From: teresa....
To: Paul Drake
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 10:54 AM
Subject: slaves

Hey Paul, I was reading...."Jottings About Nottoway".....  There was
a...article... about a slave named "Old Jack Stewart".  Old Jack was bought
on the James River by a Mr Stewart "for a piece of red ribbon" and was
brought back to Nottoway VA.   Old Jack was about 7 years old and says he
was brought over in the "last cargo of slaves".  Old Jack begged his
master`s children to teach him how to read and bribed them with fruits and
nuts etc.  Soon he was able to read the Bible.  Old Jack had his freedom by
1820 and is listed on the 1820 Nottway census as a Free Negro.  He died in
1843 and was over one hundred years old.  He became a very well known
Baptist Preacher in that county and was very close to a Dr. James Jones...a
very wealthy, educated man who believed in emancipation.  Now, when do you
think the last cargo of slaves was sent to VA?  Thanks, Teresa.
**********
Ms. Teresa.  I wanted to check before I responded to your question, and
surely would welcome any further comments from the lists members.
Though by Federal law the slave trade ended in 1808, to suggest that
thereafter enterprising business folks did not bring in slaves from the
Indies and even from Africa is simply silly.  The invention of the cotton
gin rendered it an easy matter for planters to raise more and more cotton,
and for that labor intensive activity the Blacks were most vital.

The trade between States also was forbidden, however there too, traders were
everywhere and tens of thousands of Black folks were sold at the auctions
and by private and public sale across the new nation, particularly in the
South.

So, the date uponn which the last Negro was brought to our country probably
can not be ascertained with any certainty.  I would suggest you seek out a
copy of the compilation of articles styled, "The Negro In Virginia"
(Hastings House, NY, 1940); that is an excellent read.
Paul

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