Djimon Hounsou Hosts Annual Run In Richmond, Virginia, To Promote Preservation Of Black History

The Djimon Hounsou Foundation will hold its fourth annual 'Run Richmond' to highlight and preserve Black history.

Actor Djimon Hounsou is taking to Richmond, Virginia, to host his fourth annual run in an effort to promote the preservation of Black history.

On Sept. 27, the Djimon Hounsou Foundation will host its “Run Richmond,” featuring running and walking routes designed to honor the history of African enslavement across Europe and the Western world. Hounsou, a native of Benin and star of Steven Spielberg’s 1997 film Amistad, hopes the event will inspire greater awareness of the history linking the United States and Europe to African nations.

“It’s time for Afro descendants to know where they come from and to know who they are and how powerful their history is and how powerful they are as people,” Hounsou told USA Today.

Although Hounsou grew up in Benin, a central hub of the transatlantic slave trade, he says it wasn’t until starring in Amistad that he fully grasped the era’s brutality and its lasting global impact.

“It really opened my mind about who I am … the history of my continent and the history of the diaspora,” Hounsou said. “We are very cut off from our past.”

Run Richmond covers 16.19 km (10.6 miles), symbolizing 1619, the year a slave ship from Angola arrived in the English colonies. A shorter 6.19K (3.85-mile) walk/run will also take place that day. Along the route, participants can use an app to hear a tour of Black historic sites narrated by Hounsou.

The award-winning actor hopes the event will serve as a meaningful pilgrimage for African Americans and others eager to engage with this history, particularly as the teachings of Black history face increasing challenges in schools and museums.

“It’s time for Afro descendants to know where they come from and to know who they are and how powerful their history is and how powerful they are as people,” he said. “It’s our obligation as people of the land … to keep that history alive in whatever ways possible.”