> #2 Why would free persons of color born in Virginia be in Hannibal,
> Missouri in 1850? And when would they have come there?
>
The answer to this question depends, in large measure, on one thing:
whether the free persons of color you're wondering about were born free in
Virginia or born slaves and later manumitted. The latter's movement from
Virginia to points west (e.g., Missouri) is relatively easy to explain:
they were taken there by their owners (and freed later). Remember Dred
Scott, or the slaves (then ex-slaves) of Edward Coles.
Doug Deal
History/SUNY Oswego
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