The Shockoe Institute, a new learning centre housed in a former train station in Richmond, Virginia (the former capital of the Confederacy and once the largest domestic market for enslaved people in the upper South), opened this spring with the aim of drawing direct links between the history of American slavery and contemporary civic challenges. Funded by an $11 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, the 10,000-square-foot space features immersive exhibits — including a life-size depiction of the forced march of enslaved people from Richmond to Natchez, Mississippi — and emphasises the financial and legal mechanisms, such as mortgaging and insuring enslaved people, that underpinned the slave trade. Rather than functioning as a traditional museum, the institute describes itself as a place of reflection and action, culminating each visit in a facilitated discussion space where visitors are encouraged to consider what the lessons of history demand of them today.