One of the first messages inside the Shockoe Institute is a blunt, unflinching introduction to a history the city has long struggled to confront:

• "American racial slavery began in Virginia. Richmond played a central role in its expansion."

State of play: The 12,000-square-foot institute, housed within Main Street Station, is the first major piece of Richmond's $265 million Shockoe Project — a decades-in-the-making plan to memorialize the city's part in the slave trade.

• Axios previewed it yesterday ahead of Sunday's public opening.
• The event — which included Gov. Spanberger, Mayor Avula and RPS students — was emotional, with speakers framing the institute as a reckoning and a turning point.
• Avula noted the scale of Richmond's impact: The city was so central to American slavery that an estimated 1 in 4 Black Americans can trace some ancestry back to the area.

Yes, but: It was Marland Buckner, the institute's CEO, who brought the room to tears, as he turned to Samaya, the daughter of project leader Todd Waldo, and said, "[Todd] wasn't doing it for us. He wasn't even doing it for the ancestors."

• "Samaya, your daddy built this place for you."

The comment was part of a repeated theme: This project is as much about the next generation as it is the past.

Zoom in: Inside, the "Expanding Freedom" exhibit traces the forced migration of enslaved people, starting with the colonization of Indigenous people in the 1600s.

• One section reconstructs the names and identities of enslaved people from fragmented historical records.
• Another places visitors atop a Richmond map that plots the locations enslaved people were sold in Shockoe Valley.
• There's also "The Lab," with touch screens housing a digital archive of records used to build the exhibit.

Among the more emotional segments: An animation depicting enslaved men, women and children in chains walking from Richmond to other southern cities.

• At one point, a little boy turns and looks directly at you.

What's next: Tickets are available online for opening week, April 12-15. They're free, but require reservations.

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Former Gov. Youngkin chatted with Sean Hannity about his time in office and future plans in an interview that aired this week.

Why it matters: It's the brief Richmonder's first big interview since leaving office in January.

Here are the takeaways from their nearly hour-long chat:

👀 Youngkin's not done with politics and is "chomping at the bit" to get back into it.

• He said his time as governor was the "most purposeful" he's ever felt, and it went by in "five seconds."

🇺🇸 Yes, but: He wouldn't say if he plans to run for president in the future, but he said he won't run for Virginia governor again.

• He said he's focused on 2026 and helping Republicans win in the midterms.

🤝 He has a good relationship with President Trump, and told Hannity they talked about Youngkin joining his administration.

• But that conversation was when he was governor and Youngkin said he wanted to focus on finishing his term.
• He dodged Hannity's questions about a possible future post.

🗳️ Richmond was part of Youngkin's 2021 winning election strategy.

• He didn't need to win it, he said, but to "break even in Richmond" with voters.

Go deeper

👀 A Richmond budget meeting this week showed deepening rifts between the mayor's administration and City Council. (Times-Dispatch)

• How: Heated exchanges between the CAO and council members who felt the city was being vague on spending details.

✍🏼 Spanberger signed legislation yesterday that will raise Virginia's minimum wage to $13.75 next year and $15 in 2028. (Virginia Mercury)

🎓 Virginia Tech president Tim Sands plans to step down after leading the university for 12 years. (News release)

🎸 Jack White announced he's playing in Richmond on Sept. 20 for a "festival." Iron Blossom, which has yet to release this year's lineup, wouldn't confirm or deny if it's theirs. (Times-Dispatch)

⛱️ Sidewalk Cafe's owners filed for a special use permit to actually use its front patio for the first time in its 35-year history. (BizSense)

👋 Karri here, jumping into the latest evolution of the "gap relationship" trend: city edition.

Why it matters: Richmond is ripe for poking fun at with this one.

State of play: The trend builds on the timeless trope of mismatched couples, and went viral on TikTok last year as a "swag gap." Folks are now doing city versions.

Zoom in: Richmond's relationship gaps:

Tattoo gap (Has a favorite artist vs. thinking about their first)

Local gap (Grew up here vs. still considered a transplant)

Career gap (Startup/nonprofit and barely makes $50k vs. remote D.C. salary and already made $50k this year)

Parking gap (Parallel parks in two moves vs. leaves half their car in a Carytown traffic lane)

Bar gap (Only breweries vs. dancing bars like Vagabond and Helen's)

Housing gap (Bought pre-2020 vs. overpaying for rent till they die)

River gap (Lives south of it vs. everyone else)

What'd we miss? Hit reply and let us know

Full list

With March Madness ending this week, we're crowning the winners of Axios Richmond's bracket challenges — which had 137 total entries.

On the men's side, 10 people picked Michigan to win the tournament, about 11% of the brackets.

• However, it was Rachel0119's Picks 1's bracket that took the crown.

On the women's side, only two people (out of 43) correctly picked UCLA as champions.

• But Conmanflipper's Picks 2 claimed victory.

🛍️ What's next: Congrats to our champs! Let us know who you are so we can properly shout you out in the newsletter (and maybe send you some Axios Richmond merch).