Free Blacks – Page 2 – The UncommonWealth

A Disregard of Freedom: Burwell versus Pilson’s Administrators

What does it mean to be free? Some might define freedom as having no obligations to a particular thing or person. A free person cannot…

Sherri BagleyDecember 2, 2015

Archives Digital Projects

Henry Co. Cohabitation Register and African-American Naming Practices

The Library of Virginia has completed the digitization and transcription of the last of the cohabitation registers in its possession, the Henry County Cohabitation Register, 1866.…

Sonya ColemanFebruary 26, 2014

Conservation

History Restored: Free Negro Registers Conserved

While watching the February 2012 episode of NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? featuring actor and Petersburg native Blair Underwood investigating his family history, Library of…

Sarah NerneyMarch 27, 2013

Wills, Slavery, and Freedom in Augusta Co.

In November of 1860, executor William F. Smith was in a pickle. Charged with settling the estate of Elizabeth P. Via of Augusta County, he…

Sarah NerneyFebruary 20, 2013

You Have No Right: Jane Webb’s Story

The colonial era Northampton County court records tell a fascinating story of a woman named Jane Webb. Born of a white mother, she was a…

Greg CrawfordNovember 14, 2012

Archives Education & Programming

"hundreds of the descendants of Indians have obtained their freedom:" Freedom Suits in 18th & 19th Century Virginia

A small slip of paper on display in the Library of Virginia’s latest exhibition You Have No Right: Law and Justice in Virginia, running 24 September 2012-18…

Brent TarterSeptember 26, 2012