Browse Items (222 total)

On January 20, 1843, a petition from residents of King William County was presented to the House of Delegates. The men who signed it asked the General Assembly to sell the lands that the royal government had set aside for the Pamunkey Indians by…

The American Revolution was not only fought along the eastern seabord between the Continental Army and patriot militia and the British troops and their loyalist militia allies. An equally fierce battle raged in the Appalachian mountains between the…

“At the Mercy of the Deluge” by artist George H, Ben Johnson was published in the Richmond Planet on July 19, 1919. A mail carrier and an artist, he began publishing editorial cartoons in the Richmond Planet in 1918. His cartoons appeared weekly in…

The Supreme Court’s 1896 decision in Plessy v Ferguson that “separate but equal” accommodations did not violate the rights of Black citizens paved the way for states across the South to pass formal segregation laws. In 1902, Louisiana passed the…

Prior to the Civil War, Virginia did not have a comprehensive public school system. Some localities provided some "free schools" or "charity schools" for the children of indigent white families. African Americans, free and enslaved, were excluded…

Prior to the Civil War, enslaved men and women were not legally allowed to marry. However, many enslaved couples considered themselves married, despite the lack of legal protection and recognition. Often, families were split apart by enslavers who…

Hiring out enslaved men, women, and children was a common business arrangement among Virginians prior to emancipation and the abolishment of slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The practice of hiring out, which occurred in…

Using the data from the 1860 census, this map was created in 1861. It shows the distribution of enslaved Virginians in each of the state's counties, with the darker shades showing the counties with the highest percentage of enslaved men, women, and…

Nat Turner was born enslaved in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1800. He became a preacher and self-proclaimed prophet who believed that he had been called to lead a rebellion against slavery. On August 21, 1831, Turner began a slave revolt that…

Gabriel’s Conspiracy illustrated the lengths to which some enslaved people were willing to fight for freedom in pre-Civil War America. In 1800, a group of enslaved men living in the vicinity of Richmond planned a conspiracy to take over the capital,…