Legacies of Slavery in Education 2.0

Virginia and Emancipation 

When thinking about the history of slavery and emancipation in Virginia it is far from brief. From plantation slavery to the civil war to the reconstruction era, Virginia’s role was significant in each major phase. While all enslaved people were finally freed in the state in 1865 with the end of the civil war and the passing of the 13^th amendment, it was a long road to get there.  

The Civil War 

The long journey towards freedom in Virginia and the nation as a whole began in 1861 when Lincoln became President. With the election of the Republican candidate, the southern states realized that even with all their combined votes they still did not have enough power to elect a president that had their interests in mind and feared that slavery, an institution they relied on for economic prosperity, was going to be taken away from them. Realizing this lack of power left them vulnerable, South Carolina seceded from the Union followed soon after by Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. In April of 1861 after the Battle of Fort Sumter, full blown Civil War broke out between the Union and the Confederate states. It was after this first battle of the war that the majority of the border states decided to leave the Union and join the Confederacy, Virginia among them (McPherson). Virginia’s stance during the Civil War was unique because not only was it a border state but also it was also split in belief with half of the state loyal to the Confederate cause and the other half loyal to the Union. In 1863 the Unionist counties in the west of Virginia broke off from the state and rejoined the Union as the new state of West Virginia (Tarter). In the same year Lincoln wrote and passed the Emancipation Proclamation. While this document is historically known for freeing enslaved people in America, the reality is that it did not actually free many people at all. As seen in the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln writes, “…all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…” (Lincoln). What Lincoln meant by this is that the Emancipation Proclamation only freed enslaved people in Confederate states and did not apply to slaves held in states still a part of the Union. Thus, slavery was allowed to continue in West Virginia and while the emancipation did free slaves in Confederate Virginia, this freedom could only be enforced in regions that the Union army controlled. 

Resistance and Rebellion Against Slavery 

Although the Emancipation Proclamation is what technically freed enslaved people in Confederate Virginia, slaves did not wait for 1863 or an executive order to start fighting for their freedom. Slaves, in Virginia particularly, had many ways in which they resisted slavery and tried to “self-emancipate” including organized rebellion, escaping to Union territory, and everyday acts of opposition (“1825 to 1861”). In 1831, one of the biggest slave revolts known as Nat Turner’s Rebellion took place in Southampton County, Virginia. An enslaved man by the name of Nathainel Turner led a group of over 50 slaves in the brutal murder of their owner, his family and 58 other white men, women, and children. While the rebellion was successful in seeking revenge on their enslavers it unfortunately ended with the execution of Nat Turner and 19 other rebels (“Nat Turner’s Rebellion”). The threat of violence from enslaved individuals, amplified by the Haitian Revolution and Nat Turner’s Rebellion, scared plantation owners and spurred the implementation of stricter slavery laws and harsher punishments for resistance as they sought to maintain control and suppress dissent. Anti-abolitionist sentiment also rose in Virginia as a result of slave rebellions with plantation owners fearing that freeing slaves would now not only mean economic collapse, but also violence and terror. However, despite efforts to stop it resistance to slavery continued and in forms other than just organized rebellion. It was common for people enslaved on plantations to slow their work pace, break tools and steal food as acts of defiance. Additionally, slaves’ self-emancipated by running away to seek freedom elsewhere. While, we see this before the Civil War with the creation of the Underground Railroad sometime around 1831, the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 significantly increased the number of freedom seekers running away from their plantation’s. Being that Virginia was a border state and belonged to the Confederacy, hundreds of slaves in the region earned their freedom by escaping into Union territory including places like Fort Monroe and the Arlington House (Tarter). Even after escaping to Union territory where they were freed, black men and even women aided the Union in wartime efforts. As noted by Berlin in Who Freed the Slaves, “Hundreds of thousands of black men and women would work for the Union army, and more than 135,000 slave men became Union soldiers” (Berlin 111). Even though they had gained their freedom, the black population knew that Union victory was necessary for them to keep it. 

The End of the War 

After four years of fighting the Confederate army surrendered to the Union army in Virginia in 1864. The end of the civil war resulted in the emancipation of all enslaved people in Virginia and the entire nation. While the Emancipation Proclamation had already been issued, the 13^th amendment was added to the Constitution on January 31^st of 1865 which officially abolished slavery across the nation stating, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (“13^th Amendment”). The state of Virginia ratified the 13^th amendment on February 6^th of 1865 (Tarter). 

Emancipation Education in a Nutshell

Think about what you know when it comes to Emancipation in the United States, and also the American Civil War in general. Most kids in the United States learn about the Civil War in grades 5-8 (Sanchez). Because of your education, you probably think of the Emancipation Proclamation, and how with a flourish of his pen Lincoln managed to free all of the enslaved people in the Union. You probably think about the fundamentals of the American Civil War, and how the Union was broken over the South and their slave-based agricultural economy. You’ve probably been asked what caused the American Civil War, unable to give a single direct answer. You probably think of  Emancipation as a single act. Despite what we all learned as children in America about our own history and the history of the Civil War and Emancipation, these topics are more complex than meets the eye. The Civil War was not fought over state’s rights, it was fought over the institution of slavery. Emancipation was not a single act. It was a years-long process, and several different kinds of people were involved with this extensive and important process, with many relative successes and failures. The United States needs to cultivate a more extensive Civil War education that focuses on unpacking Emancipation and the socio-political realities of the war. This blog post will provide a case study on emancipation, specifically in the formerly confederate state of Virginia. 

Successes & Failures 

The lasting effects of the American Civil War are quite extensive. During Reconstruction –the period following the Civil War and Emancipation– several extreme racists groups began to rise in power, such as the Klu Klux Klan. But in order to understand why such extremists gained political power during this period, it is important to comprehend the successes and failures of Emancipation. 

One of the most common misconceptions of Emancipation is that Lincoln, in 1863, freed all of the enslaved people in the United States, but this is untrue. To quote Ira Berlin, “Lincoln’s proclamation of January 1, 1863, as its critics have noted, freed not a single slave who was not already entitled to freedom under legislation passed by Congress the previous year” (Berlin, 108). Emancipation only applied to those enslaved in confederate territories, which were beyond the reach of Federal authority at that time. Emancipation was also not achieved by a singular group or person. Several groups aided Lincoln and the enslaved peoples in achieving Emancipation, such as white union soldiers, their families, abolitionists and non-abolitionists in the North, congressmen, and even slaveholders in the South (Berlin, 120). Emancipation was also not written into law –that is, into the United States Constitution– until 1865 with the 13th amendment. Therefore it was written into law in 1865 that, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (National Archives). The other amendments pertaining to the rights of freedmen extend to the 14th and 15th amendments, both passed in 1868 respectively. The 14th amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (National Archives). This was the beginning of birthright citizenship. The 15th amendment is defined as, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” (National Archives). While the abolishment of slavery in the United States was without a doubt a success of Emancipation, there would come several key factors that could be defined as failures in the following years. 

 The House Joint Resolution Proposing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, January 31, 1865; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1999; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.

Understanding the failures of Emancipation begins with an introduction of Jim Crow laws and how they came to fruition, and then subsequently evolved into what Americans recognize as the struggle for Civil Rights. In the years following Reconstruction, People of Color experienced radical changes in their liberties and rights. This was caused by a rise in white supremacy among many southern white people who were not satisfied with the outcome of the Civil War. In Virginia specifically –where the capital of the Confederacy resided– many white citizens did not identify with the Union, but rather held onto their confederate ties. These trends, which are still visible today, began as early as the 1890s. Brent Tarter states, “Early in 1890 the Confederate Memorial Literary Society opened a museum in the house in downtown Richmond that had served as the residence of Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. In May of that year the state erected a large, dignified equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee that people hauled ceremoniously through the streets of Richmond and placed at the edge of a cornfield…Nobody in Virginia ever erected a comparable monument to the abolition of slavery” (Tarter, 316). Despite enslaved people fighting in the Civil War, Virginia decided to raise a statue to honor the man who enslaved them. Jim Crow saw an era of disenfranchisement for Black people. People of Color were paid lower wages than their white counterparts for the same labor, if not in more dangerous working conditions than the latter (Tarter, 318). Most –if not all– Americans know about segregation. However, most probably do not consider it a failure of Emancipation. Jim Crow laws are an example of just how disenfranchised freed Black people became post-Civil War and post Emancipation. 

“Equal But Separate?” 

Different examples of Jim Crow laws can best be summed up by Plessy v. Fergueson, a Supreme Court case that you probably learned in your high school American history class.  Plessy v. Fergueson illustrates how the years following Emancipation proved that freedom was not the ideal previously conceived. To summarize, the court upheld a law that required separate train cars for Black people and white people, claiming that it did not violate the 14th amendment. (Oyez). For Black people to have to endure this racial discrimination, basic human rights violations, and societal abuse for years following Emancipation demonstrates the institutional racism that did not dissolve with the case for abolition. Racism was entrenched into US law, specifically meant to harm Black communities and individuals. Emancipation abolished slavery, but the freed individuals did not see true freedom for nearly a hundred years. 

 Works Cited

Berlin, Ira. “Who Freed the Slaves? Emancipation and Its Meaning.” Chapter 5, 1997, https://moodle.elon.edu/pluginfile.php/3353505/mod_resource/content/1/Berlin%2C%20Who%20Freed%20the%20Slaves.pdf  

Lincoln, Abraham. “Emancipation Proclamation.” National Archives, 1 Jan 1863, www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation/transcript.html. 

McPherson, James. “A Brief Overview of the American Civil War.” American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/brief-overview-american-civil-war. 

“Nat Turner’s Rebellion.” National Museum of African American History and Culture,  nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/nat-turners-rebellion. 

National Archives. “14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868).” National Archives, 7 Sept. 2021, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/14th-amendment.

Oyez. “Plessy v. Ferguson.” Oyez, 2019, www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/163us537.

Sanchez, Adam. “Teaching the Complex History of Abolition and the Civil War.” American Federation of Teachers, 26 Sept. 2019, www.aft.org/ae/fall2019/sanchez.

Tarter, Brent. “The Abolition of Slavery in Virginia – Encyclopedia Virginia.” Encyclopedia Virginia, 9 Feb. 2023, encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/the-abolition-of-slavery-in-virginia/#:~:text=Its%20Constitution%20of%201863%20included,in%201864%2C%20that%20abolished%20slavery. 

​​Tarter, Brent. “Jim Crow Virginia.” Virginians and Their Histories, University of Virginia Press, 2020, pp. 315–32. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxkn6m7.19. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.

“13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery.” National Archives, 1865, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/13th-amendment. 

—. “15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870).” National Archives, 7 Sept. 2021, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/15th-amendment.

“1825 to 1861: Slavery.” Virginia Museum of History & Culture,  https://virginiahistory.org/learn/story-of-virginia/chapter/slavery#:~:text=Some%20enslaved%20Virginians%20instigated%20organized,%2C%20slowing%20the%20work%2Dpace. 

Introduction 

The Virginia colony was not only a hub for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade within the New World, but also the birthplace of slavery in what we know as British North America. In 1619, around 30 Africans, captured and transported across the Atlantic Ocean by English privateers, landed at Point Comfort aboard the White Lion (“1619: The Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia- Backstory”). While this voyage was the first to bring enslaved Africans to the British colonies, it would certainly not be the last. The slave trade in Virginia flourished, creating unimaginable wealth for the colony, its motherland, and every individual involved in the business. Slave voyages brought what colonists viewed as new inventory and wealth opportunities to North America, but the ships that made these treks across the Middle Passage did not just hold cargo, they held stories of horror and loss for every enslaved person on board. The vessel known as “African Gally” was no exception. 

The African Gally 

In late October of 1705, the African Gally, led by captains Francis Bond and Saunders, pulled out of port in Bristol and headed for the west African coast, after which it would land in Virginia (SlaveVoyages). While the triangle trade held promises of valuable metals and raw materials such as gold, ivory, redwood, and wax, what this particular voyage was interested in was the slave trade. In 1698, only a few years prior to the start of this voyage, the Royal African Company’s monopoly on the English slave trade ended, allowing British merchants to enter the industry. Although private slave voyages out of Bristol remained low in the early 1700s, with an average of only 4 vessels leaving Bristol’s port annually, Bond and Saunders were undeterred (Richardson, 14-16). Prior to this voyage Francis Bond had captained two other slave trips, the “Unity” to Barbados in 1701 and then again in 1702 (SlaveVoyages). In the first three decades of the 1700s slave voyages out of Bristol were expected to take 12 months on average to complete (Richardson, 16). The African Gally’s voyage of 1705 lasted 328 days and while extensive, its above average speed can likely be attributed in part to Bond’s prior captaining experience.  

Slavery in Africa  

Sometime between October of 1705 and September of 1706 the African Gally landed in a port along the Bright of Biafra in west Africa, likely near modern day Guinea. It is here that 245 enslaved Africans were bought and boarded onto the slave ship destined for Virginia (SlaveVoyages). The names and individual stories of the enslaved peoples aboard the African Gally remain unknown, but what we do know is what their lives likely resembled in Africa upon captivity. In the midst of the slave trade, as Hartman notes in Lose Your Mother, Africans became enslaved through captivity often from war, raiding, commercialized agreements between African royals and Europeans, and the conquests of missionaries, mercenaries and privateers (Hartman 51). However, one of the most common circumstances of enslavement was captivity by another African. Africans residing in the west would capture Africans from the north, whom they believed to be barbaric and uncivilized, and make them travel hundreds of miles by foot in chains and hot weather with little to no food and water. Oftentimes on these travels the captives would be tortured or left behind if they could not keep up (Smith 10). The captives were brought to the coast where they were sold and traded to Europeans at slave markets and then transported to the Americas for plantation labor (Hartman 52). What we know about the slave markets and holding dungeons in West Africa is that they were inhumane. It was at these places that humans were stripped of their rights and reduced to property. Slaves were bound together or to walls by iron chains and rope and were packed together tightly into small spaces by the hundreds and thousands. Men were separated from women and children to reduce the threat of resistance and families were broken up. It was not uncommon for slaves to be whipped and beaten at the markets and after being sold, many were often branded with a hot iron to mark who they belonged to, similarly to how cattle would be (Hartman 79). The worth of a slave was determined by many things such as their age, gender and ability and it was these qualities that determined their monetary value. Some slaves were held in the markets and dungeons for only days and other weeks and even months. The conditions in these places were harsh. Food and water were scarce, and disease thickened the air. Many slaves grew ill and even died before being sold or transported to their final destination. Dysentery was among the most common diseases given that slaves were eating, sleeping and defecating in the same space. As Hartman writes, “Slavery was a state of death” (Hartman 111). The slaves’ pasts, identities and lives as they knew them were completely erased. At the slave markets and dungeons, the enslaved did not know what awaited them ahead, but they feared for their lives.  

Life at Sea 

On September 24^th of 1706, after sailing for 328 days, the African Gally disembarked at a port in Virginia near the mouth of the York River (SlaveVoyages). While we don’t know the exact conditions of the African Gally during its trek across the Atlantic and what the slaves underwent of their journey over we can assume from other similar accounts of life at sea aboard a slave ship, such as chapter 7 from Hartman’s Lose Your Mother, that it was gruesome and agonizing, contaminated by disease and ruled by violence and torture. Unfortunately, of the 245 slaves that embarked the African Gally in west Africa, only 196 disembarked in Virginia. On the almost year-long voyage across the middle passage 20% of the African Gally’s enslaved peoples died (SlaveVoyages). 

Slavery Comes to Colonial America 

Slavery, as an institution in America, spanned from colonial period to well past the creation of the United States. Slavery, especially pertaining to the practice in the American south, was a systematically racist and brutal institution that lasted for more than 200 years. In the southern region of America, crop was king. The main category of labor that enslaved people performed in the American south belonged to the fields, working on plantations. The first slave ship arrived in America in the year 1619 –the São João Bautista– flying proudly under the Portuguese flag. Docking at a port near Jamestown, Virginia, the São João Bautista was carrying “20-and-odd” unfree Africans (Elliot and Hughes). Thus began the victory of slavery in the south. 

But where did these slaves come from? The captives aboard the São João Bautista came from Angola, in southwestern Africa, most likely from the kingdoms of Ndongo and Kongo (Elliot and Hughes). The West African coast became a hub for slave trade, due to many of the European powers goods and people with West African leaders. From the beginning, slavery was an economic institution, though it was not necessarily race based until it came to North America. 

Slavery in the American South

Slavery in the south is defined by its inherent cruel practices and brutal conditions placed upon those enslaved. On these plantations, violence was not uncommon. The white plantation owners saw extreme violence as an adequate way to keep enslaved people “in line,” but in actuality, they inclined this violence out of racist views and fears of slave uprisings. The Equal Justice Initiative states, “…enslaved people frequently suffered extreme physical violence as punishment for or warning against transgressions like running away, failing to complete assigned tasks, visiting a spouse living on another plantation, learning to read, arguing with white people, working

too slowly, possessing anti-slavery materials, or trying to prevent the sale of their relatives” (Equal Justice Initiative, 20). Enslaved people were severely oppressed, and their experiences were defined by violence. 

Liberty and Justice for All? 

The governments in the south, even during the post-colonial period, prohibited and continued to prohibit and restrict the rights and autonomy of enslaved people. The legislative bodies repeatedly passed laws designed to keep slavery entrenched in the south. For example, the Virginia Slave Codes were a series of written laws pertaining to the conditions of enslaved people. One law in particular that was enacted in December of 1662 created the institution of hereditary slavery. The law stated that if an enslaved Black woman were to have children, those children must “serve according to the condition of the mother” (Henning). Essentially, this law undid thousands of years of Christian practice by undoing patriarchal lineage. Now, if an enslaved Black woman had a child with a white man, that child would be enslaved just as the mother. 

Enslaved people also had no access to legal representation. Those enslaved who were born on the soil of the United States did not have the right to the same legal protection as their white counterparts did. The Equal Justice Initiative states, “Because slave owners faced no formal prohibition against maiming or killing the enslaved, an enslaved person’s life had no legal protection; for some slave owners, this led to reckless disregard for life and horrific levels of cruelty” (Equal Justice Initiative, 20). These ideas were so entrenched in American law, that slavery and the restriction of rights for enslaved people were practically constitutional. Later, in the years leading up to abolition, a complicated legal case made it to the Supreme Court. That case was Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) and the ruling determined that according to the U.S. In The Supreme Court, enslaved people were not formal citizens of the United States and as such, they could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts (National Archives). The case, in which Dred Scott –an enslaved man– sued for his freedom since he resided with his former enslaver in a free territory. The Supreme Court ruled against his favor, and determined that Scott did not even have the right to bring forth a lawsuit, since he was considered to be an enslaved person (National Archives). To this day, Dred Scott v. Sanford is considered to be one of, if not the worst decisions ever rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Everything is an Act of Resistance

Enslaved peoples had known freedom before they were forcibly taken to North America. Because of this, they had continued to not only hope for their eventual freedom, but fight for it as well. Their forms of resistance ranged from big uprisings to small acts of defiance. One of the largest slave uprisings was the Stono Rebellion of 1739 which took place in Charleston, South Carolina. The rebellion consisted of between 60 to 100 Black people participating, 40 of which were killed in addition to 20 white people (Elliot and Hughes). However, not all forms of resistance were violent. Some forms of resistance were cultural celebrations, such as Junkanoo. Junkanoo is a festival of parades and brightly colored costumes that can trace its origins back to West Africa, while today it remains popular in the Caribbean (Wells). Junkanoo became a celebration of combined African culture, in which they connected with each other and their shared heritage. 

Equal Justice Initiative. “SLAVERY IN AMERICA.” SLAVERY IN AMERICA: THE MONTGOMERY SLAVE TRADE, Equal Justice Initiative, 2018, pp. 8–30. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep30693.4. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.

Elliot, Mary, and Jazmine Hughes. “A Brief History of Slavery That You Didn’t Learn in School.” The New York Times, 19 Aug. 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html.

Hartman, Saidiya. Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route. 1st ed, New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008.

National Archives. “Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857).” National Archives, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 27 July 2021, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dred-scott-v-sandford.

Richardson, David. Bristol, Africa and the Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade to America, Vol. 1: The Years of Expansion, 1698-1729. Internet Archive, 1986, archive.org/details/bristol-record-society-38/page/n17/mode/2up.

Smith, Venture. A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident Above Sixty Years in the United States of America. Related by Himself. 1798. docsouth.unc.edu/neh/venture/venture.html. 

Voyage Information. www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/16016

Wells, Sasha C. “What to Know about the History of Junkanoo, One of the Caribbean’s Biggest Holiday Celebrations.” TIME, Time, 26 Dec. 2024, time.com/7202192/junkanoo-holiday-history/.

“1619: The Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia – BackStory.” BackStory, 8 Oct. 2020, backstoryradio.org/shows/1619-the-arrival-of-the-first-africans-in-virginia/#transcript. 

Five Generations of One Family on Smith’s Plantation, Beaufort, South Carolina. [n.d.]. Visual Arts Legacy Collection. Artstor, JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.13912841. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.