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George Bourne declared that illustrations in his Picture of Slavery, first published in 1834, were accurate illustrations of slavery. A clergyman, Bourne became an abolitionist while serving a Presbyterian church in the Harrisonburg, Virginia, area.…

Auction of enslaved people

Henry Bibb escaped slavery in 1838 and became a leading figure in the fugitive slave community in Canada. In his memoir, he described an auction of enslaved people: "The slaves were offered on the auction block one after another, until they were all…

This page from the convention's attendance book records the attendance and per diem allowances for Delegate William H. Andrews, who represented Isle of Wight and Surry Counties. A native of New Jersey, Andrews moved to Virginia to teach at the end of…

This November 1865 contract between William D. Floyd, of Lunenburg County, and six members of the Burnett family is a fairly typical agreement by which a landowner allowed workers to farm his land in exchange of a share of the crop that the workers…

In December 1865 Nancy Arvin contracted with William Arvin Jr., possibly her former owner, to care for his farm for a suit of summer and winter clothing for her and three of her children and for wages for two of her other children. In the aftermath…

In this contract, Catharine L. Cate agreed to work as a cook for B. J. Johns for the rate of $5 per month along with lodging and rations ("found"). They agreed that any changes to the contract would be made before a local Freedmen's Bureau agent,…

Arthur Greene was born enslaved in Nottoway County. He describes the treatment of slaves, punishments, meetings, patrollers, fugitive slaves, and conditions of freedpeople after the end of the Civil War.