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A New Englander Described Danville Slaves, February 22, 1850
To all - Have you see this letter about slaves in Danville, VA. This family actually has a connection to the Fearn/Patton families in Danville, VA.
Unfortunately, Danville wants to destroy all of the historic ruins and slave cemetery on the Fearn Plantation. They have ignored all of the important
family histories associated with Fearn Plantation site. They plan to destroy the ruins and move the cemetery and GIVE the entire 158 acre site to a
Chinese Company. Please sign our petition.....and support the efforts of the descendants and researchers who really care about this site.
Thanks,
Anne Evans
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-the-fearn-family-plantation.html
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Letter -
Individual enslaved men and women did not have the means, or the time, to sit and write their own stories about their lives under bondage. Most of what we know comes from white Americans' recordings. When writing about slavery, whites often sought to prove or disprove abolitionists' accusations about the cruelty of slavery. Pressed by domestic and international public opinion to abolish or change the institution, southerners wanted slavery to appear benign and beneficial to those enslaved. Charles Doe, a native of New Hampshire, wrote this letter with a definite proslavery slant, while he visited his brother in Danville. Doe described the treatment of slaves in the town as well as some of the events enslaved people attended, including a funeral, a church service, and a slave auction.
Much of the content of Charles Doe's letter focuses on religious expression among African Americans.
http://www.virginiamemory.com/docs/02-22-1850_trans_ck.pdf
TRANSCRIPTION
Page 1 of 2
Charles Doe Wrote to His Family, 22 February 1850
----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry Meyers" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 10:22:55 AM
Subject: [VA-HIST] burial of slaves
Dear all,
Several of us at the College are are renewing efforts to find the College's burial ground for those it enslaved. Several questions come to mind:
Is there any conventional or usual connection between the location of a slave quarter and a burial ground for the enslaved? Any standard distance, for example, separating the two, or any preferred kind of location for the burial ground?
Somewhat relatedly, was there a law or custom that required owners of the enslaved to bear the cost of their burial? The W&M archives have at least one receipt for a coffin, provided to Lemon (after whom the College's Lemon Project is named). And a local undertaker's Daybook and Ledger that I co-edited some years ago has many invoices to owners for the burial of those they had enslaved.
http://scdb.swem.wm.edu/?p=collections/controlcard&id=7710
Was this a regional custom or was there some mandate in Virginia requiring it universally?
Thanks.
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Terry L.. Meyers, Chancellor Professor of English, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg Virginia 23187 757-221-3932
http://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/tlmeye/
http://www.ecologyfund.com/ecology/_ecology.html
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Have we got a college? Have we got a football team?....Well, we can't afford both. Tomorrow we start tearing down the college.
--Groucho Marx, in "Horse Feathers."
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