Note for the Virginia History online forum

The September 9 New York Times contained the very brief article "A Database 
of Names to Trace Slave Ancestry" 
(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/arts/design/database-of-viginia-slave-names-goes-online.html).

It begins, "Scholars at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond have set 
out to leaf through eight million documents dating back to the 17th century, 
seeking the names of slaves. The preliminary results, listing about 1,400 
enslaved people and 180 owners, will start appearing on Wednesday in a 
database posted at vahistorical.org." The article says that the database is 
"searchable by locations, professions and first and last names, among other 
keywords," that the "historical society is finding the names in inventories, 
wills, correspondence, family Bibles and memoirs, among other paperwork," 
and that each page has been scanned in very high resolution.

FWIW, I'm glad the piece reminds readers that any such effort will engage 
Sally Hemings. (It says, "Listings for Thomas Jefferson’s holdings do not 
yet mention Sally Hemings.") Too bad, though, that at the Times -- as at 
some of Virginia's leading newspapers -- they have not yet fully figured out 
that when it comes to the noble cause of conferring respect and dignity 
retrospectively on those from whom slavery stole them, it's also important 
to consider how the Fort Monroe Freedom Story has almost always been told.

That story of what Ed Ayers has reportedly called "the greatest moment in 
American history" has usually been told with the dignity of naming conferred 
on General Butler, who made the second key decision reactively, but with 
that same dignity withheld from Sheppard Mallory, Frank Baker and James 
Townsend, who made the original key decision on their own -- on their own, 
actively, and with courage and resolve, and in harmony with America's 
founding belief that a desire for freedom and dignity dwells naturally and 
justly in every human heart.

But then, those three stand-up Americans were really just "slaves" who had 
"run away" as "fugitives" from their "rightful owners"; they were just 
ciphers among a great mass of feckless, passive victims awaiting rescue --  
belated rescue, anyway, from a centuries-long crime -- by powerful white 
people and by glorious (albeit selectively applied) "emancipation," right? 
So how important could their mere names be?

Thanks, Virginia Historical Society -- and thanks, William and Mary, site of 
the Lemon Project, a comparable effort. The retrospective conferral of 
dignity and respect starts by finding out names, and continues by pressing 
us to realize that the logic, such as it was, and the language of the 
slavery era still taint understanding.

Steven T. Corneliussen
Poquoson, Virginia

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