Hi Listers!  My class at University of Richmond yesterday for Osher was based on the tours I've given since last fall of Richmond's slave trade called Southern Slave Saga, from Prejudice to Progress. The adult students had some amazing questions, and the ones that intrigued me (that also stumped me) were about slave marriages before freedom came and postbellum marriages of mixed race couples like Robert and Mary (his former slave and mother of their many children) Lumpkin. Prior to 1865 the marriage of slaves seems to have been a community-church or extralegal event in Virginia. This reminds me of the commitment ceremonies in recent times of same sex couples. Also, where would one find a record of marriages from April 1865 on in Richmond, Virginia?  Was there a rush to the legal altar once the impediments had been removed?  And was there a window of opportunity where couples like Robert and Mary Lumpkin could get married before the legal restrictions against mixed race marriages were enacted? If anyone knows where to start looking for answers or is doing research along these lines, please let me know, off list if you prefer. Thanks!  Alyson 

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Alyson L. Taylor-White
(804) 920-2783

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