The contents comprising the newest exhibition at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond are certainly significant.
But what is even more compelling is that many people are unaware of the existence of the population commemorated in “Un/Bound: Free Black Virginians, 1619-1865.”
The exhibit, which opened Saturday and will tour the state, features more than 200 stories of African Americans who were not enslaved, “a group of people we collectively don’t know much about,” said Elizabeth Klaczynski, who curated "Un/Bound."
Subject matter experts from Longwood University, Norfolk State University, Richard Bland College, William & Mary and Virginia State University collaborated.
Melvin Patrick Ely, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities at William & Mary, spent years researching the history of free African Americans in Virginia for his book, “Israel on the Appomattox.” The book details a community of liberated Black people in Israel Hill, 350 acres near Farmville.
“Something like 1 in 10 Black Virginians in the decade before the Civil War was already free,” Ely said. “They did everything from working on plantations alongside enslaved people all the way to becoming entrepreneurs and opening businesses.”
Only Maryland had larger numbers of free Black people than Virginia.
Ely said some African Americans were able to purchase their freedom by doing extra work during the course of several years. White women had children with enslaved Black men and those children were born free. A law passed in Virginia after the Revolutionary War allowed owners to free their enslaved if they wished.
Many did, motivated possibly by their own scruples or, more likely, by what made economic sense.
“If you own human beings, you are supporting them from cradle to the grave,” Ely said. “You’re supporting them year-round, even when there isn’t much being grown. The advantage of free labor is you pay people when you need them, and when you don’t, you tell them to take a hike.”
Several stories in the exhibition’s Community Focus section are specific to the Hampton Roads area. Among them:
- Mary Peake, born free in Norfolk in 1823 and educated in Washington, D.C. Peake moved to Hampton in 1847, where she later founded a school that taught children of the formerly enslaved under what is today known as the Emancipation Oak tree on the Hampton University campus.
- Matthew Ashby of Williamsburg, a man of mixed race born free, petitioned the Governor’s Council to free his wife, Ann, and two children, Mary and John. The exhibit contains a Bray School student roster from 1765 listing Mary Ashby’s name. Clay marbles from the Bray School are also part of the exhibit. The recently restored Bray School will open to the public on June 19 as part of Juneteenth programming.
- A small contingent of free Black people in Northampton County on the Eastern Shore created families, bought and leased land, but often found themselves in court fighting restrictions faced by Black Virginians.
While the exhibit includes only a few artifacts, it contains many state records and documents. One that moves Klaczynski is a facsimile of a $200 bond from a business transaction between a white man and a Black man. Black men were often illiterate and signed their names with an X. However, Benjamin Short signed his full name, which is remarkable, Klaczynski said, “for someone who was born enslaved and most likely did not know how to read or write before gaining his freedom.”
A publication of multiple essays accompanying the exhibit begins with a foreword by Alvin J. Schexnider, a former interim president of Norfolk State; Tim Sullivan, president emeritus of William & Mary; and James W. Dyke Jr., a former Virginia secretary of education.
The exhibition is not focused on better-known historical figures. Its impact stems from community stories. Black Virginians usually weren’t vocal against the system of slavery. They couldn’t vote, nor were they involved in the political process.
“If you wanted to help enslaved people, probably the most counterproductive thing you could do would be to agitate against slavery,” Ely said. “There were very few white people in the state of Virginia who did not believe slavery was a valid system.”
But many free Black Virginians found ways to offer support. The exhibit highlights a few, such as Jane Minor, an African American nurse in Petersburg, who was freed after she successfully treated several patients during a fever epidemic in 1825.
“She purchased multiple people for the express purpose of emancipating them,” said Klaczynski, adding that she anticipates the reaction to “Un/bound” to be emotional and thought-provoking.
“I expect some people will be walking about with questions about freedom. What is freedom? Who gets to be free? What are the power structures that define it? And what are some of those dynamics that are happening in our world today?”
The limited traveling version of the exhibit will start in October and will be available to libraries, community centers, schools and other public venues.
Visit virginiahistory.org for more information.
Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 428 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd., Richmond. Free for VMHC members, EBT or SNAP cardholders, children 5 and younger and student groups. $12 for adults, with discounts for seniors, educators, students, active military and veterans.
