Ray Bonis asks a good question. In Loudoun County, Emancipation Day celebrations were a major event, and an organizing event, for the county's black citizens for over half a century, during the darkest days of racial segregation. The Emancipation Society was formed in 1890 (a portrait of its founder, William H. Clark, hangs in a room named for him in the Thomas Balch Library in Leesburg). It held yearly celebrations of emancipation, featuring black soldiers from the 9th and 10th cavalry (the Buffalo soldiers). In addition, it was a joint-stock mutual aid society and acquired its own festival grounds and facility in Purcellville, Virginia. Quite a contrast to the "Lost Cause" celebrations that so moved white Virginians in that era. The society lasted until 1971. An excellent history of the Society by Elaine Thompson can be obtained from the Friends of the Thomas Balch Library. Jim Hershman ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html