The University of Virginia's Board of Visitors has unanimously approved the design for a memorial honoring the contributions of slaves who helped build and maintain the school.

The board approved the design on Friday.

The memorial will be about 80 feet in diameter, rising at its highest point to about eight feet. The names of people who worked there as slaves will be inscribed. It will include the names of nearly 1,000 enslaved workers now known to have worked there between 1817 and 1865.

Private fundraising for the estimated $6 million project is expected to begin immediately.

Officials hope the memorial will be complete in 2019, when the school celebrates its bicentennial.