Week 31: Rachel, Lashed to Death

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.