Two years ago, the Library of Virginia launched Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative, a digital collection aimed at helping researchers break through the “roadblock”…
Greg CrawfordFebruary 7, 2018
Ibby Jane Smith was born in January 1864 in Northampton County, Virginia, the daughter of Leah Smith, also called Leah Jacob, and Seth Smith, also…
Louise JonesMarch 29, 2017
As told in an earlier blog, James Dunlop of Petersburg emancipated his slave, John Brown, in April 1822 through a deed of manumission. One would…
Greg CrawfordFebruary 15, 2017
In 1856, the General Assembly decided that free African Americans could petition their county or city court to be enslaved. These individuals had to be…
Cara GriggsJanuary 11, 2017
On 23 August 1831, Governor John Floyd received a hastily written note from the Southampton County postmaster stating “that an insurrection of the slaves in…
Sonya ColemanOctober 12, 2016
Author and researcher Deborah Harding recently donated to the Library of Virginia a rare, firsthand account of slavery and its aftermath written by Willis M.…
Margaret RhettMay 11, 2016
In 1820, Rachel Findley won freedom for herself and more than 35 of her descendants in a Powhatan County court in a law suit dating…
Greg CrawfordFebruary 3, 2016
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts on the record types found in the forthcoming Library of Virginia research database: Virginia Untold: The…
Ed JordanJanuary 27, 2016
This is the third in a series of blog posts on the record types found in the forthcoming Library of Virginia research database: Virginia Untold: The…
Greg CrawfordJanuary 20, 2016
This is the second in a series of blog posts on the record types found in the forthcoming Library of Virginia research database: Virginia Untold: The…
Greg CrawfordJanuary 13, 2016
This is the first in a series of blog posts on the record types found in the forthcoming Library of Virginia research database: Virginia Untold: The…
Chris SmithJanuary 6, 2016
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
Cohabitation registers are among the most important genealogical resources for African-Americans attempting to connect their family lines back through the murky past to their enslaved…
Sarah NerneyJuly 29, 2015
This is the third in a series of four blog posts concerning post-Civil War Virginia and the lives of freedpeople after Emancipation. The posts precede…
Greg CrawfordJune 24, 2015
