In honor of the people enslaved by the university’s namesake, the VA school shined a light on the prominent figure’s beliefs with The Enslaved People of George Mason memorial.

Wendi Manuel-Scott, a professor of integrative studies and history and one of the faculty members who had a hand in the Mason memorial, told CNN the university decided to keep Mason’s statue and added the monument next to it to “raise awareness about George Mason.”

“In many ways, this memorial is an invitation for people to come and sit in the messiness, the complexity of the past and be comfortable with what makes us uncomfortable,” Manuel-Scott told CNN.

Students “are often surprised to learn that George Mason IV was also a slaveholder,” Manuel-Scott added.

According to the Washington Post, although Mason opposed the slave trade, had a hand in the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and believed “all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural rights,” –he still enslaved more than 100 people at his Gunston Hall plantation, Manuel-Scott noted.

In celebration of the university’s 50th anniversary, the campus revealed The Enslaved People of George Mason memorial to the Fairfax, VA, community.

The memorial now sits next to a statue of Mason in the university’s newly renovated plaza.

Mason’s personal servants James and a child, Penny, are specifically highlighted in the memorial.

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