Browse Items (373 total)

Christopher Bernard Howard sets an example for Hampden-Sydney students and for everyone through his impressive sum of service to the country and youth-enrichment efforts in Africa and the United States.

Hampden-Sydney

Born into slavery, Lucy Francis Simms was a highly respected elementary school teacher in Harrisonburg for more then fifty years.

Harrisonburg

An extraordinary orator who preached throughout the eastern United States, John Jasper in 1867 established Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, in Richmond.

Richmond

Born into slavery, Noah Davis raised more than $4,000 to free himself and his family members during the 1840s and 1850s.

Fredericksburg

Born enslaved, Lucy Goode Brooks founded the Friends' Asylum for Colored Orphans in Richmond.

Richmond

A free African American before the Civil War, William Breedlove won election in 1867 to a convention called to rewrite Virginia's state constitution.

Essex

Born into slavery, John Wesley Cromwell went on to become an attorney, educator, and publisher of the People's Advocate.

Portsmouth and Norfolk County

Born into slavery, Fields Cook became a prominent African American leader in Richmond and Alexandria in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Richmond and Alexandria

An enslaved man, Blind Billy was a renowned Lynchburg fifer.

Lynchburg

After his family was suddenly sold out of the state in 1848, he shipped himself in a wooden crate to freedom in 1849.

Richmond