Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans

Here stood the Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans. Lucy Goode Brooks and the Ladies Sewing Circle for Charitable Work, all formerly enslaved, founded it in 1871. The orphanage, supported by the Cedar Creek Meeting Society of Friends, provided a haven for orphaned African American children in post–Civil War Richmond. It was the only adoption agency in Virginia placing African American youth. Brooks's organization, now called FRIENDS Association for Children, continues as a childcare and family support center. In 1970, it became a multifacility agency responding to the changing needs of the community. The original orphanage was demolished in 1969.