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On January 1, 1866, William H. Eubank hired African Americans Bob, David, George, Patrick, Louisa, and Susan to farm his land for the ensuing year. The labor contract specified what Eubank would pay each of them and that he supplied lodging and…

First African Baptist Church was founded in Richmond in 1841 when the white and black members of the city's First Baptist Church separated into two congregations. First African Baptist Church may have been one of the largest church buildings in…

After slavery, African Americans controlled their own labor and by the end of the nineteenth century more African Americans owned their own farms in Virginia than in any other state.

The Thirteenth Amendment formally abolished slavery in the United States.

Seeking to establish a self-defined "National Thanksgiving Day for Freedom," African Americans sponsored a three-day Colored People's Celebration, held in Richmond, in October 1890.

A few days before holding an Emancipation Proclamation celebration in October 1890, Richmond residents debated what should be the proper date for commemorating the abolition of slavery.

In 1905 African Americans in Richmond celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the end of slavery.

An African American soldier was photographed in his United States Army uniform, along with his wife and two daughters. In May 1863, U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton issued General Order No. 143 creating the Bureau of U. S. Colored Troops.…

During the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864, Major General Edward Johnson and Brigadier G. H. Stewart were captured.

The freedmen of Petersburg chose a man named David May to represent them to the Freedmen's Bureau "to adjudicate in all claims, or cases of difficulty arising between Whites and Freedmen, or between Negroes themselves."