Thank you all. It was very informative.
Karen.
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Subject: VA-HIST Digest - 27 May 2022 to 31 May 2022 (#2022-60)
There are 4 messages totaling 404 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Exodus of Free Blacks (3)
2. The UncommonWealth
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Date: Fri, 27 May 2022 20:14:52 -0400
From: Sheri Huerta <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Exodus of Free Blacks
Karen,
There are a lot of laws and historical forces at work here in your excerpt
from the Northumberland County Order Book related to free(d) Black
residency, taxes on persons of color, funding colonization, removal of
free(d) Blacks from Virginia, and registration of free persons of color.
Here is a brief overview of some of the laws and court processes I see at
work in the language of this court order. I'll also include some
recommended readings.
*Registrations: *Starting in 1793, free persons of color were "required" (I
use the term loosely because only a few persons registered or registered
with the regularity required by law) to register with their county or
corporation / city their free status and distinguishing features for
identification purposes. See Chapter 22 of the Laws of Virginia, October
1793 "An Act for regulating the police of towns in this commonwealth, and
to restrain the practice of negroes going at large" which states that
"every free negro or mulatto, who resides in, or is employed to labour
within the limits of any city, borough or town, shall be registered and
numbered in a book to be kept for that purpose by the clerk of the said
city, borough or town, which register shall specify... [lists personal
characteristics] ....for which copy the clerk shall receive twenty-five
cents, to be paid by the person receiving the same." This would be the
starting point to ascertain what the fees were for recording one's status
in the register.
*Removal:* Another key issue in your document is removal. After much debate
and for many reasons, the Virginia Assembly passed a law in 1806 that
continued the right of enslavers to manumit or emancipated enslaved
persons, but, to prevent the further increase of the free(d) Black
population, legislators added a residency restriction that threatened such
persons with removal or resale back into slavery if they lingered in the
Commonwealth past twelve months. Here is a quick version from the *Virginia
Argus* newspaper of 1806:
*Virginia Argus*, January 28, 1806, page 3
The bill “To prevent slaves being brought into this commonwealth” has
passed both Houses of the General Assembly, and goes into operation on the 1
st day of May next. A section of this act provides, “That if any slave
herafter emancipated shall remain in this commonwealth more than twelve
months after his or her right to freedom shall have accrued, he or she
shall forfeit all such right, and may be apprehended & sold by the
overseers of the poor of any county or corporation in which he or she shall
be found, for the benefit of the poor of such county or corporation.”
*Enforcement:* There was enforced across the state or influenced migration
through court actions like this court order and the responses and
resistance to forced removal. The 1806 removal law did result in outward
migrations to avoid or evade court proceedings against persons found
"remaining in the Commonwealth." Usually this information about residency
and emancipation status was collected and presented to a grand jury by tax
collectors or keepers of the free Black registrars who, at different
periods of time and in different ways, recorded the residences of free(d)
persons and how they became free, and who should be brought on charges of
being in violation of the 1806 act.
Melvin Patrick Ely's book *Israel on the Appomattix: A Southern Experiment
in Black Freedom from the 1790s through the Civil War* argues about the
strength of implementation of these laws in daily life in a free Black
community in Prince Edward County. Ellen Eslinger's article "Free Black
Residency in Two Antebellum Virginia Counties: How the Laws
Functioned" (*Journal
of Southern History*, May 2013, 261-298) considers this question of removal
and enforcement of laws in two counties in the Shenandoah Valley. You might
also consult Eva Sheppard Wolf's *Race and Liberty in the New Nation:
Emancipation in Virginia from the Revolution to Nat Turner's Rebellion*.
*Colonization: *The provision about the "fund for the removal" suggests the
effect of the colonization movement in Virginia. Virginia generated funds
from the sale of freed persons and taxes to offset the costs of the
colonization program which sent formerly enslaved and born free persons in
Virginia to the colony of Liberia in Africa. In 1833, for example, the
Virginia General Assembly passed a law authorizing "appropriations for the
removal of free persons of colour" to the amount of $18,000 paid annually
for five years for transportation through the American Colonization
Society. This was based on costs of $30 per person for colonists aged ten
years and older and $20 for persons under the age of ten even though the
Assembly admitted that funds went unused do to the "unwillingness to
emigrate" of free(d) persons. In 1833 the state of Virginia had county
officials survey manumitted persons in their respective county or
corporation to generate a list of who was willing to be transported to
Liberia. In Loudoun County the list was very short - only eleven persons. See
"An Act making appropriations for the removal of free persons of colour
passed March 4, 1833" for both the law and records of who was willing to
emigrate to "the west coast of Africa" in the Reports of Free Negroes &
Mulattoes, 1833, held in the Auditor of Public Accounts records at the
Library of Virginia (also available on microfilm).
The March 1850 law appears to be a continuation of the laws designed to
generate income for the colonization program. Costs for transport to the
colony in Africa and initial provisions it could require up to $50 per
person and the American Colonization Society actively solicited donations
from benefactors North and South to help send potential colonists to
Liberia (see articles in the *African Repository* journal).
Marie Tyler McGraw's excellent book *An African Republic: Black and White
Virginians in the Making of Liberia *and her companion website, Virginia
Emigrants to Liberia
<http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/liberia/index.php?page=Contact> is a great
resource for this aspect of the laws about Black residency and these funds.
*Manumission and Funds for Removal:* Since your document includes the issue
of cost, another factor to consider is that following the 1806 law,
enslavers who decided to manumit sometimes put a caveat in a will that
emancipation could only be gained if the enslaved person elected to be
transported to the colony of Liberia. Sometimes costs for this transport
were included in the freedom bequest out of the enslaver's estate or a
provision to hire out persons for a period of time to generate enough
income for the costs of removal. Other enslavers might leave bequests to
cover some of the costs for removal to some place outside of Virginia, like
Ohio.
*Petitions and Permissions to Remain: *For manumitted persons who feared
forced removal, Virginia offered at various times ways to obtain individual
exemptions through permission to remain granted by the Legislature. See the
"petition to remain in the commonwealth" record types in the Virginia Untold
<https://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/aan/search-the-narrative>
database for persons seeking an individual exemption from the state.
Free(d) persons could also petition their county courts directly by posting
a notice and request that court magistrates appear in court to hear their
request for permission to remain. Ted Maris-Wolf's book *Family Bonds: Free
Blacks and Re-enslavement Law in Antebellum Virginia* is another excellent
resource on the types of decisions Black Virginians were forced to make in
light of the 1806 removal act and colonization efforts.
*Significance of Free Registers:* Given all this, I suspect that a group of
free(d) persons decided it was time to pull up stakes from Northumberland
County, but wanted to have a copy of their free registers before leaving
the county (and people who knew them) for travel to some other place where
their status would be questioned or they could be kidnapped back into
enslavement. Increasingly, "free" states required proof of freedom. For
example, free(d) persons wishing to obtain permission to reside in Belmont
County, Ohio brought their free papers into court to obtain permission to
reside in the county. [See the "Black and Mulatto Records, 1808-1854" of
Belmont County, Ohio Clerk of Courts (State Archives Series 6786) through
the Ohio History Center which document free(d) persons emigrating from
Virginia and the recorded information about their free status based on
their free papers from their respective county courts in Virginia].
The cost of 25 cents for registering and obtaining a copy of free papers
was a lot to pay at the time, yet given the hazards of traveling without a
free register, the group was wise to ensure their status in court documents
should anything happen to them and if they were "taken up" a message could
be sent to the Northumberland court to prove free status.
*Knowledge and Use of the Courts:* Most importantly, from the way the
information is given, I would argue that this group of free(d) Virginians
were very savvy about the removal and registration laws, the restrictions,
and the requirements for free(d) persons, and they may have put a plea or
petition to the court as a group to request to have the registration fee
exempted, thus prompting the court to meet and decide on how to implement
the laws of registration and tax collection. The fact that this was a
recent law (May 1850) and the plea to consider the tax requirement came
only a couple months later suggests how quickly information about these
laws would circulate. I would look to see if any names are given for this
group or how many records of certification of free registers were recorded
shortly after this time. Certification of free registers should appear in
the court orders or minutes because free registers had to be reviewed and
approved by the sitting court before a copy was granted to the recipient.
It might read something like "Ordered that it be certified that Register
no. 123 of Joe Smith is truly made" or "A register no. 123 of Joe Smith, a
free Mulatto was presented to the Court. Ordered that it be certified and
is truly made."
Your document is of particular interest to me because of my research on the
1806 removal act and its effects (see my website for further details). Feel
free to contact me directly. Thank you for this intriguing question and I
hope this helps provide some ideas for analyzing the many layers of meaning
in your court order.
Sheri Huerta, PhD
George Mason University
https://historyarthistory.gmu.edu/people/shuerta
On Fri, May 27, 2022 at 10:52 AM Karen Sutton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
> Please take a moment to read this paragraph, and let me know what you
> think. It is a quotation from a Northumberland County, VA Order Book.
> Question: Please tell me what this entry says to you? Do you think the free
> blacks wanted to leave or were forced to leave?
>
> “October 14, 1850”
> It appearing to this court by satisfactory evidence that there are a number
> of free negroes about to removed from this county out of the commonwealth
> of Va. at their own coast and whence by our making appropriations for the
> removal of free persons of color and for other purposes passed the 11th.
> March 1850 which -------- directs that it shall be the duty of the county
> and cooperating courts to charge the legal tax for the seal of the court
> and ---- of every copy of registration by them to every free negro and to
> acco. (accommodate) with the auditor of such tax being to raise a fund for
> the remova1 of free negroes out of this Commonwealth. Therefore the court
> dot direct its clerk: not to charge the tax aforesaid to any free negro who
> obtains his papers for the purpose of removing out of the Commonwealth at
> his or her own costs."
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
>
> Stay Safe and Well!
>
>
> Karen E. Sutton
>
>
> Karen E. Sutton, Ph.D.
>
> Class of Fall 2021
>
> Dept of History/Geography, Museum
>
> Studies and Historic Preservation
>
> Morgan State University
>
> 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane
>
> Baltimore, MD 21251
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> https://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> This list is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum
> and Library Services (IMLS).
>
______________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 May 2022 06:10:44 -0400
From: Gene Betit <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Exodus of Free Blacks
Free African Americans were required by law to depart the Commonwealth
within one year.
Gene Betit
Ph. D., Georgetown University Summer 1977
On Fri, May 27, 2022 at 10:51 AM Karen Sutton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
> Please take a moment to read this paragraph, and let me know what you
> think. It is a quotation from a Northumberland County, VA Order Book.
> Question: Please tell me what this entry says to you? Do you think the free
> blacks wanted to leave or were forced to leave?
>
> “October 14, 1850”
> It appearing to this court by satisfactory evidence that there are a number
> of free negroes about to removed from this county out of the commonwealth
> of Va. at their own coast and whence by our making appropriations for the
> removal of free persons of color and for other purposes passed the 11th.
> March 1850 which -------- directs that it shall be the duty of the county
> and cooperating courts to charge the legal tax for the seal of the court
> and ---- of every copy of registration by them to every free negro and to
> acco. (accommodate) with the auditor of such tax being to raise a fund for
> the remova1 of free negroes out of this Commonwealth. Therefore the court
> dot direct its clerk: not to charge the tax aforesaid to any free negro who
> obtains his papers for the purpose of removing out of the Commonwealth at
> his or her own costs."
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
>
> Stay Safe and Well!
>
>
> Karen E. Sutton
>
>
> Karen E. Sutton, Ph.D.
>
> Class of Fall 2021
>
> Dept of History/Geography, Museum
>
> Studies and Historic Preservation
>
> Morgan State University
>
> 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane
>
> Baltimore, MD 21251
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> https://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> This list is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum
> and Library Services (IMLS).
>
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 May 2022 09:07:08 -0400
From: "Brooks, Vincent" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: The UncommonWealth
Finding Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans In The U.S. Census. Check out
today's The UncommonWealth.
https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2022/05/30/finding-asian-pacific-islander-desi-americans-in-the-u-s-census/
*Vincent T. Brooks*
Senior Local Records Archivist
Library of Virginia
800 East Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23219
804-692-3525
Fax 804-692-2277
*The Uncommonwealth* <https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/>
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 May 2022 14:59:44 +0000
From: "Steven T. Corneliussen" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Exodus of Free Blacks
What an enjoyable and informative exchange between Karen Sutton and Sheri Huerta. I learned a lot and I’m grateful. Thanks for posting.Steve Corneliussen
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End of VA-HIST Digest - 27 May 2022 to 31 May 2022 (#2022-60)
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