Virginia

A fascinating history of Suffolk's heroic African-American community. A must-have for African-American and Virginia history enthusiasts.

After the Civil War, African-Americans throughout Suffolk and Nansemond County fought against injustice by demanding equality before the law, the right to vote, and equal access to schools, employment, and professions. Because of their tolerance and sense of fortitude, they were able to own land and businesses and to establish churches, schools, and social organizations that paved the way for generations to come.

Suffolkis a result of the many contributions made by countless pioneers in education, business, religion, social organizations, and community leadership. In this volume, Suffolk native and archivist Annette Montgomery shares timeless, evocative images and passages for all to enjoy.

Known as the birthplace of black capitalism, Richmond had one of the largest black business districts in America at the turn of the 20th century.

Richmond, Virginia boasts a proud legacy of achievement among its African-American residents. Medical pioneers, civil rights activists, education leaders, and enterprising bankers are listed among the city's African-American sons and daughters. As individuals these men and women made their mark not only on Richmond's, but also the nation's, history. As a community, they have endured centuries of change and worked together for the common good. In their determined faces and in unforgettable scenes of the past, we celebrate and pay tribute to their history.

The fourth president of the United States, James Madison, and his wife, Dolley, stamped their influence throughout Culpeper, Orange, Madison, and Rappahannock Counties with their plantation, Montpelier, and the enslaved men and women who supported them.

One of those enslaved men, Paul Jennings, whose sons later became Union soldiers during the Civil War, penned his memoir in 1865. The legacy of slavery undergirds the region, and its ravages are undeniably on the faces of minority residents. The Civil War also has a footprint throughout the region; one example is the Battle of Cedar Mountain where, more than 85 years later, the first regional high school for minority children was built. Celebrants include World War I veteran Newman Nighten Gibson, of the 370th Infantry; Nannie Helen Burroughs, who founded a school for African American girls in Washington, DC; and Edna Lewis, who became a master chef in New York in her 30s and later was honored by the US Postal Service on a forever stamp.

From the Siege of Petersburg to the struggle for civil rights, the history of Petersburg's African American community is detailed in this volume.

The city of Petersburg has distinguished itself as a special place for African American history. African Americans in Petersburg have overcome racial and political obstacles placed in their paths. The city was the site of one of the largest free black populations in the South leading up to the Civil War, and more black soldiers participated in the Siege of Petersburg than in any other Civil War engagement. The city is the location of First Baptist Church, the nation's oldest black church; has produced trailblazers in political life, including Virginia's first black mayor; and is the site of the famous Halifax Triangle, a thriving black business district. This diverse and poignant collection of photographs reveals a heritage rich in entrepreneurial spirit, devotion to church life, and unshakable courage in the struggle for civil rights.

A part of the Underground Railroad, read here of enslaved people and their stories of using Virginia's waterways to achieve freedom.

Enslaved Virginians sought freedom from the time they were first brought to the Jamestown colony in 1619. Acts of self-emancipation were aided by Virginia's waterways, which became part of the network of the Underground Railroad in the years before the Civil War. Watermen willing to help escaped slaves made eighteenth-century Norfolk a haven for freedom seekers. Famous nineteenth-century escapees like Shadrack Minkins and Henry "Box" Brown were aided by the Underground Railroad. Enslaved men like Henry Lewey, known as Bluebeard, aided freedom seekers as conductors, and black and white sympathizers acted as station masters. Historian Cassandra Newby-Alexander narrates the ways that enslaved people used Virginia's waterways to achieve humanity's dream of freedom.

Nannie Berger Hairston was a crusader for justice in twentieth-century Virginia.

Nannie Berger Hairston was born in West Virginia in 1921, half a century after the end of the Civil War. She attended segregated schools, graduated, married and started a family. When Nannie’s husband, John, lost his job in the coal mine, the Hairstons moved to Southwest Virginia. It was the height of Jim Crow, and yet, against great odds, she and John became leaders in the community, advocating for civil rights and social justice. Nannie Hairston’s advice was sought by the powerless as well as the powerful. At the time of her death in 2017, she had taken her place as an icon for truth, justice and love.

Local author Sheree Scarborough uses Nannie Hairston’s own words to tell her story.

African Americans of Fauquier details the perseverance the African American population of this town had through centuries of slavery and segregation.

Fauquier County, in Northern Virginia, was established in 1759. It was formed from Prince William County and was named for Virginia lieutenant governor Francis Fauquier. In 1790, there were 6,642 slaves in Fauquier County. By the eve of the Civil War, there were 10,455. From 1817 to 1865, the county was home to 845 free black people. The African American population declined at the end of Reconstruction, and by 1910, the white population was double that of blacks. The population imbalance continues today. Through centuries of slavery and segregation, Fauquier County's African American population survived, excelled, and prospered. This minority community established and supported numerous churches, schools, and businesses, as well as literary, political, and fraternal organizations that enhanced the quality of life for the entire county.

Whether assisting escapes through the Underground Railroad, forming banks, publishing a newspaper, or providing recreational facilities, Portsmouth's African Americans created one of the most stable middle-class black communities in America.

African Americans in Portsmouth built a strong, insulated community because they were cognizant of the need to look inward. Early 20th-century leaders such as Dr. William Reid, Nancy T. Wheeler, and the Reverend Harvey N. Johnson Sr. were civic models and guiding forces for a community emerging from the ravages of slavery, and enduring the hardships of segregation.

Black America: Portsmouth, Virginia captures the world of an ever-changing community and a people who persevered, no matter the odds.

From the Civil War period, Hampton's African-American community has fashioned strong churches, institutions, businesses, and a major university where political and economic leaders have emerged.

The indefatigable spirit of a people once called ""contraband"" has a remarkable story illustrated by vintage photographs of Emancipation Oak, Freedom Fortress, Aberdeen Gardens, Little England Chapel, Bayshore Beach, and other historic sites.

Buckingham County, located in the heart of central Virginia, was established in 1761.

Since Buckingham County's formation, African Americans have contributed to the history and legacy of the county and were the majority of its population from 1810 to 1910. Former residents include Frank Moss, a Reconstruction lawmaker, and Carter Godwin Woodson, noted African-American educator and ""the Father of Black History.""

This volume pays homage to religion, work, service, education, and the human touch that brought families through undeniably difficult times.

Spotsylvania County, Virginia, was established in 1721, but it was not until after the Civil War that the names of approximately 4,700 African Americans born and/or living in the county were recorded for the first time. More than 150 African Americans were over the age of 70 as recorded in the 1870 census report. The county is best known as the namesake of its dynamic governor, Alexander Spotswood, and for its bloody Civil War battles. The African American community emerged from the ravages of war after more than 140 years of slavery. The community formalized the institutions they developed for survival during those years and charted a path for their growth.

Author and researcher Char McCargo Bah recounts the stories of the men and women buried in Alexandria's freedman's cemetery and the search for their descendants.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Federal troops secured Alexandria as Union territory. Former slaves, called contrabands, poured in to obtain protection from their former masters. Due to overcrowding, mortality rates were high. Authorities seized an undeveloped parcel of land on South Washington Street, and by March 1864, it had been opened as a cemetery for African Americans. Between 1864 and 1868, more than 1,700 contrabands and freedmen were buried there. For nearly eighty years, the cemetery lay undisturbed and was eventually forgotten. Rediscovered in 1996, it has now been preserved as a monument to the courage and sacrifice of those buried within.

Through a fascinating narrative and stunning vintage photographs, readers will discover the struggles and triumphs of the African Americans of Hampton Roads.

It was in Hampton Roads, Virginia, that hundreds gained their freedom. The teeming wharves were once a major station on the Underground Railroad, and during the Civil War, escaped slaves such as Shepard Mallory, Frank Baker and James Townsend fled to Fort Monroe to become contrabands under the protection of General Benjamin Butler. Upon arrival in the region, many took up arms for the Union, and the valiant deeds of some placed them among the first African American Medal of Honor recipients. Join Professor Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander as she charts the history of this remarkable African American community from the Civil War to Reconstruction.