March Lunch & Learn

Sylacauga Marble & The Labor of Enslaved People

Master marble sculptor Craigger Browne giving attendees a demonstration.

At the Wallace Center’s first Lunch & Learn for 2025, speakers author Ruth Cook and master marble sculptor Craigger Browne discussed marble production during the antebellum period and touched on the role that enslaved people played in producing some of the world's most treasured material. 

Marble from the quarry in Sylacauga, Alabama is renowned for its beauty and has been used in monuments and homes across the country. The unpaid labor of at least 15 enslaved people owned by the quarry operators and an untold number of enslaved people loaned to the quarry mined that marble. Monuments and other creations that use this material have the fingerprint of people who worked tirelessly in captivity. 

We honor them, their sacrifice, and resilience.