)

    Genre

    oral histories (literary genre)

    Local Genre

    oral history; sound recording; text

    Type

    Sound; Text

    Digital Format

    audio/mp3

    Language

    eng

    Rights

    This material is protected by copyright, and copyright is held by Carmen Foster. You are permitted to use this material in any way that is permitted by copyright. In addition, this material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Acknowledgment of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is required.

    Collection

    East Marshall Street Well Oral History Project

    Contributors

    Virginia Commonwealth University

    Source

    "Interview with Carmen Foster Part 2," East Marshall Street Well Oral History Project, M 573, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.

    File Name

    emswoh_fostercarmen_interview_part2.mp3

    Disciplines

    African American Studies | Digital Humanities | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oral History | Social History | United States History

    Interview with Carmen Foster Part 2

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