although there were VERY VERY few of them. The estimate of free blacks in 1780 is about 2,000
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From: Paul Heinegg <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2013 3:46 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Free Blacks in the Slave State of Virginia
It stands to reason that freed slaves would have developed or adopted a different culture to live in the free community. And slaves freed under the law of 1782 joined a community of African Americans who had been living free among whites for generations.
Many of these free families were the descendants of white servant women or descendants of families free since the 17th century--before a distinct African American slave culture had developed.
Paul
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