'Totally empowering' 16.19 run traces route of enslaved Africans

RICHMOND, Va. – The 3rd annual Run Richmond 16.19, organized by Oscar-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou, took runners throughout the city to honor the achievements of African Americans in the Commonwealth.

Runners on the symbolic 16.19-kilometer course, which is just over 10 miles, experienced the places where enslaved Africans took their first steps on American soil after being brought to Richmond.

WATCH: Run Richmond 16.19 mirrors route of enslaved Africans: 'We all need to be connected'

Saturday's run was created initially as part of the Djimon Hounsou Foundation's Africa Reconnect series .

Hounsou called the experience gratifying.

"We wanted to bring about healing and reconciliation," he said. "This was once a dream of mine... By putting something together like this, we might eventually form a powerful community that embraces this idea of unity and diversity."

Richmond was the largest slave-trading center in the Upper South, according to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. It is estimated that up to 2 million people were sold from Richmond to the Deep South. In 1860 there were 550,000 enslaved Black people living in Virginia.

One participant flew in from Houston specifically "to participate in this historical event."

"To be able to see this and experience it and run by the statues — the actual trail — is totally empowering."

READ MORE: Visualizing the Richmond Slave Trade