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Following the Civil War, America's primary goal was rebuilding on the principles of a unified America. The University of Virginia provides a great overview, especially from the perspective of Richmond and Virginia, of this time period, known as Reconstruction: https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/overview. The U.S. government intervened in Southern states through Reconstruction, attempting to alleviate asperities associated with integrating emancipated African Americans into a more equal way of life.
To help, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was formed on March 3, 1865, with work in Virginia beginning early June of that year. It was also known as the Freedmen's Bureau (which I first mentioned in Week 9: Freedom from Fear). As we dive into the Freedmen's Bureau records, I'm starting with the subdivision reports for Shenandoah County. These are broken up into two letters, due to their length. According to General Order #1 in June 1866, the Shenandoah Division included four sub-divisions: a) Jefferson and Berkeley Counties, West Virginia, b) Frederick and Clarke Counties, Virginia, c) Warren and Page Counties, Virginia, d) Shenandoah and Rockingham Counties, Virginia. Reports were sent to the assistant commissioner in Baltimore, Maryland. Woodstock, Virginia, housed one of the field offices for the Freedmen's Bureau. The Freedmen's Bureau issued rations and medical relief to both recently emancipated African American and white refugees, supervised labor contracts, administered justice, and worked with benevolent societies to establish schools. Currently, these records are accessible via microfilm at The Library of Virginia, reel Misc 5526. I'm going to share those that give a picture of life in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and nearby areas. Today, we focus on reports from 1866 and 1867. Next week, we will look at those from 1868, which are a little lengthier than these. The assistant commissioner's report from 1867 reveals the "total number of the colored population of the counties of Shenandoah and Page (included): - Woodstock: 196 - Mount Jackson: 67 - Strasburg & Murraytown: 74 - Edinburg: 17 - New Market: 55" In June 1866, Remington in Winchester, VA, wrote a report that includes the following Shenandoah County updates: "Sub-district C, comprises the Counties of Shenandoah and Page. Lt. J.T.H. Hall V.R.C. Asst. Supt. with office at Woodstock, Shenandoah Co. The feeling towards the freedmen, and towards the Bureau in this sub-district is quite better. The records of the office of the Asst. Supt. are in a fair condition. "1st The condition of the freedmen is fair. "2d No cases in which the freedmen are concerned have been tried before the Civil Courts, the freedmen showing a great disinclination to bring their cases before tribunals from which the state of feeling in the community renders it hardly probable that full and impartial justice would be meted out to them. "3d The record of marriages has been commenced in proper form, and certificates of marriages are given... "4t The authorities intend to provide for the indigent freedmen, but their means are at present very inadequate. The poor house buildings were burned during the war, and have not yet been rebuilt. "5t The supply of labor is equal to the demand, and the able bodied freedmen are generally at work. "6t There is one school in the sub district at Massanutten which is thriving. There is a demand for schools at Woodstock, New Market, Mount Jackson and other points in the sub district. "Lieut. Hall considering the many annoyances to which he is subjected arising from the strong feeling of hostility to the Bureau in this Sub district has conducted affairs with a good degree of energy and success, and seems to show a determination to do for the benefit of the freedmen whatever is in his power" (June 18, 1966:4-5). A report from McDonnell in Winchester, VA, dated April 30, 1867 shares: "3d Sub-District Shenandoah & Rockingham Cos. "1st General condition improving, but not as rapidly as could be desired. The disposition to fulfill contracts is much better on the part of Freedpeople than on that of the whites, and a bitter prejudice towards the former & Bureau, as well as the government generally manifests itself very frequently. "2d The prejudice against Freedpeople is so great that in my opinion justice is not given them in cases where there are jury trials. The Magistrates show a bitter disposition except in a few cases. "3d A Register of Marriages has been made in both Counties, but not on the Bureau blanks, which have not been furnished... "4t The intention of the County authorities to provide for their own indigent poor is good, but the means at both Counties is altogether inadequate, and had it not been for the assistance rendered by the Bureau, much suffering would exist. "5t The supply of labor is equal to the demand, and the wages vary from $6 to $12 per month, according to the quality of the help. "6t The School at Harrisonburg is in a very flourishing condition, and reports 221 pupils. The School at Woodstock temporarily closed for a few days, is also in excellent condition, and the improvement in both places is such as to meet the approval of the most sanguine. Schools should also be established at Mount Jackson and New Market in Shenandoah County. In the former place, a room could be provided by the Freedpeople. "Lieut J. H. Hall, the officer in charge experiences some difficulty in performing his duty in this sub district, and a very bitter feeling towards him and the Bureau exists there. His books and papers are properly kept, and the affairs at his office are satisfactory" (April 1867:4-6). Six months later, a report from McDonnell in Winchester, VA, dated October 1, 1867, reveals that conditions are especially negative toward the Freedmen's Bureau in Shenandoah County: "3rd Division: Shenandoah and Rockingham Cos. "1st The condition of freedpeople in these Counties does not improve in any perceptible degree, owing to the intensely bitter feelings of the whites, especially in Shenandoah County, where a decided aversion is exhibited towards Lieut. Hall, the officer in charge. "2d Full and complete justice is not given in cases between white and colored people. In newer cases fines are never imposed, and in many cases where white men can obtain bail, colored men are committed for want of it. "3d The Register of Marriages is complete for Shenandoah County, and nearly so for Rockingham. As elsewhere, the Civil Authorities render no assistance in enforcing the law in relation to marriage, even where violations are known to exist. "4t As in Frederick & Clark Counties, out door relief is afforded to such as cannot be accommodated in the poor house, but here only to the amount of ten dollars per year for each person, which is wholly insufficient, and suffering must be endured by all who have no other dependence. "5t The supply of labor is equal to the demand, and will be during the coming months. The average rate of wages is about $8 per month. No public works in this division, and consequently the mass of the people are unemployed during the winter months. "6t One self sustaining school has been in operation at Woodstock, during the vacation of the free school but as the means of the people is very limited, it is doubtful whether it can continue for any length of time. A necessity for a school at New Market is apparent, and the people are very desirous to have one" (October 1867:5-6). By November 4, 1867, a new officer was in place. A report from McDonnell shares the following in regard to Shenandoah County: "I learn that the freedmen are doing very well. All at work for good wages, and that there is generally, no disposition among the citizens to treat them unfairly, as they view fairness. The Whites are an intensely disloyal people, in real sentiment, and were the protection of this Bureau to be withdrawn, the freedmen would be treated pretty much as they used to be." No one denies Shenandoah County residents the right to celebrate and remember their ancestors - even the ones that fought for the CSA. They should be remembered. But, the ideals of the Confederacy (discussed in Week 2: Confederate Congress and Week 5: The 13th Amendment) should not be celebrated or claimed for community identity in the United States today. The ancestors of African Americans and other Americans who did not have relatives fighting for the CSA should also be remembered and celebrated. When our leaders choose to place the names of some of these ancestors over the names of others, they are assigning weighted worth for one and claiming community identity. It's imperative to make sure that identity is inclusive and not divisive. The previous school board recognized this, weighed the evidence and facts and requests at hand, and made a difficult decision to change Confederate-leader-named public schools out of compassion and conviction that doing so was just and a positive step toward a more inclusive and peaceful community - a goal that mirrors the intent of the Freedmen's Bureau after the Civil War. The previous school board leaders did not become school board members with an agenda to change names. They rose to a challenge and did the best they could in guiding a positive vision for everyone. James Baldwin (1924-1987), an African American author whose voice was especially poignant during the Civil Rights time period, was the focus of a 2016 documentary, I am Not Your Negro. In it, he shares: "America is white. It's a shock that your country, to which you owe your life and identity, is against you." He continues, "there's a day when you wonder what your role is in this country." When we consider "we, the American people," how do military leaders who broke allegiance with The United States of America and fought against America as a foreign entity earn the right to usurp the identity of a public school today? Especially when children attend that school, whose ancestors were some of the very African Americans that were belittled, deemed inferior, and thwarted in their pursuit of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" during Reconstruction. In the words of Langston Hughes, an African American poet during the Harlem Renaissance, excerpted from his poem Let America Be America Again: "O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me, No freedom in this 'homeland of the free.')... O, let America be America again - The land that never has been yet - And yet must be - the land where every man is free. The land that's mine - the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME - Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again... O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath - America will be!"
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The time period following the Civil War was one of finding balance, as families from all across the United States and its territories returned to a new normalcy. In many places homes and barns were burned, crops ruined, but for every American family one thing was true: all were impacted by loss of some kind. Over the next few weeks, we're going to dive into community perceptions and decisions that impacted the African American population in Shenandoah County using primary source documents and newspapers. My focus is on their story. This isn't about shame or blame - and to demonstrate this, I'm not sharing names, unless they are helpful in recognizing how African Americans contributed in positive ways to our community - a community that has not always been hospitable to minority groups, especially after the Civil War and through the Civil Rights period.
Our first image falls to what community members thought about the impact of the Civil War and what is termed in historical primary source documents as "negro equality" from the perspective of Virginia, and especially Shenandoah County. To gain this, we look at examples of their voices through newspaper and letter testimonies from 1865. In December 1865, the Shepherdstown Registrar, which included information for Shenandoah County as much as the counties immediately west of North Mountain in West Virginia, ran an article entitled, "What Will They Do?" This article was a rumination on the Freedmen in the local communities and demonstrates a sentiment shared by many in the counties of northwestern Virginia. We will be talking about the term freedmen next week. Here is an excerpt: "'Tis certainly a question of great importance to the Agricultural portion of our community to know what reliance can be placed upon the 'Freedmen,' and whether he will make any contract upon any terms whatever, for the coming year; and it is a question of far more vital importance to the 'Freedman' himself to determine what he will do to support himself and those who may be depending upon him for the ensuing year. Hitherto the Freedmen have shown themselves totally void of any honesty in fulfilling their contracts, and have been waiting for Christmas to come for something to turn up, whereby they will be furnished with houses to live in and have rations supplied them, without any thought or labor on their part. This foolish, not to say nefarious idea, has been put into their heads by evil disposed persons, ignorant of the consequences, and doubtless wishing that the property of their more fortunate neighbors might be taken and distributed among the worthless population that now hangs like an incubus upon society. "The sooner these extravagant and foolish notions are eradicated from the minds of the negro, the better it will be for them. Their very existence and the subsistence of themselves and families depend upon it. Freedom carries with it only the liberty to work for themselves - man must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. They have now new cares and responsibilities, such as they knew not of in a state of slavery. They have their families to cloth and support, taxes to pay and doctor's bills to foot, and they will have to labor harder than they ever did to meet these increased demands. "The whole community is interested in the welfare of the negro, and his being employed in some capacity by which he can earn a livelihood. It becomes every one's duty to dispel from the mind of the Freedman all false notions about the Government supporting him, giving him land, &c., and instill into his mind that he must work and that he must make contracts for labor for the future and keep them when made. He must show himself worthy of reliance or he can never make a living in this community. He must not suppose that working by the day will keep him constantly employed and secure him a fixed support. Men who need their services cannot depend upon the uncertainty of changing their hands every day. "We state these things to call attention of the negro to his true condition, in order that he may not be lead away by false teachers, and that the community may look to its own safety, in removing and guarding against the depredations of an idle and vagrant population" (30 December 1865, p. 2). Similarly, the Staunton Spectator states: "The hardest lesson for the negro to learn seems to be the fact that he incurred new responsibilities, as well as new rights, by the result of the war. One of these responsibilities is the obligation to perform his contracts. The white man has to perform his, and there are laws imposing penalties if he fails or refuses to perform them. - The negro freedman must also be made amenable to laws and penalties, that will make him perform his obligations, else he never will be a useful or reliable member of society" (Vol 42, No 27, 26 Dec 1865, p.2). In discussion of a congressional action in December 1865, the editors of the Spirit of Jefferson write: "It is evidently the firm determination of the majority of the lower House, to keep back the reconstruction of the Union, for which we were formerly told the war was waged, till such time as the Southern States shall certainly signify their willingness to extend the right of suffrage to the negro, and otherwise put them up on terms of full and perfect political, and may be social, equality with the white race. We can put no trust in men... (that) ...have had, all their lives long, negro on the brain, and the disease is so absorbing in its character, that everything else must be subjected to it - constitutions, laws, justice and the commonest rights, must all be trampled under foot for the purpose of elevating the negro to the standard of the white man. And, in the meantime, while this ridiculous tilt is being made, the Southern States are to remain out of the Union, and the Southern people to be refused any participation in the government of the country - except the right to pay taxes. We, of the South, have met the issues involved in the war in a spirit of fairness, and have renewed our allegiance to the Union in all honesty, and we think we have the right to be treated as citizens of the Union and we look to the President to furnish to us the protecting power of the Constitution, in the sure hope that he will do his duty by us; if he fails in this duty, may God help us!" (19 December 1865, p.2). The Colonization Society placed this announcement in the November 1865 Sentinel: "The origin of our society... was founded by moderate men, who neither anathematized slaveholders as worse than murderers, nor eulogized slavery as not only morally innocent, and in some respects, beneficent and conservative, but as the source of all true civilization. They neither maintained the entire equality of the negro with the white man, nor his utter and permanent inferiority, as belong to a lower race... Now the condition of the emancipated negro, worse, in many respects, than before emancipation, will be far more calculated to drive him into exile, than that of the Irishman. Should the whites do their best to improve the condition of the blacks, the prejudice of color, the necessary political and social distinctions, will gall more and more the spirit of the negro, who will have learned too well to estimate his rights. His impatience at what he conceives to be injustice will, in many cases, overcome his powerful local attachments. Finding the mortality in his class to be very great in America, he will think he can risk little by going to Africa." The authors of the article continue by proclaiming an exodus of negroes to Africa will not be swiftly accomplished, so as to cause a collapse of labor in the Southern States, but would "make way for another population attracted into the vacuum" (Vol 3, No 91, 28 November 1865, p.2). The October 1865 Alexandria Gazette shares: "A paper published in the Shenandoah (Va.) Valley, says: On Wednesday morning last, we saw passing our office four small negro children - the largest about 8 years old, carrying an infant in his arms. All were bare-footed, thinly clad, and shivering with cold. We learned that their mother had left their former master in Rockingham, under the delusion which seems to be entertained by many of the negroes, that freedom exempts them from labor - and was strolling about the country. - She came to this neighborhood a day or two previous, and failing to secure shelter for herself and children, left them on the roadside on Tuesday night. The poor creatures were consequently endeavoring to make their way back to that comfortable home from which they had been forced by misguided philanthropy" (Vol 66, No 213, 19 October 1865, p.4). "A meeting of the conservative citizens of Shenandoah county, was held last week at Woodstock," reads an article in the Alexandria Gazette, "at which resolutions were passed recognizing the Constitutional authority of the U.S.," and "acquiescing in the abolition of slavery" (Vol 71, No 196, 18 September 1865, p.2). The Virginia Free Press from 1865 shares: "It appears that the rebel soldiers are outspoken. They say: 'We voted for the issues of slavery and State sovereignty; then we fought for them. We have been defeated overwhelmingly at all points. Now we give the contest up like men and like soldiers, and we go in honestly for a common country, for one sovereign nationality, and for universal freedom.' Their only dread and horror is of what they call 'negro equality'" (31 August 1865, p.2). A Richmond correspondent shared the following about a Virginia riot in 1865: "This case is entirely on a level with the recent outrages in Connecticut and with hundreds of facts that are of almost daily occurrence, not only in the States of the South, but even in those of the North. They all spring from one source - hatred of the negro on the part of the Rebels in the South and their sympathisers in the North. Being unable to keep them longer in bondage they are trying to exterminate the race" (Commercial Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 91, 21 August 1865, p.2). The Winchester News shares in the August 18, 1865 issue: "As the smoke and dust of the conflict have partially subsided, let us see what has been the result of the late struggle: 1st. Slavery has been exterminated. 2i. The country has been desolated. It now remains to be seen whether or not the country will be benefitted by the changes... Some of the Northern philosophers think that it will, but are giving every particle of sympathy they possess to the negro. There is little reliance to be placed in such men. They are gentlemen affected with negrophobia so badly that they take into small account the real interest of the white man. Their's is surely a funny school of philanthropy; but any doctrine, however fantastical, can always find supporters. Some men in Virginia are gradually giving way to these sentiments; and because the Governor of the State wishes to have a white man's government, take exceptions to his course. It is to be hoped that they may soon see the error of their ways" (Vol. 1, No. 7, p. 2). In a letter to her brother in 1865, a community member that lived in Mount Jackson, VA, shared news of their ravaged farms in Shenandoah County, Va, after the American Civil War: "you have not the least idea what we have suffered here in the Valley the last eighteen months of the war" (Moore, 4 August 1865, p.1). She continues in sentiment similar to what we have already read in the newspapers above, not without some situational hypocrisy: "help is very scarce although there is a crowd of negros coming back every day, they are idle and good for nothing, no one seems to want them, we still have Margaret, Ferrel & Coraline they have never left us, we are going to moove to the country this fall, and they seem to dislike the idea very much. I would not be surprised if they refused to go, if I lose Margaret I do not know what will become of me, for I feel less able to work now than I ever did in my life, Uncle Ben is still on the farm in Page, doing just as he did before the war, but don't know how long it will be so as all the darkies are demanding wages now that stay with there masters..." (Moore, 4 August 1865, p.1-2). Not only do these primary source documents share the upheaval of life caused by the Civil War, but most profoundly a resonance of bitterness and hatred toward African Americans. This theme of inequality and lack of acceptance rises again and again in the history of Shenandoah County, VA. It is a theme that serves as a root cause for a backlash by white Americans attempting to assert their dominance and disapproval in often passive aggressive ways that we will come to witness as recurring again and again. These voices are preserved for us to read firsthand and share the truth of the generations following the Civil War. A truth that is captured by African American writer James Baldwin so aptly: "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." Do we want our children today to imitate Confederate leaders in what they died fighting against - unity and equality? Do we want our children to imitate the cornerstone of inequality founded by the Confederacy? Do we want our children to condescendingly perceive others as unequal and less than, so much so that they should pick up arms against anyone they label, rather than alter their perceptions born of bias and ignorance? Or do we want them to look toward the American ideals of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for a future that inspires our community and cultivates a thriving peace and equality for every single American - not just those with a lower melanin count or with the same political party? My sons deserve a better example than Jackson, Lee, and Ashby. The daughters in our community deserve to see themselves in our community identity too. And we all deserve a better narrative than what the Confederacy can ever provide. As we learned a few weeks ago (Week 27: James Scott, A Free Man), James Scott, a free mulatto man who was part of the Beckford Parish - the Anglican parish that served Shenandoah County, claimed his innocence at both the Circuit and District Courts in an attempted robbery case that resulted in the death of a gentleman of European descent traveling through Shenandoah County. Not only was the charge elevated to first degree murder, but James Scott was hanged on November 11, 1803.
In the summer of 1807, an African American woman named Rachel was whipped to death. Two white men were tried for murder in Circuit Court - one was her enslaver, the other an overseer on the Shenandoah County plantation. Both claimed they were "in no wise Guilty" (Minute Book 1806-1810, pp. 116-117; Order Book 1806-1808, pp. 112-115). The Circuit Court did not find guilt, but rather sent the case to the District Court for further examination. One of the two men, the owner, did not show up for District Court. Proclamations were still being placed in the July, August, and September 1808 Virginia Argus papers stating that he was at large and issuing a $100 reward for his return to the justices of the peace in Frederick County for due processing. However, he appears to have left the county and faded into history, creating a new life for himself and able to do so. The second man appeared before the District Court on September 29, 1807. He respectfully requested a jury trial for his indictment and pleaded "not guilty." Twelve men of European descent were elected to serve on the jury, heard the witness, and concluded he was not guilty. As such, the court declared that he "be acquitted and discharged of the murder aforesaid and go thereof without delay and... be discharged from his imprisonment" (Superior Court Order Book, 1803-1807, 30 September 1807, p.34), even though just the day before his indictment was declared "a true bill," with sufficient evidence to justify prosecution. Comparing these two cases, racial bias and injustice are clearly evident. Shenandoah County's Circuit Court and District Court were used to condemn an African American to death; even though his culpability was questioned in the papers, and the death was an outcome of an attempted robbery. Scott claimed he was innocent of the charges. The court saw a black man charged with killing a white man. The black man was hanged to death. His death was deemed as justice to compensate for a white death. Rachel was whipped to death. Two men were charged with murder; one was acquitted and discharged, while the other fled and escaped punishment in the court of law. The court saw a white man charged with killing a black woman, who was deemed as chattel property. The white man was spared, without punishment. His freedom was deemed as justice to compensate for a black death. When I think about the renaming of public schools in America, a Maya Angelou quote is particularly apt: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." In attending the Shenandoah County Public Schools during the 1980s and 1990s, I was not taught the history of slavery in Shenandoah County, Va. I was told that slavery was only part of the Piedmont region because of the less mountainous and more fertile terrain. I was told that most of the slavery in America was in the deep South on cotton plantations. And, I was taught that leaders like Lee and Jackson were godlike heroes, protecting the freedom, land, and people of the South from Northern invasion. Even in the 1990s, I was learning Lost Cause Narrative; and even today, museums tout the sacredness of battlefields and record every campaign's movement as if it were scripture, completely ignoring the experiences of thousands of people that had been praying for true freedom since the founding of our country. If I didn't learn the truth about Shenandoah County history, then I'm sure you didn't either. But, now that you know about: James Scott, Rachel, Jacob, Stacy, Lett, Sukey, Fortune, March and Peter, Jeffrey and Peter; Ben Tom, Ned, Clary, and the two men from the furnace; Hannah, Jack, Minta, Monique (or Morriky), and her baby George that had no marketable worth, Harriet, William, Sally, Nancy, Ben, John; Jim Parister and Andrew Young; Ann, Caroline, and Fortune; Wesley and Jacob, Anthony, Martha, and Toby; Benjamin, Charlotte, Alfred, Milly, Charles, Sarah, James, Frank, Richard, and Lindy; George, James, Harry, and Betsy; Isaac, Jim, Betty, and Charlotte; Boatswin, Nan, Mary, Winney, George, Tom, James, Ann, Suse, and Jack; John, Nan Junior, and Lydia; Reuben and Doll and their future increase; Sall and Jenny; Rosena; Jesse, Claressy, George Hite, James Marshall and Mary, Nancy, Anthony, and William. And now that you know of the many more that are unnamed for hire, sold, and lived a life as chattel property or as a class below American citizenship in Shenandoah County, Va, even as free men and women born in this country, what are you going to do about it? Can you still argue that the names of Confederate generals, who fought for the continued enslavement and mistreatment of these human beings are the best examples for our innocent children in Shenandoah County, VA, today? I would argue that you cannot. But the story of Shenandoah County, Va, doesn't end here. With the abolition of slavery in 1865, a new chapter emerges. And that is what we will be discussing in the weeks ahead. Week 30: The Whim of the Court - A Look at Jacob, Stacy, Lett; March & Peter; Jeffrey & Peter6/1/2023 In Shenandoah County chancery cases, there are three cases of barn burning, in which enslaved individuals - Jacob, Stacy, and Lett - were charged during different years from 1796 to 1806.
Jacob, a "mulatto man slave" (Shenandoah County's Order Book 1795-1798, p.157) was charged in March 1796 with burning a barn. Those at court found him not guilty and diverted a charge to someone else. This other person was a man of European descent and although he had to pay a fine, he was not harmed in any other way. Stacy, "a negro slave" (Order Book 1799-1802, p.96), was charged with burning a barn on March 31, 1800. She was released as not guilty, which was also her plea. Lett, "a slave the property of L.B. charged with feloniously Burning a barn belonging to W.L. at the Courthouse this 9th day of June 1806" (Minute Book 1806-1810, p.29), pleaded "not guilty." Sufficient evidence allowed her to go free, as it did for Jacob and Stacy above - some of the few instances of justice in Shenandoah County's circuit court system when enslaved individuals were involved. But, the point is that the rulings in regard to enslaved African Americans and free mulattos are not consistent. Throughout the chancery cases, a majority of the public lashings and hangings noted in the records are in relation to people of color. The same crimes would only warrant a monetary fine for people of European descent and very often (as we will see next week), they weren't even held in custody of the sheriff between trials. Other cases show a very different story. March and Peter, who were both described as a "negro man slave" (Shenandoah County Minute Book 1781-1785, p.158) but of two different men in Orange County and as "prisoners" (p.158), were tried in Shenandoah County on "Stealing of a Peticoat and other articles..." (p.158) of three men of European descent and who were not their owners. March pleaded "not guilty" and Peter pleaded "guilty." The Court found both men guilty and weighed their decision thus: "the said March receive on his [bare] back Thirty lashes well laid on and that the said Peter receive on his [bare] back twenty lashes well laid on at the Publick Whiping Post (spelling as is) and that the Sheriff execute the same" (p.158). Why were their punishments different? Did our court give an extra ten lashes to March because we thought he was lying? Jeffrey, "a Negroe man slave the property of W.Y. of the County of Culpeper... stands charged with the killing of Peter a negroe man slave the property of I.S. of this county" (Shenandoah County Order Book 1795-1798, p. 415). More specifically, the charge states: "Jeffrey... on the 8th day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety seven, and within the Jurisdiction of the County of Shenandoah with force and arms, then and there being feloniously wilfully and of his malice afore-thought, did make an assault upon one Peter... then and there being in the peace of God and of the Commonwealth, and the said Jeffrey with a Billet of Wood ... of the value of one cent which he the said Jeffrey then and there held in his right hand beat, bruised and wounded the said Negroe Peter on the head of which said beating, bruising and wounding the said Peter died in two days, afterwards..." (p. 415) and thus, according to the court, Jeffrey "did kill and murder the said Negroe Peter, against the Peace and dignity of the Commonwealth" (p. 415). Jeffrey claimed he was "in no wise guilty of the crime aforesaid" (p. 415). The trial of general assembly was the usual method of such cases, as has been seen in previous posts (see Week 28: The Loss of Fortune for the most similar case), and as such, Jeffrey "putteth himself upon the Court" (p. 415). After listening to Jeffrey's testimony, the Court found him not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter, which is commonly defined as the unlawful killing of another human being without intent, malice, or forethought. He was punished by being burned on the hand, and given twenty-five lashes on his bare back well laid on at the Publick Whipping Post. The point of perusing these cases is to recognize the inconsistency and harshness of punishments used against African Americans; the visibility of these punishments to people in the community at a public whipping post, most likely located in front of the courthouse in downtown Woodstock, VA; as well as to remind us that the testimony of African Americans was always secondary to that of European Americans. There is no way a court would charge a "White" man unless a "White" man brought him forward. In Shenandoah County, the word of a "Black" man was only good for his own person, and usually not even good enough for himself in the eyes of the Court, which would have required verified testimony from "White" men. For example, the September 16, 1806 Virginia Herald notes in a Virginia case that "some of the strongest testimony exhibited before the called court and before the grand jury, was kept back" because "it was gleaned from the evidence of negroes, which is not permitted by our laws to go against a white man" (Vol 20, No 1572, p. 2). These aspects of our county's history are pertinent to decisions related to the public that we make today. It's imperative to remember all of the past so that we can do better in the future: sowing spaces with equality and justice for all community members, especially in those spaces where once these qualities were missing. Virginia newspapers are filled with notices of sales, chanceries, runaways, and captured runaways related to African Americans. Some notices do not give a specified Virginia location, but encourage interested persons to "Enquire of the Printer" or list a specific person's name in relation to inquiries regarding the listed sales. A brief and by all means inconclusive list includes the following types of entries; and please note, I tried to keep the spelling and capitalization the same as it was in the ad:
- "A Likely negro fellow, about 22 years of age: Also a boy about 14, and a wench who has been used to the field." (Virginia Herald, Volume 2, Number 53, 5 June 1788 p.4) - "TO BE SOLD... About FORTY likely Virginia-born NEGROES, consisting of men, women, and children!" (Virginia Herald, Volume 4, Number 181, 18 November 1790, p.4) - "To be SOLD for Ready Money... A likely Young Negro Wench, that has been brought up to house work: Also her Son, a smart boy, about two years old. Likewise a Negro Man, about 40 years of age, that has been accustomed to work both in the field and in the house." (Virginia Herald, Volume 8, Number 388, 6 November 1794, p.498) - "A Likely young Negro Woman and Child" (Virginia Herald, Volume 21, Number 1649, 16 June 1807, p1) - "A Negro Woman and Boy, (Her Child) / The Woman - about 19 years and Boy 3 years old - She is healthy, and accustomed to all kinds of housework" (Virginia Herald, Volume 21, Number 1683, 13 October 1807 p.1) - "Negroes for Sale: Three MEN - one a waggoner, another a wheelright, and the other a gardener... also, a WOMAN acquainted with house-work, and her child" (Virginia Herald, Volume 21, Number 1693, 17 November 1807, p.3) - "A Likely Negro Wench, 19 or 20 years old - with her two first Children" and "A Negro Man, about 45 years..." (Virginia Herald, Volume 22, Number 1765, 29 July 1808 p.3) - "For Sale, a Negro Shoemaker, about 29 years of age, and an excellent workman" (Virginia Herald, Volume 22, Number 1798, 23 November 1808, p.3) - "Wanted to hire for the ensuring year, a Negro Woman capable of Cooking and Washing for a Small family - For one of the above description who can come well recommended, a generous price will be given" (Virginia Herald, Volume 22, Number 1806, 21 December 1808, p.3) - "A valuable NEGRO WOMAN, about 17 years of age, and far advanced in pregnancy" and "A Negro Woman and Boy" and "Two young Negro Women" and "A Negro Woman and her two Children" (Virginia Herald, Volume 22, Number 1816, 28 January 1809, p.1) - "NEGROES for Sale. A VERY likely BOY and GIRL - The Boy is about 14 and the Girl 10 years of age" and "FOR SALE, 2 stout, healthy Negro MEN, Both brought up to the Farming Business and excellent Cradlers. They are also good Sawyers, and one of them a tolerable Shoemaker. They will not be sold out of the state, but are particularly recommended to Farmers in this or the adjoining counties, who may wish to own two such valuable Slaves. They have no Wives, and are not sold for any fault - they are now in their prime, the one thirty-three, and the other thirty-five, years old the present year." (Virginia Herald, Volume 1, Number 20, 6 September 1817, p.1) - "NOTICE. A Likely NEGRO BOY, aged about 10 or 11 years, for sale." (Virginia Herald, Volume 6, Number 41, 21 May 1823, p.4) The more pertinent entries you should know about are from Shenandoah County, since this is the basecamp of our study. These include the names of African Americans that ran away from their enslaving plantations: - in July 1790: "RUN AWAY from Redwell furnace in Shenandoah County, two servant men, about 21 years of age, five feet seven or eight inches high...one a fair complexion, the other marked with the smallpox, of a swarthy complexion; had on trowsers and blue sailor's jackets, felt hats worn..." (Virginia Herald and Frederick Advertiser, Volume 4, Number 161, 1 July 1790 p.4) - in September 1795: "a mulatto man named BEN, about five feet ten inches high, and about 35 years of age; he is remarkably near sighted. It is probable he will attempt to pass for a freeman. As he took more than one suit of cloths with him, his dress cannot be ascertained." (Virginia Herald and Frederick Advertiser, Volume 9, Number 449, 8 September 1795) - in September 1805: "TOM, Who absconded.. This fellow is about 21 or 22 years of age, very black, about 6 feet high, weighs about 190 pounds, has a scar on his right arm near his elbow, about the size of a dollar, occasioned by a bore, one other on his left arm near the same place, about the size of a quarter or a dollar, and another on his forehead just above his right eye; is of a downcast look when spoken to, and speaks very slow, with a small degree of assurance. He has a kind of pass, which is a piece of forgery, in which I expect his name is altered; and depends on the same to pass as a free man. This fellow was formerly the property of... Stafford County, and was sold by him to R.S. of the same county, and was sold by S. to J.W. of Shenandoah County, of whom I purchased him." (Virginia Herald, Volume 19, Number 1469, 17 September 1805, p.3) - in April 1807: "NED, Who is about five feet six or seven inches high, twenty one years of age, of a very dark complexion, has a scar on his left cheek and one across his left hand, and what is very remarkable, he has a white spot on his left ancle. Said Negro, when spoken to has a down cast look." (Virginia Herald, Volume 20, Number 1634, 24 April 1807 p.3) - in August 1812: "a Negro woman named CLARY of full black colour, and large eyes: about 35 or 40 years of age, clubfooted from her birth, walks like a cripple, but moves as fast as most women. She was bought in March 1788 from... Essex County in this state, and is probably returned thither to see her daughter and to abscond in that neighborhood, or in the neighborhood of Battletown." (Virginia Herald, Volume 26, Number 2185, 26 August 1812, p.4) Each of these individuals experienced hardships throughout their lives that we couldn't fathom today and that were greater even than those of our own ancestors whose race matched that of the ruling class. Taking into account the corporal punishment evident through scarring, the separation from their own children, the downcast looks that resulted from treatment as an inferior human being, and any mistreatment that is not evident through the physical descriptions provided, these particular individuals also faced some of the life maladies more familiar to us today: myopia, congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV), and scarring from lesions caused by the smallpox virus. What happened to Ben, Tom, Ned, Clary, and the two men from the furnace? And what happened to the unnamed African Americans that were mentioned in papers from the earliest part of our county's history, 1772-1865? We can't fully know the hardships they experienced, but their life experiences are no less important than the experiences of Confederate leaders. African Americans like Ben, Tom, Ned, Clary, and the two men from the furnace were part of our community once; and they were treated as members of a lower caste system. To choose our community identity based on 4 years of a Civil War and refuse to allow the stories of enslaved African Americans and other minority groups to continue unremembered is a blatant disregard for almost 100 years of our county's history. Those of us that live today did not enslave African Americans like Ben, Tom, Ned, Clary, and the two men from the furnace. But, by ignoring their life experiences in this county and by branding our community identity with the celebration of leaders that made the conscientious choice to fight for the continued enslavement and subjugation of African Americans like them, we would prove to be irresponsible in our decisions and indifferent to real truth, justice, and respect for human life. Minute Book 1791-1796, reveals that on July 1st, a Shenandoah County enslaver brought his enslaved African American, Fortune, before the court for the murder of Sukey, another enslaved individual he owned. During the trial, Fortune claimed he was "in no wise guilty of the crime" (p. 444) and threw himself upon the mercy of the court.
After Fortune's defense statement and various witnesses came forth, the court found him "guilty of murder" and recorded that he be "hanged by the neck until he be dead... on Friday, the 12 day of August much between the hours of ten and four o'clock" (Minute Book 1791-1796:444). In the same record, Fortune was valued at 80 lbs, which was payable to the owner for the loss of his slave. That's a buying power of nearly $14,400 today. If the enslaver had not brought Fortune to court, he would not have been compensated. On the one hand, this gentleman in the community deemed one man's death more profitable than his living. On the other hand, our county government, with taxpayers' dollars, bought an African American man, just to kill him. Public hangings and lashings were common practices of colonial and early American law. That said, disparities in criminal justice have not been uncommon in American history. Thousands of people have been wrongfully convicted and killed by capital punishment or endured overly harsh sentencing in our country, in our state, and in our county. In some of these cases, individuals have been exonerated - such as the Virginian Marvin Anderson who was wrongfully convicted in 1982 and exonerated through DNA evidence twenty years later; or had charges dropped - such as with the pastor in Edinburg, Va, that was wrongfully arrested in 2020 (referenced in Week 21: Jacob's Case). Thankfully, in 2021, capital punishment was abolished in Virginia; but, that doesn't alleviate the sentences issued in the cases of James Scott or Fortune. While the details to these over 200 year old cases are almost entirely lost to history, it appears that on August 12, 1796, an African American man named Fortune was legally lynched in Shenandoah County, just like James Scott would be on November 11, 1803, through the District Court that served our county. When a community has a history of injustice against minority groups, it's imperative for future generations to make decisions that promote equality for all, not just the majority. What would it mean to James Scott or to Fortune to be an American citizen today? What would they claim for community identity? It wouldn't be related to the Confederacy, not only because the CSA was not a reality for Shenandoah County before April 1861, but also because messages of white supremacy and black inferiority were known all too well to these men, especially in their dying breaths. What do their deaths mean to us today? Are we as indifferent as our court system was in 1796 and 1803 to their suffering or can we choose to promote a community identity that is truly embraceable by all citizens of this county today? Do we honor African Americans that have lived and died in our communities over the county's many generations when we hold the examples of three Confederate leaders as paradigms for good character and just living? Now, answer that from the perspective of James Scott and Fortune. At 9 o'clock in the morning on one of the first days of September in 1803, William C. Simmerton was traveling to Sweet Springs along the main road just north of Stoverstown (a.ka. Strasburg), when someone attempted to rob him. According to the Virginia Herald, he had been found in a pool of his own blood, having been clubbed on the head by a hickory stick, and shared his dying words, I've "been robbed by a negro or mulatto man," to two Germans passing by not long after the incident. Thereupon, W. C. Simmerton fainted and was pronounced dead. The only item missing: a large trunk, most likely containing clothes. A pocketbook, including "145 dollars, in bank notes, and 4 dollars and six cents," was still on his person. Upon investigation, Simmerton had declared bankruptcy roughly a year before and was in failing health, hence traveling to the springs for physical benefit.
The magistrate suspected two persons, based on his investigations: a "tall dark mulatto" enslaved on the Hoker plantation and described as someone ill-used in life: one who "stoops much in his walk, is blind of an eye, and was dressed in coarse linen cloaths - carried a budget, and a large club." This unnamed man was on his way to Rockingham County on an undisclosed purpose. A posse was in his pursuit, but he apparently had left the main road. The second suspect? A free mulatto man known as James Scott, who had lived in Middletown for some time. The magistrate apprehended him on charges of suspicion and put him in jail; however, there was doubt to his guilt, according to S. Kercheval, who reported the incident. A jury gathered on September 4, 1803 and "pronounced it a most atrocious willful and malicious murder, perpetrated by the hand of a mulatto man, by the information of the deceased, but by what particular person was not known to the jurors." The only person that had seen this man was dead. All of the above quotes are from page 3 of Vol 16, No 1260 of the Virginia Herald. The Shenandoah County Minute Book, 1800-1803, shares the following information: "At a court called and held at the court house of Shenandoah County, on Monday the 12th day of September 1803 for the examination of James Scott a free mullatto charged with the murder of William C. Simmerton" (p354). Scott, referred to as a prisoner, was brought to the bar and pleaded not guilty. There were approximately 16 men present at this examination, eight of which were sworn in on behalf of the commonwealth. Their examination was enough to convince the rest of James Scott's guilt, even though the only person that saw what happened was Simmerton, himself, and he was dead. Scott was ordered to remain in Jail until he could be transferred to the District Jail in Winchester. In addition the eight testifying men were recognized and paid $200 each, "conditioned for their personal appearance before the judges of the next District Court" (p. 354). When the District Court convened, a few weeks later, their records state: "James Scott a free mullatto man and was a slave late of the County of Shenandoah Parish of Beckford labourer who was convicted of murder in the first degree" (Superior Court Order Book, District Court, 1807-1809, Reel 97, p. 198). When pressed for a response from Scott, he shared the same things he had already said. The court pronounced "that he be hanged by the neck until he be dead... on Friday the eleventh of November such between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon and in the afternoon of the same day at the usual place of execution and thereupon he is again remained to Jail" (p. 198). James Scott, based on these records, was guilty of only being a now freed slave, formerly of Shenandoah County. First degree murder is defined as "premeditation and deliberation;" however, the newspaper article would suppose it was an attempted robbery, with the accident of death resulting. That's not first degree murder. In addition, would James Scott have really shared his plans for murder to eight people that could then convict him of it? What was the real reason behind this unfair trial? Why were eight "white" men paid by Shenandoah County's government to convict an African American man of first degree murder? What happened to the other unnamed African American, enslaved on the Hoker plantation? These are questions we have to ponder. The records are piecemeal and share no conclusive reason why James Scott was convicted of first degree murder and hanged. This situation, as we will see in other trials from Shenandoah County, is not justice. This was a wrongful conviction that demonstrates not only the abuse of the justice system, but also why knowing this history is so important when we define community identity and what we claim as our legacy. By this time in our research of primary source documents from Shenandoah County, Va, it is quite obvious that the county government was not unaware of the practice of chattel slavery. And even moreso, our county government guaranteed the continuation of slavery prior to the American Civil War due to its practices and decisions. Here, I'm highlighting several examples of sales conducted directly through the county government as indicated especially by ledger entires in various documents.
It's helpful to understand the economic impact slavery had on our government and on the lives of Shenandoah County residents. In 1854, the enslaved individuals of a recently deceased property owner were divided into three lots for sale ranging from $1600 in valuation to $1750 (Will Book 2, pp. 103-104). Those individuals in these three lots with the greatest value were women around the age of 30 at $500. An inflation calculator would assess the purchasing power of $500 in 1854 to a sum of $17,966.43 in 2023. Even a young girl, 3 years old, in Lot No. 1 was deemed a value of $275 in 1854, or $9,881.54 today. It's vital to recognize the kind of numbers we are talking about here, as well as the wealth this insinuates. Slavery was a lucrative business for wealthy property owners in Shenandoah County. And as we have already seen in the sale of enslaved children from a property owner in the Mount Jackson area, women of child-bearing age were especially valued due to their ability to increase the wealth of the enslaving family. An example of this is a March 1840 appraisement, which included Hannah, a female slave, 43 years of age and valued at $175 (Will Book V, p. 328) or $6,071.41 today; as well as her children: - Jack, 20 and $600 or $20,816.28 today; - Minta, 25 and $367 or $12,732.62 today; - Monique, 17, and worth $575 or $19,948.93 today, and her child George born on October 14, 1839 (also, Hannah's grandchild), no worth; - Harriet, 14 and $300 or $10,408.14 today; - William, 10 and $350 or $12,142.83; - Sally, 3 and $158 or $5,481.62. In addition to the six children listed here, Hannah also had grandchildren through her daughter Minta: - Nancy, 6 and $206 or $7,146.92; - Ben, 5 and $225 or $7,806.10; - John, 2 and $116 or $4,024.48. From Hannah, this property owner amassed what would be a purchasing power in 2023 of $100,507.92 through her children and grandchildren. These primary source documents have recorded inventories and sales; and sometimes, the recordation of credit: "Ordered that it be Certified to the Auditors... credit for Seven Young Slaves under the age of 16 years..." Another entry shows the amounts given to two different persons, after the sale of three enslaved individuals: "1/2 of the Negroes, Ann, Caroline, & Fortune... $325.50" (Will Book 1, p. 306) and the other 1/2 in the same amount given to someone of the same last name as the first entry. The purchasing power of these sales: almost $12,000, each. Often similar accountings are listed according to year for purchases made by or through the Shenandoah County government. These include entries such as: - "By Sale of Negro... $355" on 30 September 1850 (Will Book 1, p. 20) - cash received for a "Negro man" on 19 June 1851 (Will Book 1, p. 405) - sale of a "Negro woman and child" (Will Book Y, p. 498) - "for hire of Wesley" (Will Book V, p. 142), who was appraised in the inventory of J.C. as "1 Negro boy ... $300" (Will Book V, p. 132) - "By Rent of land & hire of Negro this year... $45" (Will Book 1, p. 36, et alia) on May 1st in 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850. In 1844, the listing on 1 May is for "Hire of Negro Woman... $20" (Will Book 1, p. 36) through the county's accounting records. In previous letters, I've mentioned some of the names I've come across in Will Books, Minute Books, and Deed Books, but in actuality there are hundreds of African American individuals that have been appraised, sold, and traded through the County of Shenandoah - their first names, ages, gender, race, and values scrawled in handwriting on worn pages. Their voices were not heard when they were alive, but their memories are preserved in these pages and provide the reminder that although unmentioned in the widely accepted historical narrative of Shenandoah County today, (as mentioned in Week 19: Racial Classifications) they are a part of the county's history, too. And they need to be remembered when creating public spaces that capture community identity, today. In the 1781-1785 Minute Book for Shenandoah County, there is an odd entry regarding a community member of European descent "being bound over to this County for speaking words inimicable to the American Cause" (p. 11). When he refused to pay the proposed fine, he was thrown in jail.
This situation opens a lot of questions. What was the American Cause? With American independence, colonies were left without a unifying governing body. How would they tackle some of the most pressing issues of the day, such as already deteriorating relationships with the Indigenous Peoples, enslavement of Africans and management of a large class of indentured servants, and defining ways of being for those deemed citizens of this new entity? What of protection and provision, not only for families, but also communities? Governing, like leading a business or a non-profit or any type of agency that draws people together, is a balancing act. Different generations have highlighted different causes and different ways to address challenges often in deeply traumatic moments in time - these haven't always been the same, nor played out smoothly, but at the core of such decisions are human relationships and survival. In The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783, Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian Joseph Ellis shares the definition of The Cause as "a conveniently ambiguous label that provided a verbal canopy under which a diverse variety of political and regional persuasions could coexist, then change shape or coloration when history threw choices at them for which they were unprepared" (2021:xii). Even during the time period of this revolution or opposition to change, depending on the perspective, issues of "the end of the property qualification to vote, the expansion of women's rights, a gradual emancipation program to end slavery" (2021:xii) existed and were deferred. The focus was on unity over this single Cause of independence. And the unity was centered on what New Englanders, Virginians, colonists defined as what they were opposed to, not what they stood for. Ellis shares: "prepared to block any hostile takeover from above by any aspiring dictator or domestic version of British tyranny, [America was] incapable of decisive action at the national level to face or resolve the two embedded tragedies of slavery and Native American genocide in slow motion" (2021:325). In many ways the growth of America has been bumbling toward this acknowledgement of what America stands for. I think it's important to be as informed as one can be about the challenges in the world today. That said, I also recognize that it's just as important to recognize the trajectory of history, because without that understanding, especially as it relates to specific countries, communities, and peoples, it's difficult to know where our various systems need alteration to be more inclusive and more equitable for all citizens. In the case of America, if we define the American Cause based on The Declaration of Independence and the trajectory of our country over the generations as human rights for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," we immediately have to ask: for whom? If it is for all American citizens, the answer would change like a sliding scale according to the historical time period, because of the laws defining citizenship in our country, as well as the social expectations and implicit stereotypes that have developed in even well meaning individuals and communities. For the enslaved African, did America consider his or her "life, liberty," or "pursuit of happiness" prior to the 13th & 14th Amendments? For Indigenous Peoples, who had known this land long before the first European settlers arrived, did America consider them prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965? For women, prior to the 19th Amendment? As we have been seeing over the last few weeks in examining the history of the place I know best in America, which is Shenandoah County, Va, without a clear understanding of what has happened here, leaders make poor decisions that distort a community formed for all American citizens, into a sliding scale community still caught up at one point in history with unequal representation and messages that connote biased views on human rights. The vote in July 2020 to retire public schools names that continued to resound the message of the Lost Cause narrative and the stalemate vote in 2022 which kept the new names, were examples in moving toward a community that supports and empowers all American citizens in Shenandoah County, Va - regardless of our differences in ancestry, affiliations, and affinities. The names Mountain View and Honey Run were chosen to create the canopy Ellis mentioned in The Cause - one that brings together "a diverse variety of political and regional persuasions" for our communities. Tithable is a word common in the earliest documents of Shenandoah County, then Dunmore County. It refers to taxable individuals residing in the colony, county, or parish in which the levy is collected. Or, more precisely, according to historian John Robb, "the term 'tithable' is... a person who appears on a county tax list either by name or enumeration as a nonexempt county tithable" (2022). While the details of tithables changed over time, Shenandoah County's Minute Book from 1781-1785 reveals a discussion about distinguishing tithables vs. slaves, which roughly corresponds with changes to the tax system of personal property that occurred in 1782 by The General Assembly of Virginia. More specifically, the said minute book states: "ordered that the same Gent who took the lists of Tithables last year, also take the lists this year... of all Slaves whatsoever distinguishing Tithable Slaves from others, also of all White Tithables above twenty one. Horses, Cattle, Wheels, Ordinary Licences. Also the lists for the County vs. Parish Levy. The said lists to be taken before the 10th next month" (p. 99).
This opens a lot of questions. I'm focusing on the fact that both the County and the Parish in Shenandoah County prior to the American Civil War, benefited financially from the legal practice of slavery and incorporated constructs of race in our laws with the usage of "Tithable Slaves" vs. "White Tithables," which reveals the social assumption that there is a race difference between "Slaves" and "Whites." The leaders, landowners, and often ministers in our community were not ignorant of "distinguishing Tithable Slaves from others" and they openly discussed, publicly posted about, and benefited from what we deem as an unconstitutional act today. The County complied with the law. Tithables that were not recorded could result in a hefty fine not only for the person that failed to list all their taxable property, but also for the justice of the county government in which the oversight took place. According to William Hening's The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, the act of 1780 in Virginia made taxable "every free male person, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall be a citizen of this commonwealth, and also upon all slaves, to be paid by the owners thereof, except such free persons and slaves as shall be exempted on application to the respective county courts through age or infirmity" (Vol. X, p. 501). The act of 1783 further clarified the county's rights to tax: "nothing... shall be construed to prevent the several county courts from causing lists to be taken of all free male tithables, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one years, and of imposing taxes upon all such for the purpose of county or parish levies" (Vol. XI, p. 196). These are legislature compounded on Virginia's act of 1748, which in addition to listing those persons exempt from taxes (including sheriffs), had previously guided our county's justices to claim as taxable: "all male persons of the age of sixteen years and upwards, and all negroe, mulatto, and Indian women of the same age, except Indians tributary to this government and all wives of free negroes, mulattoes, and Indians..." Slavery was also well known in churches all across the United States of America, both in the North and in the South, not only by records but even by arrangement of the buildings themselves. In the article "Slavery and the Church," Michael Wills shares findings by Jennifer Oast, who studied slave-owning Presbyterian churches in Prince Edward County, Virginia: "some churches were key parts of the slave system. They provided moral and theological legitimacy for slavery and could be deeply invested in it themselves." Oast reports on slave-jobbing, or profiting from the hiring out of enslaved individuals even in Virginia churches, as well as ultimately benefiting financially from the sale of enslaved individuals. The Episcopal Church also discusses its involvement in the profit off of slavery in "Black and White Race in American Denominations" by A.G. Miller. "As slavery lessened its grip in the northern states and entrenched itself in the southern ones, the sentiment towards slavery shifted in the southern states to a 'necessary evil'. Many black and white abolitionists emerged in the early 1820-30s to put pressure on the slave system - challenging it on biblical grounds." Miller continues, "many southerners pushed back with justifications for slavery from their interpretation of the Bible" and reminds us that the Methodist church divided over the issue of slavery in 1844; the Baptist, in 1845; and the Presbyterian, in 1861. All time periods that remind us that Jackson, Lee, and Ashby, as well as similar CSA generals, leaders, and soldiers, would have known about the division on Biblical interpretation of slavery and seen just as many supporters for abolition as supporters for the Southern Cause. Instead, they took up a mantle similar to the slave-owners, who are quoted in "Kind but Blind: Southern Churches and Slavery, 1850s" by Bible Mesh: "in the management of negroes...the time for brute force is past, and men must admit that there is another way to make negroes contented and profitable - a way which, while it improves the moral status of the negro, will strengthen the hold of the master upon him." Bible Mesh continues: "Another owner used Luke 12:47 to prove slaves should obey their master - 'That's Scripter!' Why waste a whip, when one could just as easily crack the Word of God?" And so, as we know, Jackson used scripture to keep enslaved African Americans in their place. Some say it was compassion; many more say it was about control. One more quick note, specific to the physicality of race in the church, because it's important to know and will resonate with those that have attended or currently attend churches in Shenandoah County, Va, especially those built before the American Civil War or soon after it. Many southern churches built in the time periods I mentioned have balconies, which were used as slave galleries. Reported examples of these churches are also in North Carolina, Maryland, and even New York - so it happened all over the USA. African Americans would be required to sit in the back, in the balcony, or give up their seats to white congregants should that need arise. As Pastor Graebner in the North Carolina church linked above reminds us, segregation was spatial and spiritual. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, even by the 1950s, famously noted, "the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning." A sentiment that still rings true in America today. During a special service marking the emancipation of enslaved individuals the pastor of St. Mark's (the Maryland church link listed above), Rev. Weatherholt said in 2014, while standing in its church's slave gallery, "What was intended to degrade and separate, uplift as a holy place in memory of those persons segregated by color, class or status. Restore us, Good Lord, and place in our hearts the spirit of true reconciliation so that all might live together as brothers and sisters, no longer divided, no longer separated." And this is what I'm getting at for Shenandoah County's public school names. Regardless of the intention, with the horrific historical realities of slavery, of genocide, of segregation in America, in Virginia, in Shenandoah County, holding onto names that negate reconciliation and peace and that whisper to even one community member the message of segregation, of inferiority, of disingenuous Christian love, is not right. Reverting the public school names to those of Confederate leaders is a step away from the reconciliation, away from the peace, and away from the equality that the Constitution of the United States of America even now continues to amble toward. |
authorSENK is an artist and writer in the Shenandoah Valley. The blog, 52 Weeks, is an ethical contemplation on the importance of choosing public school names that are not divisive within a community. Each post is based on over eight years of research by the author. 52 Weeks is a compassionate appeal to community and school board members to not revert to the names of Confederate leaders for Shenandoah County, Va, public schools. PostsGround Zero
52 / Remembering & Moving On 51 / Integration & Teachers 50 / In Our Own Community 49 / S J H S 48 / Not One Positive Step 47 / Maintaining Public Peace 46 / Brown v. Board 45 / Rebuilding a Pro-Confederate South 44 / An Out-of-area Education 43 / Where's the 'Common Sense Consideration'? 42 / Education Without Heart 41 / Self-Preservation 40 / Free Public Schools 39 / The Mask of Defiance 38 / The Golden Door of Freedom 37 / Prejudicial to our Race 36 / Are We Compassionate? 35 / Community 34 / Need for Radical Change 33 / Bitter Prejudice 32 / Fear of 'Negro Equality' 31 / Rachel, Lashed to Death 30 / The Whim of the Court: A Look at Jacob, Stacy, Lett; March & Peter; Jeffrey & Peter 29 / Ben, Tom, Ned, Clary, & two men from the furnace 28 / The Loss of Fortune 27 / James Scott, A Free Man 26 / The Unremembered, The Unheard 25 / The American Cause 24 / Tithables for the County & Parish 23 / Satisfactory Proof of Being Free 22 / Building Community Takes Trust 21 / Jacob's Case 20 / Whose Control? 19 / Racial Classifications 18 / The Cost of Freedom in 1840 17 / Sale of Children 16 / Bequeathal of Future Increase 15 / The First Annual 14 / From a Descendant of a CSA Soldier 13 / True Americanism 12 / Slavery. A Hot Topic. 11 / Real Character 10 / Real Apologies 9 / Freedom from Fear 8 / 250 Years 7 / The Courage of Christ 6 / Whose Narratives? 5 / The 13th Amendment 4 / Symbolic Act of Justice 3 / Giving Thanks 2 / Confederate Congress 1 / Veteran's Day |
