Description
A vital new volume exploring the history of Virginia’s free Black population prior to emancipation.
On the eve of the Civil War, around 60,000 Black men, women and children lived free in the state of Virginia, often alongside enslaved neighbours. This volume is a history documenting the richness and variety of their lives. Although many stayed in Virginia, living, working and thriving despite serious threats to their lives, some moved north or, further still, across the Atlantic to Liberia. In studying the lives of free Black Virginians prior to emancipation, this volume explores an under-told and inspirational story of Virginia’s past.
By delving into collections across the Commonwealth, whether the records of the state or testimonies left by free Black people themselves, this new volume fills a critical gap in our understanding of Virginia’s Black history.
Melvin Patrick Ely is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities and Professor of History at the College of William & Mary, VA
Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander is professor of History and endowed professor of Virginia Black History and Culture and emeritus director of the Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center at Norfolk State University, VA
Stephen Rockenbach is a professor of History, Interim Chair, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, and assistant Dean of CHSS for Student Affairs, Virginia State University
Sabrina G. Watson is an instructor and doctoral candidate in the Department of History and Philosophy at Virginia State University
Evanda S. Watts-Martinez is director of Counseling Services and assistant professor of Education at Richard Bland College of William & Mary, VA and Co-Chair of the college’s Racial Justice & Equity Task Force
Table of Contents
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- Foreword by James W. Dyke, Jr., Tim Sullivan, Alvin J. Schexnider
- Acknowledgments by Jamie O. Bosket
- Introduction by Dr. Elizabeth M. Klaczynski
- Chapter 1: Black Freedom in Slaveholding Virginia by Melvin Patrick Ely
- Chapter 2: The Christian Faith and Legacies of Liberation in Virginia’s Free Black Society by Evanda S. Watts-Martinez
- Chapter 3: Free Black People in Rural Virginia: Forms of Resistance by Sabrina G. Watson
- Chapter 4: Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Free Black Émigrés, and the Liberian Experiment by Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander
- Chapter 5: Education, Politics, and the Legacy of Free Black Virginians after Emancipation by Stephen Rockenbach
- Afterword by Jamie O. Bosket
- Contributors
- Endnotes
- Index
