That is interesting because I have documents which label my ancestors as free persons of color or "fpc". I am always skeptical of people who have the ABSOLUTE truth on their side. I know that people of color were also called colored, mustee, and mulatto. Those terms were used during the Colonial period, and they were sometimes referred to as black, and negro, but more so after the Civil War. In history there are not necessarily absolutes, and I would be the last one to claim I have the ABSOLUTE truth about a subject.
William Waller Hening, is a cousin to my mulatto Lewis ancestors. The Wallers and Lewis family intermarried in Spotsylvania County. Anyone who reads his biography knows that he codified the Statues for the Virginia Legislature. In simple terms he took the laws already in existance, and put codes on them. When you look the laws up, in the Library of Virginia, or in the Virginia assembly, you will see the codes (numbers), which identify each law.
Anita Wills
Notes & Documents OF Free Persons Of Color: Four Hundred Years Of an American Families History; http://www.lulu.com/leboudin, $19.95+sh, also available on CD ROM, and downloadable from site.
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
The acts of Virginia following independence used the terms negro and
mulatto. The term “colored” or “free person of color” were not used.
Mulatto was defined by an 1785 act as “every person other than a
negro..“who possessed one fourth part or more of negro blood.” Less than
one fourth blood was a white person. A slave could be anyone whose mother
was a slave, whether that person was negro, mulatto or white. If the negro
or mulatto were free, the term then used was free negro or free mulatto.
Henings Statutes are not a codification of Virginia law but a compilation.
Because they are listed chronologically, it takes considerable effort
review the evolution of the acts dealing with slaves, etc. There was a 1792
act “to reduce into one, the several acts concerning slaves, free negroes,
and mulattoes.” The best way to research these issues is to start with the
Revised Code of 1819 (the first “codification” of Virginia statutes). It
lists references to the acts which are the source of the 1819 code. These
references are to the compilation in Henings, so review of the original act
is possible. The 1819 Revised Code should be available at any law library.
Richard E. Dixon
Attorney at Law
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-830-8177
fax 703-691-0978
> [Original Message]
> From: Michael M. Foreman <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 12/20/2003 11:05:26 PM
> Subject: Mulattoes
>
> Was Mulatto recognized as a a defined race in Colonial Virginia and after
> the state proclaimed independence?
>
> Did Virginia law preclude marriage between Mulattoes and Caucasians?
>
> Did Virginia law preclude marriage between Mulattoes and Negroes?
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
Notes & Documents OF Free Persons Of Color: Four Hundred Years Of an American Families History; http://www.lulu.com/leboudin, $19.95+sh, also available on CD ROM, and downloadable from site.
-- Richard Dixon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
The acts of Virginia following independence used the terms negro and
mulatto. The term “colored” or “free person of color” were not used.
Mulatto was defined by an 1785 act as “every person other than a
negro..“who possessed one fourth part or more of negro blood.” Less than
one fourth blood was a white person. A slave could be anyone whose mother
was a slave, whether that person was negro, mulatto or white. If the negro
or mulatto were free, the term then used was free negro or free mulatto.
Henings Statutes are not a codification of Virginia law but a compilation.
Because they are listed chronologically, it takes considerable effort
review the evolution of the acts dealing with slaves, etc. There was a 1792
act “to reduce into one, the several acts concerning slaves, free negroes,
and mulattoes.” The best way to research these issues is to start with the
Revised Code of 1819 (the first “codification” of Virginia statutes). It
lists references to the acts which are the source of the 1819 code. These
references are to the compilation in Henings, so review of the original act
is possible. The 1819 Revised Code should be available at any law library.
Richard E. Dixon
Attorney at Law
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-830-8177
fax 703-691-0978
> [Original Message]
> From: Michael M. Foreman <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 12/20/2003 11:05:26 PM
> Subject: Mulattoes
>
> Was Mulatto recognized as a a defined race in Colonial Virginia and after
> the state proclaimed independence?
>
> Did Virginia law preclude marriage between Mulattoes and Caucasians?
>
> Did Virginia law preclude marriage between Mulattoes and Negroes?
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
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