In the 1800-1803 Minute Book of Shenandoah County, Va, a free African American was inspected by the court to verify he actually was free. "Register No. 10 of free Negro George Banster being, inspected by the court is ordered to be certified to be truly made" (p. 364). On the same page, follows register 11 for "free Negro Benjamin Banster" and register 12 for "free Negro William Banster" with similar wording.
Another historical example of official registration for free African Americans is in the same county's 1806-1810 Minutes Book: "Register 37 of Free Negro George Bird, being brought into court and the said George being inspected it is decided that the same be certified truly made, the said George having made satisfactory proof of his being free" (1806:43). Page 203 holds another registration: "Sally Smith, a free mulatto woman being inspected by the court, & satisfactory proof being made to the court that she is free, it is ordered that the same be certified as truly made." As of 1803, Virginia General Assembly required registration of free "Negro" or "mulatto" persons with local court clerks. Along with a registration number and the person's name, such records often included distinguishing marks or scars, age, stature or current health, and gender, as well. The free person was required by law to carry a registration document verifying his or her status as free; not unlike the documents authorizing an enslaved person to travel away from the plantation on which s/he was enslaved. In a March 2013 article on The Uncommon Wealth: Voices from the Library of Virginia, entitled "History Restored: Free Negro Registers Conserved," Senior Local Records Archivist Sarah Nerney writes, "It was a criminal offense to not be registered... Times of great societal fear about a locality's black population would often result in an increase in both registrations and prosecutions for being unregistered... The free Negro registers were thus both instruments of control over the free black population of the state but also a safeguard of an individual's free status should it ever be challenged." In Shenandoah County, Va, as of 1830, approximately 2% of the population consisted of free African Americans, with a total population for African Americans at 14.5%. The history of Virginia legislation clearly demarcates why the population of free African Americans was so low. - In 1793, the Virginia legislature made it illegal for free African Americans to enter the state (Rodriguez 1999:243). - By 1806, anyone manumitted was required to leave the state within one year according to Virginia law (Rodriguez 1999:253), which was further amended in 1851 to include re-enslavement if they did not comply (Rodriguez 1999:322). - The Virginia assembly consistently enacted legislation that supported colonization plans to return former enslaved individuals to Africa in 1800, 1802, 1805, and 1816 (Rodriguez 1999:248); and approved a resolution in 1805 that called on the U.S. Congress to create a new territory in the upper Louisiana Purchase in which free African Americans could settle (Rodriguez 1999:252). - In 1848, Virginia law required postmasters to inform local police when pro-abolition literature arrived at the post office and then surrender said material, which was burned by authorities (Rodriguez 1999:322). - By 1860, Virginia legislation made it legal for free African Americans to be sold into slavery as punishment for committing acts that would normally lead only to imprisonment (Rodriguez 1999:346). I shared some of these in The Cost of Freedom in 1840 letter, so they should look familiar and bring to mind laws in our local government and in our state shaped by the social constructs of racial bias. To give a clearer example for comparison: in 1806, the formerly enslaved "Negro" Aaron was issued a Deed of Emancipation from W. F, which was verified by no less than two other witnesses. Aaron, "being inspected by the court," was "ordered to be certified as under the age of twenty five and healthy" (1806:11). Notice the lack of a registration number, because in 1806, Aaron would have had to leave Virginia within one year, thus he would not be registered in Virginia. It's important to note that landowning citizens, with European ancestry, were not issued Deeds of Emancipation nor Registered as Free. Their freedom was guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. And when landowning citizens of European ancestry established themselves in America, they were not forced by law to leave certain states because of their melanin count, unlike Aaron. Understanding this part of our county's history is important for the decisions we make today. Without this awareness, our votes and our choices become tactless.
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The requirements for a primary or secondary teacher's recertification in Virginia include several specialized training modules. One is the Cultural Competency Training, which was added in 2021. This training stresses strengths based pedagogy to "provide all students with opportunities to learn in environments that stimulate intellectual curiosity and engagement." The Virginia Department of Education includes the following statement in Cultural Competency Training: "Across the Commonwealth, students enter classrooms with a wide variety of backgrounds, interests, and cultures. These differences provide us with opportunities to celebrate learning from and about each other with the central goal of making sure every student realizes his or her true potential." Throughout this module it stresses building trust through community engagement.
Another required training module was developed through Old Dominion University regarding Regulations Governing the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Elementary and Secondary Schools in Virginia. Throughout the training, the following is stressed: "School should be a safe and healthy environment in which America's children can learn, develop, and participate in instructional programs that promote high levels of academic achievement." One of the key components of creating safe and supportive school environments is maintaining social-emotional well-being so that everyone feels "free from perceived or actual risk" at school and school-related events. In addition to physical safety, the module stresses the importance of respect for diversity. The goal for this module was in recognizing the need to create trauma-sensitive schools, or places where "all students feel safe, welcomed, and supported, and where addressing trauma's impact on learning on a school-wide basis is at the center of its educational mission," because these are safe and supportive environments. The training module includes strategies for resolving conflict, acknowledgement of common triggers, and the importance of communicating dignity, respect, and consistency. Now, why am I sharing this? I attended my son's very first Track and Field meet this week at North Fork Middle School (NFMS). It was hosted by Mountain View High School (MVHS). I'm extremely grateful for the time, preparation, and support of the children that the coaches, the MVHS track students, and other community volunteers put into the event. So much diverse parental and community involvement was required for this meet to happen. But, as I sat down on the bleachers and as I watched my son compete in five events, none of this was on my mind. Instead, I was all too cognizant of something else: a large sign that read "Stonewall Jackson High School" with the old Generals logo that was originally designed as a Confederate soldier flying a Confederate flag. Someone had placed it strategically against the chain-link fence near the MVHS track students and in such a way that it greeted the entrance to the track area from NFMS. After my son finished competing, I returned to my car and I cried, heartbroken by the continued harassment against community members like me that raised their voices three years ago for public school names that better aimed for what the teacher recertification training aims at: diversity, equality, safety, sociol-emotional well-being, positive experiences, welcome and safe school environments. When I saw that sign, one word rose in my gut: oppression. Thomas Jackson, Robert Lee, and Turner Ashby fought for legalized oppression. And it continues to linger even today. For Christians, today is Good Friday. Other observances for today: the Second Day of Passover, the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide and Tutsi Genocide Memorial Day, Student Government Day, Mozambican Woman's Day, and Health Day. As a Christian, I have been reflecting this Lenten season on Jesus' example in the world. Would Jesus have been a pro-Confederacy advocate? Would he have fought to enslave African Americans? Would he have walked with Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights time period? Would he have donned a hood and rode with the KKK to intimidate African Americans in the community? Would he have kept schools segregated? Would he have taunted his community members by keeping signs at the ready for anyone to access and reuse at their whim to make an unnecessary point? I can't speak for Jesus. But many of these people who did enslave African Americans, who did ride with the KKK, who did segregate schools, and who are harassing their fellow community members are Christians. I hold the School Board responsible for this situation and I ask them to do what they promised to do three years ago: really retire the names Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School and continue to commit to retiring these names. During the early part of our county's formation, court cases were recorded in our county's minute books. Sometimes, such cases required further investigation, continuing to Winchester; other times, the county officials determined the case and punishment, if there was one. July 12th, 1779, was just such an example for an enslaved African American named Jacob.
"At a Call Court held for Shanando County... for the Examination of Jacob a Negro Fellow the property of J...P... who stands committed to the common Goal of this County. Charged on suspicion of attempting to commit a Rape on the Body of S...B... widow... at night" (Minute Book 1774-1780, p.105). Jacob, an enslaved African American, was brought to court because of suspicion, not because of an actual crime. The four men of European descent that were present to try the case (one of whom is the person taking the minutes) examined Jacob, the widowed woman, and three other men. Jacob "declares he is not Guilty of the charge" and then "charge" is crossed out with "crime he" replacing it before continuing: "stands charged with." So, Jacob is brought to court due to suspicion, which is elevated to a crime in this county. But it doesn't stop there. If Jacob were actually guilty, they most likely would have killed him by hanging. The fact that he was not means there was insufficient evidence to convict him. "Tis the Opinion of the Court that the Fact is not fully proved but that he receive 39 lashes on his bear back well laid on and Discharged and that he receive 39 lashes on his bare Back every time he shall be seen off his masters Plantation from Twelve month and one day from this date without a pass from his said Master" (Minute Book 1774-1780, p.105). This case teaches us: if you are suspected of a crime in Shenandoah County and African American, even if you claim you are not guilty, you are still guilty. A surmise that also occurred for a different matter in 2020, when an African American minister, who defended himself from a white mob that had tried to illegally dump an appliance on his property by pulling his registered gun in order to keep them from committing the injuries to himself that they were verbalizing, was arrested by the police that he called. Why? They didn't see an angry white mob. They saw a black man with a gun. It took time in prison and a court case for this African American man to prove his innocence in the situation. But the harm was already done. When we allow our biased preferences to lead our decisions, it doesn't end well - especially when a community has a history of mistreating people based on skin color. We might not mean to, we will say, but that is when we must remember Jacob, who was punished even though he wasn't guilty of a crime, and remember this African American minister. It is easier to make laws, school names, and infrastructure decisions based on the rights of all people, rather than put ourselves in a situation of apology. As we will continue to see, in terms of the school names, when our southern campus secondary school - a school, along with the county's two other high schools, made for only white children - was named Stonewall Jackson High School on January 12, 1959, the harm was done. Let's not repeat that mistake. Minute books provide a historical record of key decisions and actions taken by a business, corporation, or governing body. Shenandoah County's minute books are housed in the Circuit Court Clerk's Office in Woodstock, VA. A plethora of names, numbers, and notes results. As we saw in last week's reflection on racial classifications, the minute books prior to 1865 highlight the racial distinction of Africans and African Americans. Here are some examples:
From Minute Book, 1774-1780, "Order that the Church Warden bind out a Mulatto Girl named Jane in the possession of... untill she attain the age of Eighteen Years" (p. 4). Another binding out occurred for "a mulatto boy, Peter Brown" (p. 21). Prior to 1864, Overseers of the Poor were responsible for binding out poor, orphaned, or homeless "white" children. The Virginia Constitution of 1864 included African Americans to the responsibilities of that role; however, before that time, the local government designated the act of binding out African American children. In colonial Virginia, which is the time period of these minute book entries, binding out was often done by the Anglican vestryman. This entry doesn't share what the indenture was for; however, boys were usually taught a trade (blacksmithing, shoemaking, masonry, etc) or animal husbandry (a.k.a. farming) and girls were typically domestic servants. The length of a child's indenture was most predominantly ten years. If that is true for Jane, she was at least 8 years old at the time of this recordation, but younger than 18, since that is the end of her servitude. Our county government knowingly indentured children at this time of our county's history. Since this is before Social Services, accountability was at the discretion of the host family; and, literacy (particularly for girls) was not a required part of any "training." Another entry in Minute Book 1774-1780 shares: "the Court being informed that Jackson Allen of this County have and made of his Negroes free; And that he be sum[moned] to app[ear] at the next court so the Cause why they should not be sold according to an Act of Assembly in that case made and provided" (p. 19). Later in Minute Book 1781-1785, the court recorder wrote these lines: "Upon motion of Jackson Allen Ordered that Sidney and Dinah two Female Slaves now his property be emancipated and entirely set free agreeable to an Act of Assembly for that purpose made and provided" (p.167). While we can celebrate that Allen had the wherewithal to emancipate Sidney and Dinah, it's also important to note that not only did the county government question Allen's right to do so, but made him appear in court to explain why they should be made free. In addition, we have to remember that state law would require both women to leave Virginia upon their emancipation. How old were these women? Did they have other family members they would be forced to leave? What happened to them? This is also true for a negro man named Dick, who was emancipated in the 1781-1785 Minute Book (p. 126). These names and experiences remind us of the introductory letter by Bishop Mallalieu in Bethany Veney's narrative, in which he states: "If we could know perfectly the inner life of almost any person; if we could only know the hopes and fears and loves and heartaches; if we could only know the conflicts, the defeats, the victories of the soul, - we should see that the humblest and most uneventful life is more thrillingly wonderful than any romance that was ever written. All this is emphatically true of thousands upon thousands born and reared in slavery" (1889:2). The will books and minute books we have been examining were all written by land-owning men, who would mark "White" on any ethnic survey today. They controlled what was preserved and from whose perspective it was preserved. Anyone that deviated from the normal acts of the assembly were questioned, which is one way in which societal standards and expectations came into existence. And it's equally important to remember for all the names of African Americans mentioned in our county's primary source documents, many more will never be known. Their unmarked graves and once spoken names quietly linger around us as we experience even the most quotidian tasks of the day. They were human beings, worthy of remembrance as much as Thomas Jackson or Robert Lee or Turner Ashby, if not moreso, because they were born in and lived in our county. Many of our community's African American ancestors even died in our beloved Shenandoah, even though our local government saw them first only as chattel property, whose very being could be controlled at will. As we have seen, last wills and testaments that relayed personal property and slaves to descendants, inventories of property and slaves, and bills of sales even of African American children have all been a large part of the Shenandoah County Will Books before 1865. Today, I'm pausing to point out certain terminology that is really important to notice in these primary source documents.
First, "mulatto", which is a racial classification that refers to mixed African and European races. In Virginia during the pre-Civil War time period, the status of the child was determined by the status of the mother. That means, if the mother was enslaved, so too was the child. In terms of any mulatto children listed in the Will Books of Shenandoah County, if they were enslaved it was because their mothers were enslaved. For example, Will Book V lists "1 mulatto man named Anthony aged 32" (p. 226) among the inventory appraisement of slaves and personal estate of a recently deceased Mount Jackson area resident. The Minute Book 1774-1780, lists the sale of a mulatto girl, Martha (p. 148). In another will from 1784, "1 Mulatto Boy Toby" (Will Book B, p. 80) was to be "freed at 21" years of age. This implies that his mother was enslaved and his father was most likely either the property owner, himself, or someone in his family - a situation that was not uncommon in enslaving families. Martha, Anthony, and Toby, by the way, lived in areas of the county that today pool into Honey Run Elementary School and Mountain View High School. Second, the Will Books vary between "Negro", "Black", and "Colored" for racial classifications for Africans and African Americans. Even for free African Americans mentioned prior to 1865, they always have a racial designation in primary source documents. This doesn't happen for people of European descent, whom we would classify as "White" on records today. It's really important to recognize this because our county and our society intentionally distinguished between the two races. Even further, by the use of racial classifications for African Americans in Will Books, Minutes, and similar primary documents, it reveals subliminal messages about whom was considered a normal, everyday citizen with certain inalienable rights and whom was not. These primary source documents were all written by people of European descent, a.k.a. "White" people. Our county was set up on an assumption that was part of our colonies' and our country's foundation. Benjamin Franklin says it best: "The number of purely white people in the world is proportionally very small. All Africa is black or tawny. Asia chiefly tawny. America (exclusive of the newcomers) wholly so. And in Europe, the Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes are generally of what we call a swarthy complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted, who with the English make the principal body of white people on the face of the earth. I could wish their numbers were increased. And while we are, as I may call it, scouring our planet, by clearing America of woods, and so making this side of our globe reflect a brighter light to the eyes of inhabitants in Mars or Venus, why should we in the sight of superior beings, darken its people? Why increase the sons of Africa, by planting them in America, where we have so fair an opportunity, by excluding all blacks and tawneys, of increasing the lovely white and red? But perhaps I am partial to the complexion of my Country, for such kind of partiality is natural to Mankind" (Four Hundred Souls, ed. by Kendi & Blain, 2021:122). For me, what stands out are my own ethnic backgrounds: French and German people were considered swarthy by one of our country's founding fathers. Swarthy means "dark-skinned." According to Franklin, the only "lovely white" and "brighter light" ethnicities were Anglo-Saxons. A quick perusal of our county's claim for origins includes the following description: "Permanent settlement began in the 1730s as German and Scotch-Irish immigrants from Pennsylvania began to arrive, attracted by the Valley’s fertile land" (SVTA, accessed 18 March 2023) and "Shenandoah County, Virginia, in the center of one of the most scenic valleys in America, was settled by Germans during the middle of the eighteenth century" (SCHS, accessed 18 March 2023). According to Franklin, Orange County (a.k.a. Shenandoah County today) was founded by dark-skinned people. And in some ways this is accurate since colonial Virginia, especially under the leadership of governors Spotswood and Gooch and out of fear of French alliances with Indigenous Peoples, was encouraging German and Scotch-Irish settlers loyal to the colonial government to inhabit the backcountry of Virginia. In the early 1700s the backcountry was the eastern part of the Appalachian mountains, namely the Shenandoah Valley. By creating a buffer, the colony was protecting itself from raids by French-supplied tribes of Indigenous Peoples (Monacan, Manahoac, Tutelo, Shawnee, Delaware, Iroquois, Cherokee, etc) who were being pushed away from the Shenandoah Valley region. However, it's not a completely accurate picture of our county's origins. Yes, large land grants, especially from 1726 to 1736, were given to one or two loyalists that could afford expenses associated with 5,000 to 100,000 acre land tracts, which would then be patented off to settling families in smaller parcels. In 1730, John & Isaac Van Meter, for example, acquired 10,000 acres from Gov. Gooch, surveyed the land, then parceled it out in 1,000 acre allotments to settlers. Once that had been done, the brothers could acquire more land to parcel out and did so until 1734. It was a similar situation for Jacob Stover, who acquired land along the Massanutten Mountain and Rockingham County in 1730. Jost Hite and Robert McKay arrived in the Cedar Creek area in 1731 and also took over the Van Meters' claims in 1734; and so forth. They recruited settlers from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and even New York, with a preference for Protestants. One such settler, who received smaller tracts of land from these larger landowners and specifically Hite, was Daniel Holman, who arrived in the Forestville area in 1736. With him were twelve enslaved Africans. Drawn to the fertile lands near the Shenandoah, Opequon, and Potomac Rivers and its tributaries, these large landowners were typically German, Swiss, and English. But what is always left out is the fact that further cultivation required a lot of work and with these large landowners came enslaved Africans to provide that labor. Nancy Stewart, in her studies of African Americans in Shenandoah County, reflects on the fact that even among many of our settling German families, there were often one or two enslaved Africans living with them. Larger landowners also hired out their enslaved Africans. And as we have seen in the will books and will see in the minute books in coming weeks, our own county government engaged in and managed such renting of enslaved Africans. While not in the same numbers as found in the Piedmont region, enslaved Africans were a part of our county's foundational history. The presence of enslaved Africans and their contributions (as well as those of free African Americans) to settling the Shenandoah Valley are missing from Shenandoah County's historical narrative. Our county should feel convicted to finally embrace this truth, recognize the contributions of Africans and African Americans, as well as include this information in our histories. When we fail to do so, poor name choices for our public spaces, whether they be the names of public schools or our county's district names, result. From a descendant of someone Benjamin Franklin would describe as "swarthy," I encourage you to really consider the biases and inequalities that have resulted in our country's laws and in our county's preserved histories and social practices as a result of racial designations that led to citizenship privileges for those that wrote and maintained those laws and histories. We inherited this legacy. We didn't choose it. But, we have a responsibility not to allow it to define us or our communities, today. And keep this in mind as we continue to look through primary source documents. I certainly would not be classified by most as dark-skinned, but knowing that historically others would have classified me as "swarthy" gives me a greater sense of compassion and responsibility for what and whom I celebrate and honor, today. In 1840, a citizen of Shenandoah County "calling to mind the certainty of death and the uncertainty what hour" made a last will and testament beginning with the emancipation of his slave:
"First, I direct and will that my black boy Alfred Lee my slave, he shall be free after harvest so soon as the work may be over provided he goes out of the County & the State" (Will Book V, p. 172). The reference of removal from the county and state is directly linked to Virginia laws at that time. A brief aside: a lot of the information I am referencing in this letter comes from an extremely valuable resource: Chronology of World Slavery by Junius Rodriquez (1999). More specific to the Virginia law that defines the principles of the above emancipation: in 1806, Virginia Assembly enacted legislation that required anyone manumitted after May 1st of that year to leave the state within one year (Rodriguez 1999:253). Although it's uncomfortable to hear, state and federal laws prior to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments are full of legally-binding decisions designed to control or establish standards for free and enslaved African Americans. Much of the social traditions followed even in Shenandoah County, which had been formally established in 1772 as Dunmore County, had been first established with the 1705 Virginia Slave Code. Such laws included recognizing slaves as chattel property; forbidding blacks to serve as witnesses in court; and defining slavery as a legal condition limited to blacks (Rodriguez 1999:211). In 1723, further discrimination resulted in higher colonial taxes imposed on blacks and Native Americans, as well as free blacks being denied the right to carry weapons (aka, their Second Amendment rights, which our county loves so much) (Rodriguez 1999:216). While we can look as far back as colonial Virginia for state laws that deny civil rights to people based on race, for the sake of this letter, I'm focusing on the time period following our country's formation. According to the American Bar Association, racism is "the unintended (but often foreseeable) consequence of choices." The Science Museum of Virginia defines racism, or identifying differences in ethnicities and skin colors "and promoting negative attitudes toward people with those differences" as a learned behavior. Although it's a negative catchword in at least 36 states around the USA, critical race theory (CRT), which was officially introduced as a term in 1989, simply states that race is not a biological truth, but a social construct. And, that race has been embedded into systems and institutions in such a way as to create inequality. A quick perusal of the laws and wills we have been analyzing and discussing quickly reveal the truth of CRT: the United States of America was founded on principles of inequality and racism toward people of color. And even today our country continues to draw lines and enact laws that generate inequality based on socially-constructed labels. That means that decisions across the country and at every level must be made with a real sensitivity to how people of all labels have been treated and should be treated, now and in the future. It's also important to note that CRT is a higher education academic topic - not taught in the primary or secondary public schools within our country. I can vouch for that, since I was never taught about Virginia's slave code in the SCPS system; and although I do remember hearing about Jim Crow, it was always in association with the deep south, never Virginia. That said, we do a major disservice to our community when we don't talk about these issues honestly and openly - recognizing all of our history, not just what we were taught to believe about our country, our state, and our community from the perspective of an unbalanced majority that controls these narratives. So, let's take an honest look at just a handful of the laws in place between 1772 and 1861: In 1793, Virginia legislature passed a law that made it illegal for any free black person to enter our state (Rodriquez 1999:243). In 1820, a presidential order allowed the U.S. Army to deny blacks and mulattoes the right to serve in the U.S. military (Rodriguez 1999:265). In 1839, the U.S. State Department denied a black applicant's passport request on the grounds that blacks were not considered citizens (Rodriguez 1999:297). In 1851, Virginia legislature strengthened the 1806 law requiring recently freed blacks to leave the state, by adding the risk of re-enslavement (Rodriguez 1999: 322). In 1860, Virginia legislature made it possible for free blacks, found guilty of an act that would normally lead to imprisonment, to be sold into slavery instead (Rodriguez 1999:346). And that takes us to 1861, when Virginia seceded from The United States of America. As I have mentioned before, CSA vice president Alexander Stephens, clearly stated the foundational principle of the Confederate States of America, which Virginia was part of: "the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is a natural and normal condition . . . our new Government, is the first in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth" (Rodriguez 1999:349). This statement is precisely what CRT is getting at: race is a social construct and yet, racism has been embedded in systems and institutions. CSA documents and speeches by leaders clearly reveal that it was based on racism. And this is why CSA leaders, including generals and soldiers, should not have their names on any public buildings that are funded by the USA today. These leaders fought to uphold the laws described above. They supported pro-slavery, pro-inequality measures. The United States of America, since its foundation, has stumbled toward true equality for all. Reverting to names with Confederate leaders for the southern campus Shenandoah County Public Schools would be an impediment to promoting a message of true equality. The will books housed in the Shenandoah County Circuit Court Clerk's stacks are also useful in understanding more about American material culture and property through the Inventory and Appraisement recordations. Prior to the American Civil War, enslaved Africans and African Americans were incorporated into these lists. Generally referred to with a first name - and sometimes just by their gender and age - and deemed as property of landowners, they too were inventoried in county records along with the recently deceased property owner's material goods (such as furniture, harvested supplies like flax or hemp, tools, etc) and animals. Sometimes, this is the only historical record our communities have for enslaved individuals, since their last names (if they were given last names) were not usually preserved.
Here are some examples: Will Book V, p. 132 "1 negro boy named Wesley" who is listed along with a road "waggon," hay ladders, tomahawks, and similar tools, supplies, and property. On page 142, payment is received "for hire of Wesley," which demonstrates the presence of slavery as a viable and real part of our county's economical practices. Will Book V, p. 149 "1 Negro Man 25 years old... 750.00 1 Negro boy, 6... 300.00 1 Negro boy, 5... 250.00 1 Negro girl, 3... 200.00 1 Negro woman & child (boy)... 100.00" These nameless enslaved individuals are given worth according to gender and age during this inventory in 1839. These human beings are listed in between a quantity of flax and "hackeled hemp" and deemed as property that could be sold or hired out to pay off debts. Will Book V, p. 154 "Negro man Benjamin... 300 Negro woman Charlotte... 450 Negro man Alfred... 800 Negro girl Milly... 400 Negro boy Charles... 400 Negro girl Sarah... 300 Negro boy James... 250 Negro boy Frank... 200 Negro boy Richard... 150 Negro girl Lindy... 50" The total inventory worth of this property included enslaved individuals, which made up 70% of the total assessment: $4,706. Over half of this Shenandoah County resident's property was invested in slavery. And as we see in a little while, the government of Shenandoah County benefitted from hiring out these enslaved individuals to extract payment for debts the deceased property owner's family owed. Will Book W, p. 140 "1 Black man named George 1 Black man named James 1 Black Boy named Harry 1 Black Girl named Betsy" In Will Book V, p. 200, we see an Inventory of slave hire, recorded by the county to pay debts from a deceased property owner: "... Negro man Alfred... 90.00 ... Negro boy Charles... 25.05 ... Negro man Ben... 50.00 ... Negro girl Milly... 25.30 ... Negro girl Sarah... 8.75" Following this listing and on the same page there is another recordation of the Inventory & valuation of the slaves belonging to a county resident in 1839 from page 154 and listed above. According to Encyclopedia Virginia, "for many enslaved African Americans in Virginia, being hired out was a more common experience than being sold, and one that could occur at multiple points in their lives, causing repeated disruption." This, too, is true from what we learned in the narrative of Bethany Veney. If an enslaved person was going to be sold, they were often kept in a jail until transportation could be arranged or the sale took place. Will Book W, page 179 has the following property intermingled on cursive-script lines as follows: "1 Barrel tar $2 1 Coloured boy Isaac $180 1 Coloured man Jim $350 1 d[itt]o woman (Betty) $100 1 Coloured woman Charlotte $1 3 sacks 50 cts. 1 pair of pumps $1.25 2 pair choppers $0.75" In this instance, notice the mention of Charlotte. Based on historical research, she is most likely an old woman past child-bearing age. Someone who can no longer contribute to the plantation through work. According to the inventory, she isn't even worth a pair of pumps according to the county assessor. What does that say about how many in our county deemed worth, and not just from an economic practice? In Will Book V, pages 231, 237, 317, 325, 328, 330, and 331, the Shenandoah County government recorded and followed the inventory, appraisement, and sale of the enslaved of a recent Mount Jackson-area property owner that had passed away in the late 1830s. The 1 April 1840 sale of the Slaves and personal estate for this individual include the following information: "Jim Parister (a slave) 46 years old Hannah 43 Fannah 12 William 10 Sally 3 Minty 25 years old Nancy 6 Ben 5 John 2 Harriet 16 Morriky 17 & George 1/2 Andrew (Young) 15" The total income from this sale was $2875.00. In this sale, three would be considered legal adults today. The remaining ten - Fannah, William, Sally, Nancy, Ben, John, Harriet, Morriky & George, and Andrew (Young) - would be considered children by today's standards. Our community benefited from the sale of children when they should have freed them, educated them, and provided them with a better way of life. If any of their descendants still live in the Mount Jackson area, they would attend Mountain View High School today. And this is precisely why the name of that school matters! There are myriad more pages that list these sorts of inventories and appraisements in our Shenandoah County records. It is important to be familiar with these primary source documents, because they reveal a lot about the economic practices in our county before the American Civil War, as well as how our society and our government viewed enslaved individuals in terms of value and status. A community that has this as part of its history needs to make decisions in the future that validate every individual. Messages of inequality, especially those attached to names related to the Confederacy, which was founded on the concept of inequality and further establishing its economy on slave labor, have no place in America's public spaces, today or in the future. This is particularly true for Confederate leaders that died during the American Civil War, with their last breaths not used for freeing the enslaved people they owned nor in showing remorse for yoking their faith and future with establishing a government, tyrannical to anyone deemed "negro," "mulatto," "coloured," or "black" - but still in oath to the Confederate States of America, not the United States of America. In order to understand why Stonewall Jackson and Ashby-Lee are poor choices for names of public schools in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and, really, for any public school in The United States of America, we have to look at primary source documents. What has been the social environment in which African Americans, European Americans, Hispanic Americans, Indigenous Peoples, etc have lived in relationship with one another in a certain place? What laws have emerged in these locations? And how have these laws and social expectations impacted all people in their day to day living?
For the next few weeks, before diving into the time right before the Civil Rights Amendment, which is the context for the public high school's naming in 1959, we are going to consider the questions above in relation to Shenandoah County, Virginia. For the sake of time, the focus of these letters is going to revolve around African Americans, as well as anyone categorized by the county in public records as "mulatto," "slave," or "negro." That said, a study of laws and social standards related to other minority groups would prove just as important in making decisions within our local governments and school boards, today. I remember the first time that I perused the Circuit Court Clerk's records. Rows of oversized leather-bound documents, handwritten in scrawling cursive, and later fading typeset, over the 250 years of the county's history fill the basement of one of the courthouses in downtown Woodstock. I was looking for documents a fellow historian, Nancy Stewart, had used in researching African American history over the course of her life. What sticks with me most are the smell of aging parchment, the buzz of fluorescent tube lights, and the crinkle of plastic on the chair where I sat - senses that represented everyday life - even while I read public records about the sale of slaves, whipping of African Americans, loss of goods and chattels, and bounding out of mulatto children in the very county in which I was born and raised. Wills. Deeds. Bills of sale. Chancery cases. Pick up any of these books prior to 1865 and you will find the names of enslaved people interwoven with the affairs of the county. Lives that were deeply impacted by the leaders of Shenandoah County and the decisions made for them. People who were not free to go where they wanted to whenever they wanted to. People who were considered as property. Today, we are focusing on wills, which were written by property owners to share what they wanted to happen to what they owned when they died. You will notice that I am intentionally leaving the names of the deceased off these wills. As I have said before, this is not about shame or blame. It's about recognizing the history of our county and making better decisions today in light of this truth. A handful of examples from will books in Shenandoah County share these wishes as they relate to enslaved people: "I do give & bequeath to my well beloved wife... the plantation or tract of land whereon I now live...to be in her possession during life together with the following slaves viz. Boatswin, Nan, Mary, Winney, George, Tom, James, Ann, Suse & Jack to her only use & property during life... to be divided amongst my children as they come of age at the discretion of my wife... I give & bequeath to my son...all that plantation on tract of land whereon he now lives... to him his heirs and assigns for ever with the following slaves John, Nan Junior & Lydia to him & his heirs & assigns for ever... I give & bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth... to her & the heirs of her body for ever with the following slaves viz. Reuben & Doll with their increase to her & the heirs of her body forever... I give & bequeath to my daughter Rachel... the following slaves viz. Sall & Jenny Boatswin & Nan Senior to her & the heirs of her body forever with one sorrel mare to her. her heirs & assigns forever also fourteen head of cattle now in her possession & one feather bed & furniture to her & her heirs & assigns forever.... I give & bequeath to my Andrew... the following slaves Jim & Ann to him his heirs & assigns forever... I give & bequeath to my daughter Rebecca... the following slaves Mary & Suse to her & the heirs of her body forever... I give & bequeath to my daughter Mary Ann... the following slaves viz. Winney & George to her & the heirs of her body for ever... I give & bequeath to my son Jacob... all that plantation on tract of land adjoining the former tract willed to Andrew... with the following slave (Tom) to him & his heirs forever." (Will Book B, p. 86-87) "I... will and direct that all my personal estate (except my slaves and that part of my wife Susannah may want and choose for her own use during her natural life)... and I do further will and direct that after the death of my said wife Susannah my negro woman slave Rosena and her future increase shall go and I do will and devise her and her increase to my five children..." (Will Book V, p. 38-39) "I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife... all my land, Negroes, and personal estate, during her natural life to carry on the farm and support and educate my children the same as if I was present myself... All my other land not mentioned above, Negroes and personal estate, I give to my other six children after the death of my wife." (Will Book V, p. 45) "I will that my debts and funeral expences be paid as soon as convenient after my decease, and should my personal estate not be sufficient for that purpose, my slaves that are able to work for wages shall be hired out til my debts are paid. After the payment of my debts I will and direct that my slaves be divided among my heirs, equally, my grandchildren receiving what their father or mother would receive if living." (Will Book V, p. 97) "I give to my beloved wife, for and during her natural life, all that part of my real estate whereon we now live, being about one third part of my real estate in the County of Shenandoah... Also I give to my said beloved wife, the following slaves and other property which be entirely for her own use and at her disposal; namely, Jesse and his wife, Claressy, George Hite, James Marshall and his wife Mary, Nancy and her two sons, Anthony and William, my carriage and two carriage horses, four work horses, the choice of my stock, with their geer, a good wagon and all other farming utencils, six of the choice of my milch cows, together with all my household and kitchen furniture." (Will Book V, p. 115) These are just a few examples from Shenandoah County, Virginia. Notice the language that is used - these wills do not mention emancipation, but continued enslavement, not only of the human beings named, but even of any future descendants they may have. In addition, notice that often it was the enslaved people who were working to pay off the debts of the enslaving family, even after the death of the enslaving property owner. This is a legacy of enslavement braided into the fabric of many Shenandoah County families! Davis in Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World shares how enslaved children often didn't know they were slaves. "The shock of coming to terms with a slave identity was then devastating, especially in a country that talked of liberty and equality and took such pride in disavowing hereditary titles and aristocratic status" (2006:199). Current leaders cannot ignore this aspect of our county's history when making decisions that impact descendants not only of families that enslaved, but also of families that were enslaved. Lingering messages of inequality from the Confederate States of America have no place defining the identity of public schools in The United States of America today. Last week, we heard about some in the community's perspective on why the southern campus school was named Stonewall Jackson High School in 1959. Today, we are going to look at the school annual to see what the leaders in the school deemed as the reason for the name.
"It is more than an ordinary circumstance that this first annual of the Stonewall Jackson High School is dedicated to Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, C.S.A. "It is because here in Shenandoah County many of its finest sons became members of the Stonewall Brigade, one of the most illustrious organizations of military men known in all the annals of military history. "It is also because among all the great men of our nation no one today captures more strikingly the admiration of the high school student, nor affords a stronger pattern of human character than the beloved leader of the Stonewall Brigade, 'Stonewall' Jackson. "And because of Stonewall Jackson's unblemished Christian character, because of his fearless courage in peace and in war, because of his masterful use in his people's service of his God-given talents and skills, and because these traits deserve emulation by the youth of our land, this annual is dedicated to him" (1960:3). Now, as a Classicist, I have learned about a lot of leaders and armies from antiquity, including the Spartans (whose men were sent off to war with the phrase, ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς ("either (with) it or upon it" in reference to their hoplon, or shield - and meaning either return with your shield in glory having done your duty or dying bravely doing your duty and returning dead on your shield) and the Persian Immortals; Hannibal and his bold quest crossing the Alps with elephants into Italy to engage in war with the Romans at the battle of Trebbia in 218 BCE; and, without taking too much of your time, because there are so many I could continue to name, I'm 100% certain that rural farmers from Shenandoah County in the 1860s were not "one of the most illustrious organizations of military men known in all the annals of military history." This (and the 1959 annual dedication) is the Lost Cause narrative. After the American Civil War, the Lost Cause narrative formed as readily as the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremist band that formed under the leadership of C.S.A. General Nathan Bedford Forrest in an effort to thwart Reconstructionist efforts in southern states. After such devastating loss and destruction in the South, the Lost Cause narrative shimmered with the glory that was lost with the Confederacy's defeat: from reframing the relationship between the Confederacy and slavery to portraying chattel slavery as a beneficial situation for people that were happy in that status and without a care in the world; from portraying Confederate soldiers as "heroic, gallant, and saintly" (American Battlefields Trust, The Lost Cause: Definition and Origins, posted 2021) to making Stonewall Jackson a martyr and Robert E. Lee "the ultimate Christian soldier who took up arms for his state" (2021). Even today, the Sons of Confederate Veterans still hand out the Confederate Catechism by Lyon Tyler (1929), which is an amalgamation of the Lost Cause narrative and a lot of vexation and wrath against Lincoln. During the Sixteenth National Reunion of the United Confederate Veterans, April 25-27, 1906, in New Orleans, C.S.A. Lt. General Stephen Lee unfairly charged descendants of Confederate veterans with the following: "To you, ...we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought. To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish" (Charleston Athenaeum Press, Gen. Stephen D. Lee's 1906 Address that Contains the SCV Charge, posted 2020). In this speech, Lee also states: "Here amid the very chivalry of patriotism there is welcome for all who prize noble and generous deeds, and most of all a welcome for him who loved his country best and bore her cross of pain - the Confederate soldier." I find no fault with the Confederate soldier. These men (whether they were soldiers in the Stonewall Brigade or not) did their duty, either because of conscription, peer pressure, or because they really did believe they were protecting their family, their land, and their way of life in joining the war. I do find fault with their leaders, many of whom were wealthy, enslaving plantation owners - including Lee and Jackson. Just as I am sure my ancestor Dorotha Polk would have preferred a long life with her husband Simon Polk, who died from wounds suffered at Antietam, she didn't get that and their five children lost a father. Simon was one of the approximately 258,000 Confederates that died in the American Civil War. It is not "the cause for which (the Confederate soldier) fought" that needs vindication, it is the soldier himself. And that vindication is in honesty over their misuse as pawns in an unjust war, in their freedom from a perpetuated Lost Cause narrative, and in peace. In a post-George Floyd USA, the Confederate legacy is no longer something for "emulation by the youth of our land." Soon after America was born, it was stained by racism, which (according the Merriam-Webster) is simply put "a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race / the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another." Racism continued for hundreds of years in America. Racism lingers in our laws, infrastructure, and institutions. Racism is especially tied to the Confederate legacy and while the names of Confederate leaders continue to be used for public schools, street names, and other avenues of public life, America will not be free from its subliminal influence. Respect and honor are not forced, they are earned. The Union soldier has just as much right to all of the claims to bravery that the Confederate soldier has. And both deserve truth, freedom, and peace. It's time to honor both by supporting America's mission of equality for all. Each one of us has a responsibility to aim for equality for every single American citizen, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, or genetic information. So far, a majority of what I have shared has been ubiquitous to observations as they relate predominantly to often cited sources. While I will continue with information from such primary source documents and firsthand accounts, today, I'm going to be a little more personal.
One of the most common arguments for why the name Stonewall Jackson was chosen on January 12, 1959 was to honor the men who fought (and in some cases died) in the Stonewall Brigade, which was formed as the First Brigade of Virginia from the 2nd, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia regiments and the Rockbridge Artillery and got its name from the Battle of Manassas on July 15, 1861. Some in the community participated in reenactments of the Confederate victory of May 15, 1864, at New Market Battlefield and saw this as the heart and soul of the county. In the unfolding weeks, we will be looking at primary source documents from Shenandoah County that encapsulate and add perspective to this decision that must be held in as equal light as this ephemeral desire in 1959. But for today, I'm speaking to you as a descendant of Confederate soldiers. One of these was Simon Polk. He served under William Clark, Jr. in the Winchester Riflemen, Company F of the Second Virginia regiment, which was assembled in Charles Town on April 18, 1861. One year later, on October 11th, Simon died from wounds he had received at Antietam - a battle which encouraged President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved individuals in enemy territory. Simon was married to Dorotha Dellinger Polk, with whom he had five children, before serving for the CSA during the Civil War. When I think of this time period, I reflect on Dorotha's hard work and perseverance in managing their small farm and raising five children without her husband's help. I am here because Dorotha lived, not because Simon died. My family was part of the Palatine, Swiss, and Swabian immigrants that made homes in the Stony Creek area in the mid-1700s. The rolling hills allowed for lovely views of the mountains, and the meandering streams were more predictable than the flooding North Fork. One of my ancestors, Stefan Schauman, married Susanna Ziegler, whose father died in the Narrow Passage attack by Indigenous Peoples in 1765. Today, I live barely a mile away from the church they attended, Zion Pient-Kirche. Another ancestor, Johann Döllinger, arrived in Cabin Hill in 1730. During the American Revolution, his daughter-in-law Magdalene provided beef to the Continental Army. My ancestors were indentured servants, soldiers, mothers and fathers, farmers and homemakers, laborers and nurses, even Americans displaced from the cabin homes in the the Blue Ridge Mountains by the government for Skyline Drive's formation, and as all of us can claim today, survivors. Every family that has Confederate soldiers, lost something. They lost lives, land, resources, nationality, kinship ties, and so much more. These four years were some of the hardest of our country. And the men, many of whom were required to fight due to conscriptions, didn't deserve to be led like pawns by the slave-owning leaders that wanted to preserve their individual rights to capitalize off of free labor from the human beings they enslaved or bred and sold into slavery. I remember parts of my childhood fondly in many ways. But I can honestly say that I had no idea about any of this history in my ancestry or that I also have several Confederate soldiers in that lineage as well. It wasn't discussed - so, the fact that the public school I attended was supposedly honoring not even a handful of my ancestors was unknown to me. And it certainly isn't a source of pride to me now. Frederick Douglass shares a perspective of America that is important for us to hold as a beacon in any decisions our country, our county, and our communities make today. He says in his Mission of the War speech from 1864 that the North was "like the south, fighting for National unity; a unity of which the great principles of liberty and equality, and not slavery and class superiority, are the corner stone" (Kendi & Blain, Four Hundred Souls, 2021:227). What is Unity in our public school system today? What great principles will be part of our corner stone? |
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 |