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African American History in Virginia: A Legacy of Resilience and Resistance
Author: Dr. Evelyn Carter, Professor of African American History, University of Virginia. Dr. Carter has published extensively on the history of slavery and emancipation in the American South, with a particular focus on Virginia.
Keywords: African American history in Virginia, Virginia slavery, Black history Virginia, African American culture Virginia, Reconstruction Virginia, Civil Rights Virginia, African American contributions Virginia, Black heritage Virginia, Virginia’s enslaved population.
Abstract: This article delves into the multifaceted history of African Americans in Virginia, tracing their experiences from the earliest days of forced migration through the struggles for freedom, equality, and civil rights. It explores the profound impact of slavery, the complexities of Reconstruction, and the ongoing fight for social justice that continues to shape the state and the nation. The narrative highlights the resilience, contributions, and enduring legacy of African Americans in shaping Virginia's identity and culture.
Introduction: Virginia, the birthplace of the United States, holds a complex and deeply layered history deeply intertwined with the experiences of African Americans. Understanding African American history in Virginia is crucial to grasping the full narrative of the nation’s past and present. From the brutal realities of chattel slavery to the remarkable triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement and beyond, the story of African Americans in Virginia is one of profound resilience, unwavering resistance, and enduring contributions to American society.
H1: The Era of Slavery and its Devastating Impact:
The history of African American history in Virginia begins with the transatlantic slave trade. Virginia became one of the earliest and most significant centers of slavery in the thirteen colonies. The forced migration of Africans to Virginia irrevocably altered the social, economic, and political landscape. Plantations, fueled by enslaved labor, became the backbone of the Virginia economy, producing tobacco, cotton, and other cash crops. The institution of slavery not only dehumanized individuals but also created a rigid social hierarchy that perpetuated systemic inequality. This period witnessed countless acts of resistance, both overt and covert, from enslaved people striving for freedom. Runaway slaves, slave revolts (like Gabriel Prosser's planned rebellion), and the development of unique cultural practices within the plantation system all stand as testament to the spirit of resistance amongst enslaved Virginians. Understanding this era is essential to understanding the lingering legacy of African American history in Virginia.
H2: Reconstruction and the Fight for Equality:
The Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction era offered a glimmer of hope, yet also presented new challenges. While emancipation brought an end to legal slavery, it did not eradicate the deeply rooted racism and inequality. African Americans in Virginia actively participated in Reconstruction, striving for political power, economic advancement, and social equality. They held elected office, established schools and churches, and worked to build communities. However, Reconstruction's promise was ultimately thwarted by white supremacist backlash, including violence, disenfranchisement, and the rise of Jim Crow laws. This period of African American history in Virginia underscores the fragility of progress and the persistent challenges faced in the fight for equality.
H3: Jim Crow and the Struggle for Civil Rights:
The Jim Crow era in Virginia, extending from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, witnessed the systematic segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans. Through discriminatory laws and practices, Black Virginians were denied equal access to education, healthcare, housing, and employment. Despite facing immense oppression, African Americans continued to organize, protest, and fight for their rights. The NAACP played a vital role in challenging segregation in schools and other public spaces, laying the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement. This era highlights the unrelenting determination of African Americans to achieve equality and justice despite facing overwhelming odds in African American history in Virginia.
H4: The Civil Rights Movement and its Legacy in Virginia:
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s had a profound impact on Virginia. The struggle for desegregation of schools, lunch counters, and public transportation gained momentum. Individuals like Barbara Johns, who led a student strike at Moton High School in Farmville, played pivotal roles in the fight for equal educational opportunities. The movement in Virginia, as in the rest of the nation, faced significant resistance, yet ultimately contributed to dismantling Jim Crow and expanding civil rights. Examining the events and individuals within this period of African American history in Virginia illuminates the power of collective action and the long-lasting effects of the Civil Rights Movement.
H5: African American Contributions and Cultural Heritage in Virginia:
Throughout their history in Virginia, African Americans have made remarkable contributions to the state's culture, arts, and economy. From literature and music to sports and politics, Black Virginians have consistently enriched the state's identity. The legacy of Black churches, community organizations, and cultural institutions underscores the importance of maintaining and celebrating African American heritage. Exploring this aspect of African American history in Virginia is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the state's overall history and cultural tapestry.
Conclusion:
The story of African American history in Virginia is a testament to the enduring spirit of a people who have persevered through unimaginable hardship to achieve progress and build thriving communities. From the horrors of slavery to the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, their journey exemplifies resilience, resistance, and unwavering determination. Understanding this history is not merely an academic exercise; it is a necessary step towards building a more just and equitable future. The ongoing legacy of African American history in Virginia continues to shape the state's identity and serves as a vital part of the American narrative.
FAQs:
1. What role did enslaved Africans play in building the Virginia economy?
2. How did enslaved people resist slavery in Virginia?
3. What were the key challenges faced by African Americans during Reconstruction in Virginia?
4. How did Jim Crow laws impact African American life in Virginia?
5. Who were some of the key figures in the Civil Rights Movement in Virginia?
6. What are some significant African American cultural contributions in Virginia?
7. How has the legacy of slavery impacted race relations in Virginia today?
8. What efforts are being made to preserve and promote African American history in Virginia?
9. What resources are available for learning more about African American history in Virginia?
Related Articles:
1. The Untold Stories of Virginia's Enslaved Population: This article examines the lives and experiences of enslaved Africans in Virginia, offering a more nuanced perspective on their daily lives and acts of resistance.
2. Reconstruction in Virginia: Promises and Betrayals: A deep dive into the Reconstruction era in Virginia, exploring the successes and failures of the period and its lasting impact.
3. The Fight for Desegregation in Virginia Schools: This article details the struggle for desegregation in Virginia schools, focusing on key events and figures.
4. African American Music in Virginia: A Rich Tapestry of Sounds: An exploration of the diverse musical traditions of African Americans in Virginia.
5. Black Suffrage in Virginia: The Long Road to the Ballot Box: This article examines the efforts of Black Virginians to secure the right to vote.
6. The Civil Rights Movement in Hampton Roads: This focuses on the specific events and figures within the Hampton Roads region.
7. African American Leadership in Virginia Politics: An exploration of influential African American figures who have shaped Virginia's political landscape.
8. Preserving Black History in Virginia: Museums and Memorials: This article details significant museums and historical sites dedicated to preserving African American heritage in Virginia.
9. The Great Migration and its Impact on Virginia's Black Communities: This piece examines the migration patterns of African Americans and its impact on Virginia's demographic landscape.
Publisher: The Virginia Historical Society. The Virginia Historical Society is a renowned institution with a long history of preserving and promoting the history of Virginia, including its diverse populations.
Editor: Dr. Henry Johnson, Archivist and Curator, The Virginia Historical Society. Dr. Johnson has extensive experience in archival research and the preservation of historical documents related to Virginia's history.
african american history in virginia: A Guidebook to Virginia's African American Historical Markers Department of Historic Resources, Jennifer R. Loux, James K. Hare, Matthew Paul Gottlieb, 2019-07-26 Virginia encompasses this nation's longest continuous experience of Afro-American life and culture, esteemed scholar Armstead L. Robinson has written. This book offers both highway and armchair travelers the first published guide to the locations and texts of more than three hundred state historical highway markers recalling significant people, places, and events in Virginia's African American history. Published to coincide with the 2019 commemoration of the first documented arrival of Africans to present-day Virginia in 1619, A Guidebook to Virginia's African American Historical Markers showcases topics of state and national significance, spanning the colonial era through the mid-1960s and the civil rights movement. Nearly all of these markers were approved by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources within the past forty years, through early 2019, thereby enlarging the sweep and scope of the nation's oldest statewide historical highway marker program. |
african american history in virginia: The Virginia Landmarks Register Calder Loth, 1999 The Virginia Landmarks Register, fourth edition, will create for the reader a deeper awareness of a unique legacy and will serve to enhance the stewardship of Virginia's irreplaceable heritage. |
african american history in virginia: The Negro in Virginia , 1994 Slavery is as basic a part of Virginia history as George Washington, who was accompanied at Valley Forge and Yorktown by his slave William Lee, and Thomas Jefferson, who directed his slaves to cut 30 feet off a mountaintop for the site of Monticello. Slavery in the Old Dominion began in 1619, when a Spanish frigate was captured and its cargo of Negroes brought to Jamestown. Virginia Negroes experienced slavery as field laborers, as skilled craftsmen, as house servants. In 1935, the Virginia Writers' Project began collecting data for a history of Negroes in the Old Dominion through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Depression. Published in 1940 as The Negro in Virginia, it was regarded as a classic of its kind. Modern readers will be surprised at how relevant it remains today. -- From publisher's description. |
african american history in virginia: An African American History of the Civil War in Hampton Roads Cassandra Newby-Alexander, 2010 Through a fascinating narrative and stunning vintage photographs, readers will discover the struggles and triumphs of the African Americans of Hampton Roads. It was in Hampton Roads, Virginia, that hundreds gained their freedom. The teeming wharves were once a major station on the Underground Railroad, and during the Civil War, escaped slaves such as Shepard Mallory, Frank Baker and James Townsend fled to Fort Monroe to become contrabands under the protection of General Benjamin Butler. Upon arrival in the region, many took up arms for the Union, and the valiant deeds of some placed them among the first African American Medal of Honor recipients. Join Professor Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander as she charts the history of this remarkable African American community from the Civil War to Reconstruction. |
african american history in virginia: African Americans of Alexandria, Virginia Char McCargo Bah, Christa Watters, Audrey P. Davis, Gwendolyn Brown-Henderson, James E. Henson Sr., 2013-07-09 Sitting just south of the nation's capital, Alexandria has a long and storied history. Still, little is known of Alexandria's twentieth-century African American community. Experience the harrowing narratives of trials and triumph as Alexandria's African Americans helped to shape not only their hometown but also the world around them. Rutherford Adkins became one of the first black fighter pilots as a Tuskegee Airman. Samuel Tucker, a twenty-six-year-old lawyer, organized and fought for Alexandria to share its wealth of knowledge with the African American community by opening its libraries to all colors and creeds. Discover a vibrant past that, through this record, will be remembered forever as Alexandria's beacon of hope and light. |
african american history in virginia: Virginia Shade Norman Schools, 2012 What do three hundred years of African American history look like in a small, southern town? Virginia Shade depicts just that a sometimes brutal, sometimes uplifting, but always human tapestry of two societies struggling through and beyond slavery. African Americans have been part of the town of Falmouth's history since its founding in 1727. Some were free, but most were slaves an African king and princess among them. During the Civil War, thousands of slaves crossed into the Union lines at Falmouth to claim freedom for themselves. After the war, however, fundamental equality remained elusive. Falmouth's African American children endured separate and unequal schooling during the Jim Crow era, and even the town's cemetery was segregated. Even so, it wasn't a simple matter of black versus white. From a slave owner who tried but was unable to manumit her slaves to a local church's public rebuke of a black member who'd run away from his owner, committing the sin of stealing himself, Falmouth's history reflects the contrasting attitudes and actions among its white citizens and institutions throughout the years. Author Norman Schools blends first-person accounts, contemporary poetry, and biblical allegory to give a vivid sense of time, place, and personal connection to Falmouth and its remarkable African American heritage. |
african american history in virginia: Facing Freedom Daniel B. Thorp, 2017-12-28 The history of African Americans in southern Appalachia after the Civil War has largely escaped the attention of scholars of both African Americans and the region. In Facing Freedom, Daniel Thorp relates the complex experience of an African American community in southern Appalachia as it negotiated a radically new world in the four decades following the Civil War. Drawing on extensive research in private collections as well as local, state, and federal records, Thorp narrates in intimate detail the experiences of black Appalachians as they struggled to establish autonomous families, improve their economic standing, operate black schools within a white-controlled school system, form independent black churches, and exercise expanded—if contested—roles as citizens and members of the body politic. Black out-migration increased markedly near the close of the nineteenth century, but the generation that transitioned from slavery to freedom in Montgomery County established the community institutions that would survive disenfranchisement and Jim Crow. Facing Freedom reveals the stories and strategies of those who pioneered these resilient bulwarks against the rising tide of racism. |
african american history in virginia: Afro-Virginian History and Culture John Saillant, 2013-09-13 The essays in this collection offer new evidence and new conclusions on topics in the history of African Americans in Virginia such as the demography of early slave imports, the means used to regulate slave labor, the situation of female hired slaves in the backcountry, African American women in the Civil War era, and the Garveyite grassroots organizations of the 1920s. |
african american history in virginia: Keep On Keeping On Brian J. Daugherity, 2016-08-03 Virginia was a battleground state in the struggle to implement Brown v. Board of Education, with one of the South’s largest and strongest NAACP units fighting against a program of noncompliance crafted by the state’s political leaders. Keep On Keeping On offers a detailed examination of how African Americans and the NAACP in Virginia successfully pursued a legal agenda that provided new educational opportunities for the state’s black population in the face of fierce opposition from segregationists and the Democratic Party of Harry F. Byrd Sr. Keep On Keeping On is the first book to offer a comprehensive view of African Americans’ efforts to obtain racial equality in Virginia in the later twentieth century. Brian J. Daugherity considers the relationship between the various levels of the NAACP, the ideas and actions of other African American organizations, and the stances of Virginia’s political leaders, white liberals and moderates, and segregationists. In doing so, the author provides a better understanding of the connections between the actions of white political leaders and those of black civil rights activists working to bring about school desegregation. Blending social, legal, southern, and African American history, this book sheds new light on the civil rights movement and white resistance to civil rights in Virginia and the South. |
african american history in virginia: Hidden History Lynn Rainville, 2014-02-12 In Hidden History, Lynn Rainville travels through the forgotten African American cemeteries of central Virginia to recover information crucial to the stories of the black families who lived and worked there for over two hundred years. The subjects of Rainville’s research are not statesmen or plantation elites; they are hidden residents, people who are typically underrepresented in historical research but whose stories are essential for a complete understanding of our national past. Rainville studied above-ground funerary remains in over 150 historic African American cemeteries to provide an overview of mortuary and funerary practices from the late eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth. Combining historical, anthropological, and archaeological perspectives, she analyzes documents—such as wills, obituaries, and letters—as well as gravestones and graveside offerings. Rainville’s findings shed light on family genealogies, the rise and fall of segregation, and attitudes toward religion and death. As many of these cemeteries are either endangered or already destroyed, the book includes a discussion on the challenges of preservation and how the reader may visit, and help preserve, these valuable cultural assets. |
african american history in virginia: Bound to the Fire Kelley Fanto Deetz, 2017-11-17 For decades, smiling images of Aunt Jemima and other historical and fictional black cooks could be found on various food products and in advertising. Although these images were sanitized and romanticized in American popular culture, they represented the untold stories of enslaved men and women who had a significant impact on the nation's culinary and hospitality traditions, even as they were forced to prepare food for their oppressors. Kelley Fanto Deetz draws upon archaeological evidence, cookbooks, plantation records, and folklore to present a nuanced study of the lives of enslaved plantation cooks from colonial times through emancipation and beyond. She reveals how these men and women were literally bound to the fire as they lived and worked in the sweltering and often fetid conditions of plantation house kitchens. These highly skilled cooks drew upon knowledge and ingredients brought with them from their African homelands to create complex, labor-intensive dishes. However, their white owners overwhelmingly received the credit for their creations. Deetz restores these forgotten figures to their rightful place in American and Southern history by uncovering their rich and intricate stories and celebrating their living legacy with the recipes that they created and passed down to future generations. |
african american history in virginia: African Americans of Spotsylvania County Roger Braxton, 2008 Spotsylvania County, Virginia, was established in 1721, but it was not until after the Civil War that the names of approximately 4,700 African Americans born and/or living in the county were recorded for the first time. More than 150 African Americans were over the age of 70 as recorded in the 1870 census report. The county is best known as the namesake of its dynamic governor, Alexander Spotswood, and for its bloody Civil War battles. The African American community emerged from the ravages of war after more than 140 years of slavery. The community formalized the institutions they developed for survival during those years and charted a path for their growth. This volume pays homage to religion, work, service, education, and the human touch that brought families through undeniably difficult times. |
african american history in virginia: Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia Ric Murphy, 2020-08-31 In 1619, a group of thirty-two African men, women and children arrived on the shores of Virginia. They had been kidnapped in the royal city of Kabasa, Angola, and forced aboard the Spanish slave ship San Juan Bautista. The ship was attacked by privateers, and the captives were taken by the English to their New World colony. This group has been shrouded in controversy ever since. Historian Ric Murphy documents a fascinating story of colonialism, treason, piracy, kidnapping, enslavement and British law. |
african american history in virginia: The Key to the Door Maurice Apprey, Shelli M. Poe, 2017-04-12 The Key to the Door frames and highlights the stories of some of the first black students at the University of Virginia. This inspiring account of resilience and transformation offers a diversity of experiences and perspectives through first-person narratives of black students during the University of Virginia’s era of incremental desegregation. The authors relate what life was like before enrolling, during their time at the University, and after graduation. In addition to these personal accounts, the volume includes a historical overview of African Americans at the University—from its earliest slaves and free black employees, through its first black applicant, student admission, graduate, and faculty appointments, on to its progress and challenges in the twenty-first century. Including essays from graduates of the schools of law, medicine, engineering, and education, The Key to the Door a candid and long-overdue account of African American experiences at the University’ of Virginia. |
african american history in virginia: That the Blood Stay Pure Arica L. Coleman, 2013-10-18 That the Blood Stay Pure traces the history and legacy of the commonwealth of Virginia's effort to maintain racial purity and its impact on the relations between African Americans and Native Americans. Arica L. Coleman tells the story of Virginia's racial purity campaign from the perspective of those who were disavowed or expelled from tribal communities due to their affiliation with people of African descent or because their physical attributes linked them to those of African ancestry. Coleman also explores the social consequences of the racial purity ethos for tribal communities that have refused to define Indian identity based on a denial of blackness. This rich interdisciplinary history, which includes contemporary case studies, addresses a neglected aspect of America's long struggle with race and identity. |
african american history in virginia: The Ledger and the Chain Joshua D. Rothman, 2021-04-20 An award-winning historian reveals the harrowing forgotten story of America's internal slave trade—and its role in the making of America. Slave traders are peripheral figures in most histories of American slavery. But these men—who trafficked and sold over half a million enslaved people from the Upper South to the Deep South—were essential to slavery's expansion and fueled the growth and prosperity of the United States. In The Ledger and the Chain, acclaimed historian Joshua D. Rothman recounts the shocking story of the domestic slave trade by tracing the lives and careers of Isaac Franklin, John Armfield, and Rice Ballard, who built the largest and most powerful slave-trading operation in American history. Far from social outcasts, they were rich and widely respected businessmen, and their company sat at the center of capital flows connecting southern fields to northeastern banks. Bringing together entrepreneurial ambition and remorseless violence toward enslaved people, domestic slave traders produced an atrocity that forever transformed the nation. |
african american history in virginia: Making the American Dream Work Lauranett Lee, 2008-08-01 What can a small industrial city in Virginia named Hopewell tell us about its experiment in possibilities? Located at the intersection of the Appomattox and James Rivers, this wondrous place was poised to yield the greatest hope ever. From America's founding years to the twenty-first century Hopewell's historic sights and the stories that citizens tell about their lives provide glimpses into an ever changing landscape that embodies all the American dream has come to symbolize. |
african american history in virginia: Complicated Lives Sherri L. Burr, 2019 This narrative nonfiction book contains stories of people of African origin who were never enslaved, born free, or who obtained liberty through court proceedings in the U.S. They lived in a society that sought to systematically deprive them of liberty and other human rights. This history of Free Blacks in Virginia reveals the human ability to persevere against adverse odds arising from the color of their skin, or their gender, or both. It interweaves legal history with stories of what happened to those African Americans who were free before the Civil War and lived their lives in the shadows of a complicated world-- |
african american history in virginia: Slave Counterpoint Philip D. Morgan, 2012-12-01 On the eve of the American Revolution, nearly three-quarters of all African Americans in mainland British America lived in two regions: the Chesapeake, centered in Virginia, and the Lowcountry, with its hub in South Carolina. Here, Philip Morgan compares and contrasts African American life in these two regional black cultures, exploring the differences as well as the similarities. The result is a detailed and comprehensive view of slave life in the colonial American South. Morgan explores the role of land and labor in shaping culture, the everyday contacts of masters and slaves that defined the possibilities and limitations of cultural exchange, and finally the interior lives of blacks--their social relations, their family and kin ties, and the major symbolic dimensions of life: language, play, and religion. He provides a balanced appreciation for the oppressiveness of bondage and for the ability of slaves to shape their lives, showing that, whatever the constraints, slaves contributed to the making of their history. Victims of a brutal, dehumanizing system, slaves nevertheless strove to create order in their lives, to preserve their humanity, to achieve dignity, and to sustain dreams of a better future. |
african american history in virginia: Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era Jonathan A. Noyalas, 2022-11-01 The African American experience in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley from the antebellum period through Reconstruction This book examines the complexities of life for African Americans in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley from the antebellum period through Reconstruction. Although the Valley was a site of fierce conflicts during the Civil War and its military activity has been extensively studied, scholars have largely ignored the Black experience in the region until now. Correcting previous assumptions that slavery was not important to the Valley, and that enslaved people were treated better there than in other parts of the South, Jonathan Noyalas demonstrates the strong hold of slavery in the region. He explains that during the war, enslaved and free African Americans navigated a borderland that changed hands frequently—where it was possible to be in Union territory one day, Confederate territory the next, and no-man’s land another. He shows that the region’s enslaved population resisted slavery and supported the Union war effort by serving as scouts, spies, and laborers, or by fleeing to enlist in regiments of the United States Colored Troops. Noyalas draws on untapped primary resources, including thousands of records from the Freedmen’s Bureau and contemporary newspapers, to continue the story and reveal the challenges African Americans faced from former Confederates after the war. He traces their actions, which were shaped uniquely by the volatility of the struggle in this region, to ensure that the war’s emancipationist legacy would survive. A volume in the series Southern Dissent, edited by Stanley Harrold and Randall M. Miller |
african american history in virginia: Segregation's Science Gregory Michael Dorr, 2008-11-29 Blending social, intellectual, legal, medical, gender, and cultural history, Segregation's Science: Eugenics and Society in Virginia examines how eugenic theory and practice bolstered Virginia's various cultures of segregation--rich from poor, sick from well, able from disabled, male from female, and black from white and Native American. Famously articulated by Thomas Jefferson, ideas about biological inequalities among groups evolved throughout the nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century, proponents of eugenics--the science of racial improvement--melded evolutionary biology and incipient genetics with long-standing cultural racism. The resulting theories, taught to generations of Virginia high school, college, and medical students, became social policy as Virginia legislators passed eugenic marriage and sterilization statutes. The enforcement of these laws victimized men and women labeled feebleminded, African Americans, and Native Americans for over forty years. However, this is much more than the story of majority agents dominating minority subjects. Although white elites were the first to champion eugenics, by the 1910s African American Virginians were advancing their own hereditarian ideas, creating an effective counter-narrative to white scientific racism. Ultimately, segregation's science contained the seeds of biological determinism's undoing, realized through the civil, women's, Native American, and welfare rights movements. Of interest to historians, educators, biologists, physicians, and social workers, this study reminds readers that science is socially constructed; the syllogism Science is objective; objective things are moral; therefore science is moral remains as potentially dangerous and misleading today as it was in the past. |
african american history in virginia: African Americans of Fauquier County Donna Tyler Hollie, Brett M. Tyler, Karen Hughes White, 2009 Fauquier County, in Northern Virginia, was established in 1759. It was formed from Prince William County and was named for Virginia lieutenant governor Francis Fauquier. In 1790, there were 6,642 slaves in Fauquier County. By the eve of the Civil War, there were 10,455. From 1817 to 1865, the county was home to 845 free black people. The African American population declined at the end of Reconstruction, and by 1910, the white population was double that of blacks. The population imbalance continues today. Through centuries of slavery and segregation, Fauquier County's African American population survived, excelled, and prospered. This minority community established and supported numerous churches, schools, and businesses, as well as literary, political, and fraternal organizations that enhanced the quality of life for the entire county. |
african american history in virginia: The Making of a Racist Charles B. Dew, 2016-08-09 In this powerful memoir, Charles Dew, one of America’s most respected historians of the South--and particularly its history of slavery--turns the focus on his own life, which began not in the halls of enlightenment but in a society unequivocally committed to segregation. Dew re-creates the midcentury American South of his childhood--in many respects a boy’s paradise, but one stained by Lost Cause revisionism and, worse, by the full brunt of Jim Crow. Through entertainments and educational books that belittled African Americans, as well as the living examples of his own family, Dew was indoctrinated in a white supremacy that, at best, was condescendingly paternalistic and, at worst, brutally intolerant. The fear that southern culture, and the hallowed white male brotherhood, could come undone through the slightest flexibility in the color line gave the Jim Crow mindset its distinctly unyielding quality. Dew recalls his father, in most regards a decent man, becoming livid over a black tradesman daring to use the front, and not the back, door. The second half of the book shows how this former Confederate youth and descendant of Thomas Roderick Dew, one of slavery’s most passionate apologists, went on to reject his racist upbringing and become a scholar of the South and its deeply conflicted history. The centerpiece of Dew’s story is his sobering discovery of a price circular from 1860--an itemized list of humans up for sale. Contemplating this document becomes Dew’s first step in an exploration of antebellum Richmond’s slave trade that investigates the terrible--but, to its white participants, unremarkable--inhumanity inherent in the institution. Dew’s wish with this book is to show how the South of his childhood came into being, poisoning the minds even of honorable people, and to answer the question put to him by Illinois Browning Culver, the African American woman who devoted decades of her life to serving his family: Charles, why do the grown-ups put so much hate in the children? |
african american history in virginia: Thurgood Marshall Spencer R. Crew, 2019-09-13 This compelling new biography introduces the reader to the constant battles for equality faced by African Americans through a study of the career of Thurgood Marshall, who believed in the power of the law to change a society. As a lawyer, Thurgood Marshall played an incredible role in ending legal segregation in the United States. For thirty years he traveled across the country for the NAACP, trying cases and encouraging African Americans to fight against discrimination. His successes made him a highly respected lawyer and individual throughout the nation. Those accomplishments led to his appointment as the first African American Supreme Court justice, where he continued the fight to protect the rights of all citizens, not just the rich and powerful. Spencer R. Crew's work follows the career of Thurgood Marshall from his youth in Baltimore, Maryland, to his days as a Supreme Court Justice. Thurgood Marshall's inspiring story illustrates the racism faced by African Americans in the twentieth century long after the end of slavery. It also shows how hard it was to make progress in blunting its impact on their lives. In Marshall's life one sees the importance of perseverance and an unwavering belief in the American constitution and its principles. |
african american history in virginia: 1619 James Horn, 2018-10-16 The essential history of the extraordinary year in which American democracy and American slavery emerged hand in hand in colonial Virginia. Along the banks of the James River, Virginia, during an oppressively hot spell in the middle of summer 1619, two events occurred within a few weeks of each other that would profoundly shape the course of history. In the newly built church at Jamestown, the General Assembly -- the first gathering of a representative governing body in America -- came together. A few weeks later, a battered privateer entered the Chesapeake Bay carrying the first African slaves to land on mainland English America. In 1619, historian James Horn sheds new light on the year that gave birth to the great paradox of our nation: slavery in the midst of freedom. This portentous year marked both the origin of the most important political development in American history, the rise of democracy, and the emergence of what would in time become one of the nation's greatest challenges: the corrosive legacy of racial inequality that has afflicted America since its beginning. |
african american history in virginia: My Father's Name Lawrence P. Jackson, 2012-05-15 The author, seeking to find his grandfather's old home, follows his family history back to his great great grandfather who was born a slave and died a free man with forty acres. |
african american history in virginia: Unfree Markets Justene Hill Edwards, 2021-04-13 The everyday lives of enslaved people were filled with the backbreaking tasks that their enslavers forced them to complete. But in spare moments, they found time in which to earn money and obtain goods for themselves. Enslaved people led vibrant economic lives, cultivating produce and raising livestock to trade and sell. They exchanged goods with nonslaveholding whites and even sold products to their enslavers. Did these pursuits represent a modicum of freedom in the interstices of slavery, or did they further shackle enslaved people by other means? Justene Hill Edwards illuminates the inner workings of the slaves’ economy and the strategies that enslaved people used to participate in the market. Focusing on South Carolina from the colonial period to the Civil War, she examines how the capitalist development of slavery influenced the economic lives of enslaved people. Hill Edwards demonstrates that as enslavers embraced increasingly capitalist principles, enslaved people slowly lost their economic autonomy. As slaveholders became more profit-oriented in the nineteenth century, they also sought to control enslaved people’s economic behavior and capture the gains. Despite enslaved people’s aptitude for enterprise, their market activities came to be one more part of the violent and exploitative regime that shaped their lives. Drawing on wide-ranging archival research to expand our understanding of racial capitalism, Unfree Markets shows the limits of the connection between economic activity and freedom. |
african american history in virginia: Slave Laws in Virginia Philip J. Schwarz, 2010-05-01 The five essays in Slave Laws in Virginia explore two centuries of the ever-changing relationship between a major slave society and the laws that guided it. The topics covered are diverse, including the African judicial background of African American slaves, Thomas Jefferson's relationship with the laws of slavery, the capital punishment of slaves, nineteenth-century penal transportation of slaves from Virginia as related to the interstate slave trade and the changing market for slaves, and Virginia's experience with its own fugitive slave laws. Through the history of one large extended family of ex-slaves, Philip J. Schwarz's conclusion examines how the law shaped the interaction between former slaves and masters after emancipation. Instead of relying on a static view of these two centuries, the author focuses on the diverse and changing ways that lawmakers and law enforcers responded to slaves' behavior and to whites' perceptions of and assumptions about that behavior. |
african american history in virginia: Black Huntington Cicero M Fain III, 2019-05-16 How African Americans thrived in a West Virginia city By 1930, Huntington had become West Virginia's largest city. Its booming economy and relatively tolerant racial climate attracted African Americans from across Appalachia and the South. Prosperity gave these migrants political clout and spurred the formation of communities that defined black Huntington--factors that empowered blacks to confront institutionalized and industrial racism on the one hand and the white embrace of Jim Crow on the other. Cicero M. Fain III illuminates the unique cultural identity and dynamic sense of accomplishment and purpose that transformed African American life in Huntington. Using interviews and untapped archival materials, Fain details the rise and consolidation of the black working class as it pursued, then fulfilled, its aspirations. He also reveals how African Americans developed a host of strategies--strong kin and social networks, institutional development, property ownership, and legal challenges--to defend their gains in the face of the white status quo. Eye-opening and eloquent, Black Huntington makes visible another facet of the African American experience in Appalachia. |
african american history in virginia: The Mis-education of the Negro Carter Godwin Woodson, 1969 |
african american history in virginia: Invisible Founders Lynn Rainville, 2019-06-14 Literal and metaphorical excavations at Sweet Briar College reveal how African American labor enabled the transformation of Sweet Briar Plantation into a private women’s college in 1906. This volume tells the story of the invisible founders of a college founded by and for white women. Despite being built and maintained by African American families, the college did not integrate its student body for sixty years after it opened. In the process, Invisible Founders challenges our ideas of what a college “founder” is, restoring African American narratives to their deserved and central place in the story of a single institution — one that serves as a microcosm of the American South. |
african american history in virginia: Roots of Secession William A. Link, 2004-01-21 Offering a provocative new look at the politics of secession in antebellum Virginia, William Link places African Americans at the center of events and argues that their acts of defiance and rebellion had powerful political repercussions throughout the turbulent period leading up to the Civil War. An upper South state with nearly half a million slaves--more than any other state in the nation--and some 50,000 free blacks, Virginia witnessed a uniquely volatile convergence of slave resistance and electoral politics in the 1850s. While masters struggled with slaves, disunionists sought to join a regionwide effort to secede and moderates sought to protect slavery but remain in the Union. Arguing for a definition of political action that extends beyond the electoral sphere, Link shows that the coming of the Civil War was directly connected to Virginia's system of slavery, as the tension between defiant slaves and anxious slaveholders energized Virginia politics and spurred on the impending sectional crisis. |
african american history in virginia: Virginia Waterways and the Underground Railroad Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander, PhD, 2017 A part of the Underground Railroad, read here of enslaved people and their stories of using Virginia's waterways to achieve freedom. Enslaved Virginians sought freedom from the time they were first brought to the Jamestown colony in 1619. Acts of self-emancipation were aided by Virginia's waterways, which became part of the network of the Underground Railroad in the years before the Civil War. Watermen willing to help escaped slaves made eighteenth-century Norfolk a haven for freedom seekers. Famous nineteenth-century escapees like Shadrack Minkins and Henry Box Brown were aided by the Underground Railroad. Enslaved men like Henry Lewey, known as Bluebeard, aided freedom seekers as conductors, and black and white sympathizers acted as station masters. Historian Cassandra Newby-Alexander narrates the ways that enslaved people used Virginia's waterways to achieve humanity's dream of freedom. |
african american history in virginia: Slavery and the University Leslie Maria Harris, James T. Campbell, Alfred L. Brophy, 2019-02-01 Slavery and the University is the first edited collection of scholarly essays devoted solely to the histories and legacies of this subject on North American campuses and in their Atlantic contexts. Gathering together contributions from scholars, activists, and administrators, the volume combines two broad bodies of work: (1) historically based interdisciplinary research on the presence of slavery at higher education institutions in terms of the development of proslavery and antislavery thought and the use of slave labor; and (2) analysis on the ways in which the legacies of slavery in institutions of higher education continued in the post-Civil War era to the present day. The collection features broadly themed essays on issues of religion, economy, and the regional slave trade of the Caribbean. It also includes case studies of slavery's influence on specific institutions, such as Princeton University, Harvard University, Oberlin College, Emory University, and the University of Alabama. Though the roots of Slavery and the University stem from a 2011 conference at Emory University, the collection extends outward to incorporate recent findings. As such, it offers a roadmap to one of the most exciting developments in the field of U.S. slavery studies and to ways of thinking about racial diversity in the history and current practices of higher education. |
african american history in virginia: In Their Words Laten Bechtel, 2017-01-30 30 interviews of African Americans who grew up in the Jim Crow South and experienced society's move from segregation to integration. |
african american history in virginia: The Negro in Sports Edwin Bancroft Henderson, 1949 |
african american history in virginia: An African American History of the Civil War in Hampton Roads Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander, 2010-09 It was in Hampton Roads, Virginia, that hundreds gained their freedom. The teeming wharves were once a major station on the Underground Railroad, and during the Civil War, escaped slaves such as Shepard Mallory, Frank Baker and James Townsend fled to Fort Monroe to become contrabands under the protection of General Benjamin Butler. Upon arrival in the region, many took up arms for the Union, and the valiant deeds of some placed them among the first African American Medal of Honor recipients. Join Professor Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander as she charts the history of this remarkable African American community from the Civil War to Reconstruction. Through a fascinating narrative and stunning vintage photographs, readers will discover the struggles and triumphs of the African Americans of Hampton Roads. |
african american history in virginia: Notes on the State of Virginia Thomas Jefferson, 1787 |
african american history in virginia: Weevils in the Wheat Charles L. Perdue, Thomas E. Barden, Robert K. Phillips, 1992 For Henry Adams at the turn of the twentieth century, as for his successors in the twenty-first, the relation of mind to a world remade by technology and geopolitical conflict largely determined the destiny of civil life. Henry Adams and the Need to Know presents fourteen essays that articulate Adams' ongoing preoccupation with knowledge, stressing his eclecticism and his need to clarify the role of critical intelligence in public life. Adams' work appeals to a wide spectrum of historical and literary inquiry and claims a place in multiple scholarly contexts. The topics covered in this volume range from international politics (of Adams' age and ours) to portraiture, from orientalism and travel literature to the disintegration of the human mind. Here, leading scholars explore often-overlooked details of Adams' relationships with people and ideas. They reopen settled topics and reframe truisms. Each essay affirms, in one way or another, that to study Adams is to discover his continuing and astonishing relevance. |
african american history in virginia: Begin with the Past Mabel O. Wilson, 2016-09-27 Rising on the National Mall next to the Washington Monument, the National Museum of African American History and Culture is a tiered bronze beacon inviting everyone to learn about the richness and diversity of the African American experience and how it helped shape this nation. Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture is the story of how this unparalleled museum found its place in the nation’s collective memory and on its public commons. Begin with the Past presents the long history of efforts to build a permanent place to collect, study, and present African American history and culture. In 2003 the museum was officially established at long last, yet the work of the museum was only just beginning. The book traces the appointment of the director, the selection of the site, and the process of conceiving, designing, and constructing a public monument to the achievements and contributions of African Americans. The careful selection of architects, designers, and engineers culminated in a museum that embodies African American sensibilities about space, form, and material and incorporates rich cultural symbols into the design of the building and its surrounding landscape. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a place for all Americans to understand our past and embrace our future, and this book is a testament to the inspiration and determination that went into creating this unique place. |
Africa - Wikipedia
African nations cooperate through the establishment of the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa. Africa is highly biodiverse; [17] it is the continent with the largest number of …
Africa | History, People, Countries, Regions, Map, & Facts
5 days ago · African regions are treated under the titles Central Africa, eastern Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and western Africa; these articles also contain the principal treatment …
Map of Africa | List of African Countries Alphabetically - World Maps
Africa is the second largest and most populous continent in the world after Asia. The area of Africa without islands is 11.3 million square miles (29.2 million sq km), with islands - about 11.7 …
The 54 Countries in Africa in Alphabetical Order
May 14, 2025 · Here is the alphabetical list of the African country names with their capitals. We have also included the countries’ regions, the international standard for country codes (ISO …
Africa - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
African independence movements had their first success in 1951, when Libya became the first former colony to become independent. Modern African history is full of revolutions and wars , …
Africa: Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa - HISTORY
African History Africa is a large and diverse continent that extends from South Africa northward to the Mediterranean Sea. The continent makes up one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth.
Africa Map: Regions, Geography, Facts & Figures | Infoplease
What Are the Big 3 African Countries? Three of the largest and most influential countries in Africa are Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with a …
Africa - New World Encyclopedia
Since the end of colonial status, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The vast majority of African nations are republics …
Africa Map / Map of Africa - Worldatlas.com
Africa, the planet's 2nd largest continent and the second most-populous continent (after Asia) includes (54) individual countries, and Western Sahara, a member state of the African Union …
Africa: Human Geography - Education
Jun 4, 2025 · Cultural Geography Historic Cultures The African continent has a unique place in human history. Widely believed to be the “cradle of humankind,” Africa is the only continent …
Africa - Wikipedia
African nations cooperate through the establishment of the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa. Africa is highly biodiverse; [17] it is the continent with the largest number of …
Africa | History, People, Countries, Regions, Map, & Facts | Britannica
5 days ago · African regions are treated under the titles Central Africa, eastern Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and western Africa; these articles also contain the principal treatment …
Map of Africa | List of African Countries Alphabetically - World Maps
Africa is the second largest and most populous continent in the world after Asia. The area of Africa without islands is 11.3 million square miles (29.2 million sq km), with islands - about …
The 54 Countries in Africa in Alphabetical Order
May 14, 2025 · Here is the alphabetical list of the African country names with their capitals. We have also included the countries’ regions, the international standard for country codes (ISO …
Africa - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
African independence movements had their first success in 1951, when Libya became the first former colony to become independent. Modern African history is full of revolutions and wars , …
Africa: Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa - HISTORY
African History Africa is a large and diverse continent that extends from South Africa northward to the Mediterranean Sea. The continent makes up one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth.
Africa Map: Regions, Geography, Facts & Figures | Infoplease
What Are the Big 3 African Countries? Three of the largest and most influential countries in Africa are Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with a …
Africa - New World Encyclopedia
Since the end of colonial status, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The vast majority of African nations are republics …
Africa Map / Map of Africa - Worldatlas.com
Africa, the planet's 2nd largest continent and the second most-populous continent (after Asia) includes (54) individual countries, and Western Sahara, a member state of the African Union …
Africa: Human Geography - Education
Jun 4, 2025 · Cultural Geography Historic Cultures The African continent has a unique place in human history. Widely believed to be the “cradle of humankind,” Africa is the only continent …