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Wed, 03 Jul 2019 09:51:35 EST]]> /Hodges_Charles_E_1819-after_April_29_1910 Wed, 03 Jul 2019 09:49:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Hodges_Charles_E_1819-after_April_29_1910 Charles E. Hodges was a member of the House of Delegates (1869–1871) from Norfolk County. Born in Princess Anne County, the son of free African Americans, he learned to read and write and, with his brothers Willis A. Hodges and William Johnson Hodges, became an outspoken abolitionist. In 1850 he was swindled out of land, and the next year he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he became a Baptist preacher. He returned to Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and in 1869 won election to the General Assembly, voting to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution and unsuccessfully opposing segregation in the new statewide public school system. In his later years, Hodges served as a Baptist preacher in what later became the city of Chesapeake and, in 1873, won a three-year term as justice of the peace in Norfolk County. He died sometime after being counted in the federal census of 1910.
Wed, 03 Jul 2019 09:49:58 EST]]> /Powell_Guy_d_by_November_19_1900 Wed, 22 May 2019 14:34:08 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Powell_Guy_d_by_November_19_1900 Guy Powell was a member of the Senate of Virginia (1875–1879) and of the House of Delegates (1881–1883). Born enslaved in Brunswick County, he worked as a laborer and then studied to be a Baptist minister at the Richmond Institute. He ministered in Brunswick, Greensville, and Southampton counties and took leadership roles in statewide church groups. In 1875, Powell won election to the Senate of Virginia but did not speak often. During his term, he and several other delegates publicly protested poor treatment and bad accommodations at a local hotel. In March 1881, he attended a convention of African American Republicans in Petersburg that voted to affiliate with the Readjuster Party, and later that year Powell won election to the House of Delegates, representing Brunswick County. After one term he moved to Southampton County, purchasing land there and continuing to preach. He died in 1900.
Wed, 22 May 2019 14:34:08 EST]]> /John_Mitchell_Jr_1863-1929 Mon, 06 May 2019 08:03:41 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/John_Mitchell_Jr_1863-1929 John Mitchell Jr. was a prominent newspaper editor, politician, banker, and civil rights activist. Born enslaved near Richmond, Mitchell attended the Richmond Colored Normal School and taught for a year before he and other black teachers were fired by a new Democratic school board. He then went into journalism, in 1884 becoming editor of the Richmond Planet, an African American weekly newspaper. Mitchell used the Planet to promote civil rights, racial justice, and racial pride. As an editor and an activist, he became a key figure in the antilynching movement and played an instrumental role in organizing the Richmond streetcar boycott of 1904. Mitchell's bold protest against racial injustice, which at times included calls to take up arms in self-defense, earned him his reputation as "the Fighting Editor." In addition to his work on the Richmond Planet, Mitchell served on the Richmond city council from 1888 to 1896 before founding the Mechanics Savings Bank in 1901. His work at the bank brought him more into the political and social mainstream but its collapse in 1922 led him to be convicted on charges of fraud and theft. The conviction was later overturned but left him destitute. When the state Republican Party excluded most black delegates from its convention, Mitchell unsuccessfully ran for governor on a "Lily Black" ticket. He remained editor of the Richmond Planet until his death in 1929.
Mon, 06 May 2019 08:03:41 EST]]> /The_Virginia_Cavalier Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:34:16 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/The_Virginia_Cavalier The Virginia Cavalier is a concept that attaches the qualities of chivalry and honor to the aristocratic class in Virginia history and literature. Its origin lies in the seventeenth century, when leading Virginians began to associate themselves with the Royalists, or Cavaliers, who fought for and remained loyal to King Charles I during the English Civil Wars (1642–1648). The myth gained popularity in nineteenth-century southern literature by authors such as George Tucker, William Alexander Caruthers, John Esten Cooke, and Mary Johnston, whose work presented a romanticized masculine portrait of the elite authority in Virginia in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries and expressed nostalgia for Virginia's supposedly aristocratic origins. Tying into a history that progressed from patriarchal to paternal, the Cavalier myth reinforced the illusion of benevolent male authority during the antebellum and post–Civil War periods, and is still present in modern iconography depicting Virginia's past. By circulating a version of Virginia history that is dominated by the ruling class, the Cavalier myth marginalizes the role that other groups played in the state's social development and disregards the growth of the institution of slavery under an ethos of supposed honor and benevolence.
Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:34:16 EST]]> /Griggs_Nathaniel_M_d_1919 Tue, 16 Apr 2019 15:08:44 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Griggs_Nathaniel_M_d_1919
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 15:08:44 EST]]> /Black_Baptists_in_Virginia_1865-1902 Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:31:25 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Black_Baptists_in_Virginia_1865-1902 Most religious African Americans after the American Civil War (1861–1865) belonged to Baptist churches. Even prior to the abolition of slavery, Baptists, black and white, came closer to the principle of the equality of all believers than many other religious bodies. Even white Baptists recognized in principle the idea that African Americans were full members of the church, though whites generally did not consent to the ordination of their black counterparts. Once free, African American Baptists became even more assertive in forming churches and organizing independent local and state associations. These groups gave a platform to African American views of the world, from the theological to the political, and an avenue by which connections could be made both domestically and abroad. For instance, black Baptists in Virginia sought educational and humanitarian support from white Baptists in the North while at the same time, in part through the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, created in 1880, establishing missions in West Africa. This strategy eventually caused a rift between those black Baptists (so-called independents) who balked at asking white Baptists for help, and others (so-called cooperationists) who argued that they should rise above racial differences. Taking advantage of their numbers and influence, Baptist groups also lobbied hard for black civil rights. And for a time black men voted and regularly held office in Virginia. But by 1902, and the ratification of a new state constitution, such rights were effectively eliminated. In the difficult years to come, Virginia's black Baptists relied on their now well-established institutions to pursue their social and political interests.
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:31:25 EST]]> /Wise_John_S_1846-1913 Thu, 04 Apr 2019 18:23:50 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Wise_John_S_1846-1913 John S. Wise was a member of the House of Representatives (1883–1885), a judge, and, late in his career, a writer of novels and history. Born in Brazil the son of Henry A. Wise, who went on to serve as governor of Virginia, John Wise grew up in Accomack County. He attended the Virginia Military Institute and fought at the Battle of New Market (1864) during the American Civil War (1861–1865) before earning a law degree at the University of Virginia and following his father into politics. In the 1870s he became a follower of William Mahone and joined his Readjuster Party, which allied with African Americans and supported reducing the principal and interest on the state's antebellum debt . After losing to his cousin George D. Wise in 1880, Wise won a seat in Congress in 1882, serving one term, serving as a U.S. attorney for a year in the interim. An outspoken politician who fought at least one duel, Wise lost the governor's race to Fitzhugh Lee in 1885, leaving Virginia and its toxic political atmosphere three years later to practice law in New York. There he wrote novels, including one in the voice of his favorite hunting dog, a memoir, and an account of his political career. He retired in 1907 and died six years later.
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 18:23:50 EST]]> /Baskervill_Britton_1863-1892 Fri, 29 Mar 2019 10:57:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Baskervill_Britton_1863-1892 Britton Baskervill represented Mecklenburg County for one term in the General Assembly (1887–1888). Born enslaved, he acquired an education after the American Civil War (1861–1865) and taught school as one of his occupations. In 1887 Republican Party leader William Mahone engineered Baskervill's nomination as the party's candidate to the House of Delegates. The African American majority among the county's electorate provided Baskervill an easy victory over his Democratic opponent in the general election. He stood by Mahone in 1888 when most African Americans supported the independent congressional candidacy of John Mercer Langston. A year later, however, Baskervill lost Mahone's political support and with it the Republican Party's nomination for the seat in 1889. Baskervill returned to teaching and farming, never again holding public office.
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 10:57:24 EST]]> /The_Virginia_Gentleman Fri, 08 Mar 2019 13:15:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/The_Virginia_Gentleman The Virginia gentleman is a concept that attaches the qualities of chivalry and honor to the aristocratic class in Virginia history and literature. Similar to the myth of the Cavalier, which suggested a connection between Virginians and Royalists during the English Civil Wars (1642–1648), the idea of the Virginia gentleman is based on a code of gentility and honor that is closely tied to the slaveholding plantation culture of Tidewater Virginia. So-called gentlemen were expected to lead and behave with courtesy toward all, regardless of social status. While not assumed to be personally flawless, they were expected to demonstrate fortitude, temperance, prudence, and justice. A gentleman's reputation and personal honor were to be cultivated and protected above all else. Developed in the context of slavery and reaching its apogee among Virginians such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, the concept of the gentleman spread from Virginia across the South and became an important theme in early novels of the region. Just as the Virginia gentleman provided an aspirational ideal, so did these novels present the South and its enslavement of African Americans in terms that idealized the slaveholders. This continued in the decades following the American Civil War (1861–1865), when the Virginia gentleman was enlisted into the Lost Cause and the justification of slavery. While twentieth-century writers treated it with more irony, the Virginia gentleman still thrives in American popular culture.
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 13:15:57 EST]]> /Hodges_Johnson_d_1872 Wed, 06 Mar 2019 12:13:38 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Hodges_Johnson_d_1872
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 12:13:38 EST]]> /Hodges_Willis_A_1815-1890 Fri, 01 Mar 2019 11:56:15 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Hodges_Willis_A_1815-1890 Willis A. Hodges was an antislavery activist, newspaper editor, and member of the Convention of 1867–1868. Born in Princess Anne County, the son of free African Americans, he learned to read and write and, with his brothers Charles E. Hodges and William Johnson Hodges, became an outspoken abolitionist. Before the American Civil War (1861–1865), Hodges moved between Virginia and Brooklyn, New York, where his brother William Johnson had settled after a run-in with the law. In New York he ministered at a Baptist church, farmed, helped found a temperance society, and, in 1847, cofounded a weekly antislavery newspaper, the Ram's Horn, through which he befriended the abolitionist John Brown. He also wrote an autobiography. After the war, having returned to Tidewater Virginia, Hodges became an outspoken leader of African Americans, opening a school and becoming involved in Republican Party politics. He served as a delegate to the constitutional convention and was the best known and one of the most active and vocal of the convention's twenty-four African American members, supporting radical reforms and racial equality. In subsequent years, Hodges ran unsuccessfully for the Senate of Virginia and, three times, for the the House of Delegates. He did serve on the Prince Anne County board of supervisors, however, and as the keeper of the Cape Henry lighthouse, perhaps the first African American to hold that position. He died in 1890.
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 11:56:15 EST]]> /Robert_E_Lee_Jr_1843-1914 Tue, 26 Feb 2019 14:39:48 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Robert_E_Lee_Jr_1843-1914 Robert E. Lee Jr. was a soldier, farmer, and biographer of his father, Robert E. Lee. Born at Arlington, the Lee family plantation, Lee did not seek a military education but instead attended the University of Virginia. With the start of the American Civil War (1861–1865), however, he joined the Confederate army and rose to the rank of captain. He fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, including the Seven Days' Battles (1862), the Chancellorsville Campaign (1863), and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (1864). His letters home document the daily life of a soldier and the rise and fall of Confederate morale. After the war, Lee stayed out of politics and instead struggled to succeed as a farmer at Romancoke, the King William County estate he inherited from his grandfather. He also sold insurance in Washington, D.C. In 1904, he achieved fame as the author of the Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, a collection of his father's letters as well as anecdotes drawn from family accounts. It was published to widespread acclaim and has been frequently reprinted. Lee died in 1914.
Tue, 26 Feb 2019 14:39:48 EST]]> /Lee_Robert_E_and_Slavery Wed, 13 Feb 2019 09:32:36 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lee_Robert_E_and_Slavery Robert E. Lee was the most successful Confederate military leader during the American Civil War (1861–1865). This also made him, by virtue of the Confederacy's defense of chattel slavery, the most successful defender of the enslavement of African Americans. Yet his own personal record on both slavery and race is mottled with contradictions and ambivalence, all which were in plain view during his long career. Born into two of Virginia's most prominent families, Lee spent his early years surrounded by enslaved African Americans, although that changed once he joined the Army. His wife, Mary Randolph Custis Lee, freed her own personal slaves, but her father, George Washington Parke Custis, still owned many people, and when he died, Robert E. Lee, as executor of his estate, was responsible for manumitting them within five years. He was widely criticized for taking the full five years. Lee and his wife supported the American Colonization Society before the war but resisted the abolitionist movement. Lee later insisted that his decision to support the Confederacy was not founded on a defense of slavery. During both the Maryland (1862) and Gettysburg (1863) campaigns, Lee's officers kidnapped free blacks and sold them into slavery. By 1865, Lee supported the enlistment of African Americans into the Confederate army, but he surrendered before a plan could be implemented. After the war, he generally opposed racial and political equality for African Americans.
Wed, 13 Feb 2019 09:32:36 EST]]> /Lee_Robert_Edward_1807-1870 Wed, 13 Feb 2019 09:30:14 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lee_Robert_Edward_1807-1870 Robert E. Lee was a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861–1865) who led the Army of Northern Virginia from June 1862 until its surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Descended from several of Virginia's First Families, Lee was a well-regarded officer of the United States Army before the war. His decision to fight for the Confederacy was emblematic of the wrenching choices faced by Americans as the nation divided. After an early defeat in western Virginia, he repulsed George B. McClellan's army from the Confederate capital during the Seven Days' Battles (1862) and won stunning victories at Manassas (1862), Fredericksburg (1862), and Chancellorsville (1863). The Maryland and Pennsylvania campaigns he led resulted in major contests at Antietam (1862) and Gettysburg (1863), respectively, with severe consequences for the Confederacy. Lee offered a spirited defense during the Overland Campaign (1864) against Ulysses S. Grant, but was ultimately outmaneuvered and forced into a prolonged siege at Petersburg (1864–1865). Lee's generalship was characterized by bold tactical maneuvers and inspirational leadership; however, critics have questioned his strategic judgment, his waste of lives in needless battles, and his unwillingness to fight in the Western Theater. In 1865, his beloved home at Arlington having been turned into a national cemetery, Lee became president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington. There he promoted educational innovation and presented a constructive face to the devastated Southern public. Privately Lee remained bitter and worked to obstruct societal changes brought about by the war, including the enfranchisement of African Americans. By the end of his life he had become a potent symbol of regional pride and dignity in defeat, and has remained an icon of the Lost Cause. He died on October 12, 1870.
Wed, 13 Feb 2019 09:30:14 EST]]> /_An_Englishman_s_Visit_to_Capt_R_E_Lee_Confederate_Veteran_June_1915 Wed, 13 Feb 2019 09:22:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_An_Englishman_s_Visit_to_Capt_R_E_Lee_Confederate_Veteran_June_1915
Wed, 13 Feb 2019 09:22:57 EST]]> /Moseley_William_P_ca_1819_or_1820-1890 Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:17:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Moseley_William_P_ca_1819_or_1820-1890
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:17:32 EST]]> /John_Watson_d_December_6_1869 Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:11:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/John_Watson_d_December_6_1869
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:11:51 EST]]> /Nelson_Edward_fl_1867-1869 Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:00:54 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Nelson_Edward_fl_1867-1869
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:00:54 EST]]> /Davis_William_Roscoe_d_ca_1904 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 11:52:04 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Davis_William_Roscoe_d_ca_1904 William Roscoe Davis was an important African American leader in Elizabeth City County (later the city of Hampton) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), and served as doorkeeper for the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868. Born into slavery, Davis was noted for his intelligence and received permission to work as a boat operator. He spent a considerable amount of his money paying for a lawsuit to defend his wife's manumission, but a local judge refused to enforce the couple's legal victory. Davis was among the first slaves to find freedom at Fort Monroe. A Baptist exhorter before the conflict, he became an ordained minister by 1863. His charisma was so impressive that he became a paid orator who toured Northern states. Later in life he claimed credit for the creation of Hampton Normal and Collegiate Institute (later Hampton University), telling people that his request for a new teacher led to the arrival of the institution's founder, Samuel Chapman Armstrong. He remained a leader in the community and respected elder in his family, also serving as the Old Point Comfort lighthouse keeper and buying property in Hampton. He died in 1904.
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 11:52:04 EST]]> /Crouch_Davis_v_1876 Mon, 07 Jan 2019 15:21:13 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Crouch_Davis_v_1876
Mon, 07 Jan 2019 15:21:13 EST]]> /_He_Paid_an_Awful_Penalty_Charlottesville Mon, 07 Jan 2019 14:53:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_He_Paid_an_Awful_Penalty_Charlottesville
Mon, 07 Jan 2019 14:53:58 EST]]> /Kelso_Samuel_F_ca_1825-December_4_1880 Fri, 04 Jan 2019 16:58:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Kelso_Samuel_F_ca_1825-December_4_1880
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 16:58:47 EST]]> /Letter_from_Florence_A_Bishop_to_Jonathan_A_Bishop_July_14_1898 Thu, 20 Dec 2018 08:40:44 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Florence_A_Bishop_to_Jonathan_A_Bishop_July_14_1898
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 08:40:44 EST]]> /James_The_Lynching_of_John_Henry_1898 Wed, 19 Dec 2018 15:19:35 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/James_The_Lynching_of_John_Henry_1898 The lynching of John Henry James, an African American man accused of raping a white woman, took place a few miles west of Charlottesville on July 12, 1898. A day earlier, Julia Hotopp reported having been assaulted after returning to the family estate of Pen Park following a morning errand in nearby Charlottesville. Within a few hours, authorities had arrested James, who, according to a newspaper account, "answer[ed] somewhat the description of Miss Hotopp's assailant." That evening a mob began to form around the jail and James was removed west to Staunton for his own safety. The next morning, July 12, James and his two guards—the Albemarle County sheriff, Lucien Watts, and the Charlottesville chief of police, Frank P. Farish—boarded the No. 8 train for Charlottesville. They did not take the express, and when the train slowed for a scheduled stop at Wood's Crossing, a mob of white men, their faces uncovered, stormed the car where James was being held. James was hanged from a nearby locust tree and his body filled with bullets. A coroner's jury later found that James "came to his death by the hands of persons unknown to the jury." In 2018, a group of Charlottesville citizens gathered soil from the site of James's lynching and carried it to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 15:19:35 EST]]> /Martin_Henry_1826-1915 Mon, 29 Oct 2018 11:36:39 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Martin_Henry_1826-1915 Henry Martin was the head janitor and bell-ringer at the University of Virginia from at least 1868 until his retirement in 1909. Born enslaved at Monticello, he was purchased by the Carr family and before the American Civil War (1861–1865) labored at a boardinghouse on what came to be known as Carr's Hill, near the University of Virginia. During the war he tended the wounded at the military hospital in Charlottesville. In 1866 he was hired by the university to haul coal and by 1868 was working as the head janitor and bell-ringer. He worked at the school for more than four decades, becoming a well-known figure there but one who was treated in the context of the Lost Cause archetype of the faithful servant. He died in 1915.
Mon, 29 Oct 2018 11:36:39 EST]]> /Confederacy_Constitution_of_The_United_Daughters_of_the_1895 Fri, 12 Oct 2018 11:50:13 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Confederacy_Constitution_of_The_United_Daughters_of_the_1895
Fri, 12 Oct 2018 11:50:13 EST]]> /Hawxhurst_John_1817-1881 Thu, 13 Sep 2018 10:18:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Hawxhurst_John_1817-1881
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 10:18:51 EST]]> /Ezekiel_Moses_Jacob_1844-1917 Fri, 10 Aug 2018 14:40:14 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Ezekiel_Moses_Jacob_1844-1917 Moses Jacob Ezekiel was one of the most celebrated sculptors of his day, his works appearing in civic spaces, art museums, and universities across the world. Born in Richmond to a family of Spanish-Jewish origin, Ezekiel was the first Jewish cadet to attend the Virginia Military Institute, and he fought at the Battle of New Market (1864) during the American Civil War (1861–1865). He later considered a career in medicine but studied sculpture instead. In 1869 Ezekiel relocated to Berlin and won admittance to the royal academy there; four years later he became the first non-German to win the school's prestigious art competition. For the rest of his life, working out of a studio in Rome, Ezekiel created sculpture, often by commission and for public display. He generally modeled in clay and either sculpted from marble or cast in bronze, creating heroic lifelike portraits that meditated on such themes as religion, religious freedom, and patriotism for both the United States and the Confederacy. He fashioned a bronze of Thomas Jefferson for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, that was replicated for the University of Virginia. He also created a memorial to his fellow cadets who fought at New Market as well as a memorial to the Confederate soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Ezekiel was buried beneath it after his death in 1917.
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 14:40:14 EST]]> /Davis_Cephas_L_ca_1839-1907 Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:05:17 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Davis_Cephas_L_ca_1839-1907 Cephas L. Davis represented Charlotte and Mecklenburg counties in the Senate of Virginia for one term (1879–1880). Born into slavery, he became free at the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865). He spent much of the 1870s as a pastor and teacher in Mecklenburg, though it appears controversy drove him from the ministry temporarily. In 1879 he ran for the state senate as a Republican, winning narrowly in a three-way race. Davis later joined the Readjuster Party, saying that the new party's members treated him as an equal. He did not seek reelection, but he remained involved in local politics. In 1887 he moved to North Carolina, where he taught school, and served as a principal and pastor. Davis spent his final years in Philadelphia, where he died in 1907.
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:05:17 EST]]> /Editorial_Comments_from_the_Staunton_Spectator_and_Vindicator_July_21_1898 Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:28:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Editorial_Comments_from_the_Staunton_Spectator_and_Vindicator_July_21_1898
Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:28:32 EST]]> /_FROM_AN_EYE_WITNESS_Daily_Progress_July_16_1898 Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:26:44 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_FROM_AN_EYE_WITNESS_Daily_Progress_July_16_1898
Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:26:44 EST]]> /_Another_Virginia_Lynching_Richmond_Planet_July_16_1898 Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:24:28 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Another_Virginia_Lynching_Richmond_Planet_July_16_1898
Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:24:28 EST]]> /_A_Dastardly_Crime_Staunton_Spectator_and_Vindicator_July_14_1898 Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:22:22 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_A_Dastardly_Crime_Staunton_Spectator_and_Vindicator_July_14_1898
Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:22:22 EST]]> /_Mob_Law_CharlottesvilleDaily_Progress_July_21_1898_2 Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:19:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Mob_Law_CharlottesvilleDaily_Progress_July_21_1898_2
Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:19:58 EST]]> /Ex_Parte_Virginia_1880 Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:07:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Ex_Parte_Virginia_1880 In Ex Parte Virginia, decided on March 1, 1880, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed congressional authority to enforce African Americans' rights to serve on juries in state courts. The case began when a Pittsylvania County judge named James D. Coles was indicted in a U.S. district court for violating the federal Civil Rights Act of 1875 by excluding black men from juries. Ex Parte Virginia was handed down on the same day as two other important decisions: Strauder v. West Virginia, which declared that states could not limit jury service to white men, and Virginia v. Rives, which prohibited federal courts from claiming jurisdiction over a state case when the state court excluded African Americans from the jury. In Ex Parte Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees citizens equal protection under the law, authorized Congress to require that states not exclude African Americans from juries. In these three related cases, the Supreme Court broadly interpreted the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments and declared that their purpose was to prohibit states from limiting the civil rights of African American citizens or treating them in a different or inferior manner from white citizens. Following the ruling, many state judges found other means to exclude African Americans from jury service.
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:07:24 EST]]> /Turpin_Henry_1836-1908 Tue, 24 Jul 2018 14:28:38 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Turpin_Henry_1836-1908 Henry Turpin, a black Republican from Goochland County, was a member of the House of Delegates (1871–1873). Born into slavery in 1836, Turpin was freed by his white father in 1857 and during the American Civil War (1861–1865) purchased land adjacent to his in Goochland County. He worked as a house painter. In 1871, Turpin won election to the House of Delegates, defeating a white Conservative Party candidate by a narrow margin. He served one term, introducing a bill that eventually passed, allowing veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops to collect certain medical benefits. After losing election in 1873, he moved to the Bronx, New York, where he married in 1886 and died in 1908.
Tue, 24 Jul 2018 14:28:38 EST]]> /Anatomical_Theatre Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:18:02 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Anatomical_Theatre The Anatomical Theatre was designed by Thomas Jefferson and erected on the grounds of the University of Virginia in 1825–1826. It was used for anatomy instruction and the storage of cadavers. Jefferson had long prioritized medical education in his plans for the university, but when Robley Dunglison, the first professor of anatomy, arrived in 1825, he found that his pavilion's teaching space was inconvenient for the dissection of cadavers. Inspired by Renaissance architecture and the work of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Jefferson designed a square, three-story building that housed a skylit, octagonal surgical theater on the top floor. The Anatomical Theatre opened for classes in 1827 and was the subject of periodic construction and renovations in subsequent decades. In 1837, a one-story brick Anatomical Laboratory was built behind it and used only for dissections. Enslaved labor helped construct and later clean the theater, with university records referencing a man known as Anatomical Lewis, who served as custodian from 1839 to 1857. In order to acquire cadavers for dissection, professors such as John Staige Davis, who taught from 1847 until his death in 1885, relied on grave robbers who stole mostly African American corpses. The building fell into disuse after the opening of the University of Virginia Hospital in 1901 and briefly served as home to the School of Rural Economics. It was razed in 1939 to improve views of the new Alderman Library. It is the only Jefferson-designed building at the university to have been torn down.
Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:18:02 EST]]> /African_American_Legislators_in_Virginia_1867-1899 Wed, 18 Jul 2018 09:37:01 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/African_American_Legislators_in_Virginia_1867-1899
Wed, 18 Jul 2018 09:37:01 EST]]> /Harris_Joseph_D_c_1833-1884 Thu, 12 Jul 2018 17:45:23 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Harris_Joseph_D_c_1833-1884 J. D. Harris, a free-born physician, ran as the lieutenant gubernatorial candidate for the Republican Party's radical faction in the election of 1869. Harris entered public life late in the 1850s, advocating African American repatriation to the Caribbean. His interest in tropical diseases led him into medicine, and he became a doctor in 1864. Harris's medical work for the U.S. Army settled him in Virginia. Politically active and known for his intelligence, he received the Republicans' nomination for lieutenant governor in the first statewide election under the Constitution of 1869. His multiracial background played a role in splitting the party that year. A breakaway group known as the True Republicans received the tacit support of the Conservative Party and carried the election. Harris remained active in medicine and civil rights, living in South Carolina and Virginia, until a mental breakdown in 1876. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1884.
Thu, 12 Jul 2018 17:45:23 EST]]> /Rebel_Yell Thu, 12 Jul 2018 15:04:02 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Rebel_Yell The Rebel yell was the war cry of Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Distinctive noises made by soldiers were identified from the very beginning of the war, but the yell's first appearance in combat may have come at the First Battle of Manassas, on July 21, 1861, and is strongly associated with the Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Observers understood the noises made by Confederates to be different from Union yells, although it's not clear that all Confederate soldiers yelled in precisely the same way. Still, these yells were almost always described as shrill and associated with animals, hunting, and Indians. Many observers, North and South, suggested that Rebel yelling struck fear in Union soldiers and gave courage to Confederates. It may have been especially fierce in fights against black soldiers. By the war's end, a number of different sounds had begun to fuse, in popular perception, into a single noise that was widely described as the Rebel yell. In the postwar years, when the Confederate battle flag was largely invisible, the yell served as a potent symbol of Confederate heritage. In veteran memoirs, which often hewed closely to Lost Cause conventions, it represented Confederate heroism and pluck, and a number of veteran-made recordings still exist. By the mid-twentieth century, however, the Rebel yell had lost much of its original resonance or connection to the Civil War.
Thu, 12 Jul 2018 15:04:02 EST]]> /Lee_Robert_E_in_Memory Tue, 10 Jul 2018 13:34:01 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lee_Robert_E_in_Memory Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and president of Washington College in Lexington until his death in 1870, is one of the most revered figures in American history. Lee's place in history is complicated, however, and the way that he has been remembered has changed over time. During his own life, Lee modeled himself after the courtly and self-controlled George Washington and cultivated a sense of himself as a character in a drama and a prisoner of fate. After his death, Lee was less likely to be branded a traitor; instead, he became a symbol of the Lost Cause interpretation of the war, transformed into a crucial agent of sectional reconciliation. The Civil War, according to the Lost Cause, was not about slavery but about states' rights and, ultimately, the honor and bravery of white soldiers on both sides. In this regard, Lee served the needs of not just the Confederacy or of the South, but of all America. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s encouraged historians to engage a broader social and political canvas when writing about Lee, and this has led some scholars to challenge traditional conclusions about Lee's significance and meaning. Like Washington, Lee is the seminal figure in a transformational moment, but of a different sort. He is the symbol of a vision that failed, and yet also the redeemer of a cause that has lived a long and often tragic afterlife.
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 13:34:01 EST]]> /Bowser_Rosa_L_Dixon_1855-1931 Wed, 06 Jun 2018 10:13:41 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bowser_Rosa_L_Dixon_1855-1931 Rosa L. Dixon Bowser, educator and civic leader, played a key role in implementing reforms that affected Virginia's African Americans. Bowser was most likely born enslaved. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), she moved to Richmond with her family and enrolled in public school, where she showed remarkable intelligence. She went on to become a teacher in Richmond's public schools. Her efforts on behalf of educators helped create Virginia's first professional African American teacher's association, and she later served as its president. Throughout her teaching career Bowser, like her contemporaries Janie Porter Barrett and Maggie Lena Walker, worked for societal improvement. She played a major role in African American reform organizations, industrial schools for black children, groups supporting universal woman suffrage, and associations publicly opposed to lynching and racial segregation. The first branch of the Richmond public library to be opened for African Americans was named for Bowser in 1925. She died of complications from diabetes in 1931 at her home in Richmond.
Wed, 06 Jun 2018 10:13:41 EST]]> /Barnes_Thomas_H_1831-1913 Tue, 08 May 2018 17:18:36 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Barnes_Thomas_H_1831-1913 Thomas H. Barnes was a physician and a member of the House of Delegates (1874–1877), the Senate of Virginia (1887–1894), and the Convention of 1901–1902. Born in Nansemond County, he was educated at the University of Virginia and the Medical College of Virginia. He practiced medicine, never married, and did not serve in the military during the American Civil War (1861–1865). After the war, Barnes became active in Democratic Party politics, serving in the General Assembly and in the state constitutional convention. He died in 1913.
Tue, 08 May 2018 17:18:36 EST]]> /Wilson_Joseph_T_1837-1890 Mon, 07 May 2018 17:42:43 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Wilson_Joseph_T_1837-1890 Joseph T. Wilson served with the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and afterward as a writer, orator, and activist best known for The Black Phalanx; A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–'65 (1887). Born free in Norfolk, Wilson attended school in Massachusetts and worked as a whaler in the South Pacific and on a railroad crew in Chile before coming home to the United States in 1862 to enlist. He returned to Massachusetts after becoming sick, later fighting with the 54th Massachusetts at the Battle of Olustee, in Florida. A wound led to his discharge. After the war, Wilson settled in Norfolk, agitating for black suffrage and full citizenship through his prodigious output of editorials, poems, speeches, and historical works. A Republican Party stalwart and officeholder, he courted controversy in the 1880s by refusing to align with the reform-minded, biracial Readjuster coalition in Virginia and choosing instead to support the "straight-out" Republicans. The Black Phalanx, meanwhile, was the most comprehensive study of African American military service of its era, commanding for Wilson widespread admiration and respect. He died in 1891 and is buried at Hampton National Cemetery.
Mon, 07 May 2018 17:42:43 EST]]> /Letter_from_John_W_Jordan_to_John_A_McDowell_May_4_1868 Wed, 02 May 2018 09:35:02 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_John_W_Jordan_to_John_A_McDowell_May_4_1868
Wed, 02 May 2018 09:35:02 EST]]> /Moss_Frank_d_by_August_6_1884 Thu, 26 Apr 2018 12:07:38 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Moss_Frank_d_by_August_6_1884 Frank Moss was a member of the Convention of 1867–1868, the Senate of Virginia (1869–1871), and the House of Delegates (1874–1875). Records of his early life do not exist, but he likely was born in Buckingham County sometime in the mid-1820s. Local tradition holds that he was born into a free family but evidence also exists that he was enslaved. In 1867, he won election as a delegate to the constitutional convention required in order for Virginia to gain admittance into the United States after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Described by an American general as "energetic and enterprising," he supported radical reformers on all major issues. His speeches, however, were considered so divisive that the Freedman's Bureau ordered him arrested. A charge of breaching the peace was later dropped. A Republican, Moss served in the Senate of Virginia and voted to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution and later was elected to the House of Delegates. Just after the election, in November 1873, he was arrested and tried for beating a man who voted against him, but the jury deadlocked. A national, pro-Republican newspaper denounced Moss as a laughingstock in 1875 and he lost reelection. In his later years, Moss supported the biracial Readjuster Party, although by 1883 he opposed its leader, Senator William Mahone. The circumstances of Moss's death are unknown.
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 12:07:38 EST]]> /Holmes_Joseph_R_ca_1838-May_3_1869 Thu, 26 Apr 2018 10:14:14 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Holmes_Joseph_R_ca_1838-May_3_1869
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 10:14:14 EST]]> /Delaney_McDowell_ca_1844-after_1924 Tue, 24 Apr 2018 08:12:30 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Delaney_McDowell_ca_1844-after_1924 McDowell Delaney represented Amelia County for one term in the House of Delegates (1871–1873). Born to free parents, Delaney worked for a Confederate infantry company during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and likely held a job later with the Freedmen's Bureau. He entered politics by 1869, when he lost a race for the county's House of Delegates seat. Two years later Delaney won by a large margin and sided with the majority in trying to circumvent the Funding Act of 1871. Divisions within the local Republican Party likely caused his failed reelection bid, though he did represent Amelia at a state convention of African Americans in 1875. In subsequent years Delaney served in a variety of local offices, including justice of the peace, coroner, and constable. He also became engaged in such occupations as operating an ordinary, repairing bridges, teaching, ministering in a Baptist church, and farming. He moved to Cumberland County and successfully applied for a Confederate pension in 1924. He died in 1926.
Tue, 24 Apr 2018 08:12:30 EST]]> /Langston_John_Mercer_1829-1897 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 11:20:23 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Langston_John_Mercer_1829-1897 John Mercer Langston served as Virginia's first African American member of Congress (1890–1891) and as the first president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (later Virginia State University). The son of a white Louisa County planter and the woman he freed, Langston grew up in Ohio, where, as an attorney and local office holder, he helped recruit African American troops during the American Civil War (1861–1865). After the war, his involvement with the Freedmen's Bureau as inspector of schools brought him back to Virginia. In 1870 Langston became dean of Howard University's law school and served as acting president of the university from 1873 until 1875. In 1885, the Virginia State Board of Education named Langston president of the new Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. The new school grew under his leadership, but the Democrat-packed board of visitors did not renew his contract two years later. In 1888 he sought the Republican nomination for Congress, but party leader William Mahone engineered his defeat. Langston ran an independent campaign in which a Democrat was named the winner. Langston disputed the election results, however, and eventually Congress seated him for the final months of his term. He lost reelection and returned to Washington, D.C., where he published an autobiography. He died in Washington in 1897.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 11:20:23 EST]]> /Lyons_Isaiah_L_1843-1871 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 11:11:29 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lyons_Isaiah_L_1843-1871 Isaiah L. Lyons served in the Senate of Virginia (1869–1871) and was one of the first African American members of the General Assembly. Born in New Jersey, Lyons was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and worked as a clerk. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he served in Virginia with the United States Colored Troops, finally settling in Hampton. In 1869 Lyons, who by then worked as a druggist, won election to the Senate by handily defeating a white candidate, Martin McDevitt. He then became the only African American member to vote against ratifying the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Although in the minority, Lyons reasoned that the assembly itself was illegitimate because most of its white members could not take the required oath stating they had been loyal to the United States during the war. He also voted against a provision that required racial segregation in the state's new public schools but eventually supported the bill. Lyons died at his home in Hampton in 1871 from the effects of illnesses acquired during the war.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 11:11:29 EST]]> /Dawson_John_M_1829-1913 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 11:09:14 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dawson_John_M_1829-1913
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 11:09:14 EST]]> /Seaton_George_Lewis_ca_1822-1881 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 11:00:06 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Seaton_George_Lewis_ca_1822-1881 George Lewis Seaton represented Alexandria for one session in the House of Delegates (1869–1871). Born free, Seaton worked as a carpenter and conducted multiple property transactions. After the American Civil War (1861–1865) he worked to improve the lives of former slaves by constructing two schools for Alexandria's freedpeople and helping to establish a local branch of the Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company. Seaton's strong reputation probably played a role in his selection to the grand jury for the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Virginia, likely the first interracial jury in Virginia history. In 1869 he won election to the House of Delegates and voted with the majority to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution as required by Congress before Virginia could be readmitted to the United States. He lost a bid for reelection in 1871 by fewer than 100 votes, but continued to participate in party politics throughout the decade. He spent his later years supporting public schools and community organizations for African Americans in Alexandria, but had to liquidate assets including his grocery store after the Panic of 1873. He died of paralysis in his home in 1881.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:55:19 EST]]> /Norton_Robert_d_by_October_17_1898 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:52:03 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Norton_Robert_d_by_October_17_1898 Robert Norton, one of three brothers elected to the General Assembly, served in the House of Delegates (1869–1882) and chaired the Committee on Labor and the Poor during the 1881–1882 session. Norton and his brother Daniel M. Norton escaped slavery in the mid-1850s. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), Robert Norton settled in Yorktown and carved out a power base by leading the fraternal society Lone Star. He won his first election to the House of Delegates in 1869, serving all but one term through 1883. The rise of the Readjuster Party late in the 1870s enhanced Norton's influence, and he gained notice for seconding party leader William Mahone's nomination for the U.S. Senate. Norton sat as a delegate to Republican and Readjuster national and state conventions, and campaigned unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 1874. Norton lost his bid for renomination to the House of Delegates in 1883. He was named to the board of visitors of the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (later Virginia State University) in 1885 and held a gubernatorial appointment as a curator of the fund for Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (later Hampton University). Norton died by 1898.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:52:03 EST]]> /Paige_R_G_L_1846-1904 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:46:08 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Paige_R_G_L_1846-1904 R. G. L. Paige was a Republican member of the House of Delegates (1871–1875, 1879–1882) and possibly the first African American lawyer in Norfolk and one of the first in Virginia. Born into slavery in the city of Norfolk, Paige escaped to Philadelphia about 1857 and eventually settled in Boston. After the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the abolition of slavery, he returned to Norfolk. There he purchased the local African American burial ground (later Mount Olive Cemetery) and in 1871 won election to the House of Delegates. In the General Assembly Paige lobbied for civil rights, served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, and won a patronage appointment as an assistant clerk at the Norfolk customs house. In 1880 he delivered a speech against lynching that was widely reprinted, but no legislation resulted. That same year he threatened to, but in the end did not, sue a Richmond theater company that refused to seat him. From 1882 to 1885 he served as secretary of the curators of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. In 1882 he helped pass legislation chartering the Virginia Building and Savings Association and became a founding member of its board of directors. Paige died in 1904.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:46:08 EST]]> /Norton_F_S_d_1893 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:33:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Norton_F_S_d_1893 F. S. Norton, one of three brothers elected to the General Assembly, served one term in the House of Delegates (1869–1871) and later sat on Williamsburg's city council (by 1879–1882). Born enslaved, he represented James City County and Williamsburg from 1869 until 1871, during which time he voted with the majority to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution as required by Congress before Virginia could be readmitted to the United States. Norton often differed politically from the Yorktown-based brothers, Daniel M. Norton and Robert Norton. He embraced Radical Republicanism in the 1860s while his brothers were more sympathetic with the Conservative Party. They all later joined the Readjuster Party, but he withdrew and supported the Republicans against his brothers. He identified himself as a Democrat in his later years. Norton died of unknown causes at his Williamsburg home in 1893.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:33:57 EST]]> /Nickens_Armistead_S_1836-1906 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:30:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Nickens_Armistead_S_1836-1906 Armistead S. Nickens represented Lancaster County in the House of Delegates for two terms (1871–1875). Born into a free family, Nickens became prosperous enough by the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865) that the local agent of the Freedmen's Bureau listed him as a respectable citizen capable of holding public office. Nickens won his first term in 1871, becoming the first African American elected official in county history. He gained a second term in 1873 by a scant twenty-nine votes. After his term in the assembly Nickens received an appointment as a special collector of delinquent taxes in Lancaster County. A landowner, according to local tradition Nickens advocated a bridge across the Rappahannock River that would connect Tappahannock and Richmond County. He died at home in 1906.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:30:32 EST]]> /Lipscomb_James_F_1830-1893 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:19:05 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lipscomb_James_F_1830-1893 James F. Lipscomb represented Cumberland County in the House of Delegates from 1869 until 1877. Born free in Cumberland, Lipscomb became a landholder after the American Civil War (1861–1865) and in 1869 he won a seat in the General Assembly, the second election in which African Americans could vote in Virginia. Affiliated with the radical wing of the Republican Party and reelected three times, Lipscomb lost his attempt for a fifth term in 1877. He was likely related to John Robinson, who represented Cumberland County in the Convention of 1867–1868 and in the Senate of Virginia. Lipscomb, primarily a farmer, possessed one of the largest African American–owned houses in the county. He also opened a store that stayed in his family until it closed in 1971.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:19:05 EST]]> /Johnson_Henry_1842-1922 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:16:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Johnson_Henry_1842-1922
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:16:49 EST]]> /Harris_Alfred_W_1853-1920 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:14:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Harris_Alfred_W_1853-1920 Alfred W. Harris introduced the bill that chartered Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (later Virginia State University) during his time in the House of Delegates (1881–1888). Born enslaved in Fairfax County, during the American Civil War (1861–1865) his family moved to Alexandria, where he attended a school operated by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands and later the city's first segregated public schools. He won a seat on the Alexandria common council as a twenty-year-old and became a lawyer. Harris relocated in Petersburg and in 1881 won the first of four consecutive terms term in the House of Delegates, representing Dinwiddie County. He played key roles in Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute's first years, serving as its de facto treasurer and the first secretary of the board of visitors. Harris strongly supported the Readjuster and later Republican Party leader William Mahone, even backing his candidate in the 1888 congressional election against John Mercer Langston. After leaving the House of Delegates, Harris served as a Newport News specials customs inspector and a Petersburg census enumerator. He resigned his post after being arrested and exonerated twice on charges of theft. Following a stroke, Harris died in his Petersburg home in 1920.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:14:51 EST]]> /Green_Armistead_d_1892 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:08:53 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Green_Armistead_d_1892
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:08:53 EST]]> /Fields_James_A_1844-1903 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:05:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fields_James_A_1844-1903 James A. Fields, who was born enslaved and became a successful lawyer, served one term in the House of Delegates (1889–1890). A brutal beating prompted Fields to escape his Hanover County bondage, and he settled in the Hampton area during the American Civil War (1861–1865). He enrolled in Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute's first class in 1869 and graduated two years later. In 1882 Fields received his law degree from Howard University and began to practice law in Warwick County (later Newport News). Five years later the area's voters elected him as commonwealth's attorney, and in 1889 he won his seat in the General Assembly. By 1900 he paid taxes on at least twenty-five properties in Newport News and Elizabeth City County. Fields died of Bright's disease in 1903. His late-Victorian Italianate residence in Newport News was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 10:05:58 EST]]> /Fayerman_George_d_1890 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:43:54 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fayerman_George_d_1890
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:43:54 EST]]> /Faulcon_William_1841-by_1904 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:42:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Faulcon_William_1841-by_1904 William Faulcon represented Surry and Prince George counties for one term in the House of Delegates (1885–1887). Probably born into slavery, after the American Civil War (1861–1865) he operated a blacksmith's shop. He began purchasing land in Surry County in 1879, eventually acquiring ninety acres. Little is known about how he became involved in politics, but local Republicans nominated him for the House of Delegates in 1885. Faulcon won the seat handily, but he did not present legislation or speak on the record during the term's first session. He submitted a few bills on behalf of Surry County residents during the extra session. Faulcon was the Republican nominee for the seat in 1891, but he withdrew from the race before election day. He continued to farm in Surry County and died by 1904.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:42:21 EST]]> /Evans_William_D_ca_1831-1900 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:38:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Evans_William_D_ca_1831-1900
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:38:09 EST]]> /Evans_William_W_d_1892 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:35:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Evans_William_W_d_1892 William W. Evans served one term in the House of Delegates (1887–1888). Evans, whose father served in both houses of the General Assembly, was born enslaved and became involved with politics by 1882, when Petersburg's voters elected him city gauger. By August 1887 Evans had become editor of the Virginia Lancet, a Republican newspaper that he used to advocate improvements in the political and material lives of African Americans. In November of that year he won a seat in the House of Delegates, representing Petersburg. He remained loyal to the Republican Party leader William Mahone during a bruising congressional race in 1888, ultimately won by the independent candidate John Mercer Langston. That year Evans obtained a law license and established a practice in Petersburg. Later he worked in Portsmouth until ill health caused him to move back to Petersburg, where he died in 1892.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:27:15 EST]]> /Edwards_Ballard_T_ca_1828-1881 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:24:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Edwards_Ballard_T_ca_1828-1881 Ballard T. Edwards represented Chesterfield and Powhatan counties for one term in the House of Delegates (1869–1871). Born free in Manchester (later annexed by Richmond), he became a skilled laborer, owned property, and played a key role in his church. By 1867 Edwards had become involved with Republican Party politics. Two years later he won a seat in the House of Delegates in racially polarized voting. Edwards actively looked out for the rights of freedpeople, though the Conservative Party quashed measures that included safeguarding payment for workers, integrating transportation, and outlawing the Vagrancy Act of 1866. Defeated in his reelection attempt, Edwards remained an active civic figure in his final years. He also worked as a brick mason and plasterer. He died at his Manchester home in 1881.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:24:24 EST]]> /Edmundson_Isaac_ca_1840-1927 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:22:20 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Edmundson_Isaac_ca_1840-1927
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:22:20 EST]]> /Dungey_Jesse_ca_1820-1884 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:20:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dungey_Jesse_ca_1820-1884 Jesse Dungey served one term in the House of Delegates (1871–1873). A skilled laborer, he was born free and began acquiring land in 1847. He owned 248 acres by the time of his death. The Freedmen's Bureau recognized him as a community leader after the American Civil War (1861–1865), noting his work in building a school and church for African Americans. Elected in 1871 as a Republican to represent King William County, Dungey sided with the Readjusters in debates and early votes over how to settle Virginia's crippling pre-war debt. After his term in office he served as a minister and census enumerator for the county. He died in King William County in 1884.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:20:47 EST]]> /Dungee_Shed_1831-1900 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:18:35 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dungee_Shed_1831-1900 Shed Dungee represented Buckingham and Cumberland counties for two terms in the House of Delegates (1879–1882). Born enslaved, Dungee worked as a cobbler and later became a licensed preacher. He took his seat in 1879, thirty-two years after he reportedly accompanied his master for a term in the General Assembly. Dungee introduced an unsuccessful bill to end the restriction on interracial marriage, on the grounds that outlawing such intermarriage violated the U.S. Constitution. Despite pressure from President Rutherford B. Hayes to support the Funders, he sided with Readjusters in the debate over how to deal with Virginia's crippling pre-war debt. After winning reelection in 1881 he did not seek office in 1883, though he remained active in the Readjuster and Republican parties during the 1890s. Dungee died in Cumberland County in 1900.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:18:35 EST]]> /Dodson_Amos_A_1856-1888 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:14:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dodson_Amos_A_1856-1888 Amos A. Dodson served one term in the House of Delegates (1883–1884). Born into slavery in Mecklenburg County, Dodson after the American Civil War (1861–1865) began balancing a carpentry apprenticeship during the day and studying in his time away from work. He parlayed his education into a ten-year stint as a teacher beginning in 1872. Later he worked as a railroad clerk with the help of Readjuster Party leader William Mahone. Dodson prevailed in an intra-party struggle for the Readjuster nomination for the House of Delegates in 1883 and then won the general election. He did not seek reelection, though he remained active in politics. Dodson moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1886, entering the undertaking business. Known as an eloquent speaker, his public career ended with his death in 1888.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:14:58 EST]]> /Dabbs_Isaac_ca_1848-after_1910 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:52:34 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dabbs_Isaac_ca_1848-after_1910
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:52:34 EST]]> /Cox_Henry_1832-after_1910 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:50:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cox_Henry_1832-after_1910 Henry Cox served as a member of the House of Delegates for eight years. He was born in Powhatan County, whether free or enslaved is not certain. The 1870 census listed him as a farmer who was able to read and write. Cox represented Powhatan and Chesterfield counties in the House of Delegates beginning in 1869 and, following a redistricting of the assembly, won three more consecutive terms as the sole delegate from Powhatan County. In 1872 he was part of a multistate delegation that met with President Ulysses S. Grant to discuss federal civil rights legislation. When his fourth term ended, Cox did not seek reelection. He moved to Washington, D.C., about 1881, and last appears in public records in 1910.
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:50:09 EST]]> /Connor_Miles_d_1893 Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:44:27 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Connor_Miles_d_1893
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:44:27 EST]]> /Commodore_Aaron_1819_or_1820-1892 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:22:01 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Commodore_Aaron_1819_or_1820-1892
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:22:01 EST]]> /Collins_Johnson_1847-1906 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:15:00 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Collins_Johnson_1847-1906
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:15:00 EST]]> /Coleman_Asa_d_after_February_24_1893 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:12:53 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Coleman_Asa_d_after_February_24_1893
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:12:53 EST]]> /Cole_George_William_d_after_June_10_1880 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:09:46 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cole_George_William_d_after_June_10_1880
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:09:46 EST]]> /Clark_Matt_ca_1844-after_1892 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:06:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Clark_Matt_ca_1844-after_1892 Matt Clark represented Halifax County in the House of Delegates from 1874 to 1875. Born enslaved, by 1870 he had become a property owner and was literate. Three years later he won election as a Halifax County justice of the peace and as a member of the House of Delegates. Clark seldom spoke on the House floor and introduced only a few resolutions, including one that supported the improvement of living conditions at the Central Lunatic Asylum (later Central State Hospital) in Petersburg. A Republican, he and other African Americans became dissatisfied with the party's white leadership and attended a state convention that established the short-lived Laboring Men's Mechanics' Union Association. Clark did not seek reelection in 1875. His last known appearance in public records came in 1892 in a Halifax County personal property tax list.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:06:58 EST]]> /Carter_Peter_Jacob_1845-1886 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:05:33 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Carter_Peter_Jacob_1845-1886 Peter Jacob Carter, a member of the House of Delegates (1871–1878), was the Eastern Shore's predominant African American politician in the decades following the American Civil War. Born in Northampton County, Carter escaped from slavery and then served for more than two years with the U.S. Colored Infantry. In 1871 he won election as a Republican to the House of Delegates representing Northampton County. He was reelected three more times, and his eight-year tenure was one of the longest among nineteenth-century African American members of the General Assembly. Carter was a Funder Republican—that is, he supported the aggressive repayment of Virginia's antebellum debts—a rare position for an African American politician. Conservatives gerrymandered Carter out of his district ahead of the 1879 elections, and he lost his bid for a seat in the Senate of Virginia. He retained much of his political power, dispensing federal patronage and chairing the state's delegation to the Republican National Convention in 1880. He left the party to join William Mahone's Readjusters, a Republican-allied coalition that sought to readjust Virginia's payment of its antebellum debt. Carter was rewarded for his support by being elected doorkeeper of the Senate of Virginia in 1881 and appointed rector of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (later Virginia State University) in 1883. He died in 1886, probably of appendicitis.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:05:33 EST]]> /Brown_Goodman_1840-1929 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:01:01 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brown_Goodman_1840-1929 Goodman Brown represented Prince George and Surry counties in the House of Delegates. He came from a free, property-owning African American family. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Brown served in the U.S. Navy as a cabin boy aboard the USS Maratanza. In the 1870s he became involved in politics and later was an ally of Readjuster leader William Mahone. As chairman of the Surry County Readjuster Committee, Brown used his relationship with Mahone to seek patronage positions for local men. When the Readjuster Party ceased to exist, Brown followed Mahone into the Republican Party. Winning the party's nomination for the local House of Delegates seat in 1887, he soundly defeated his Democratic opponent in the general election. Although he did not seek reelection in 1889, Brown remained one of Surry County's most important African American citizens.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:01:01 EST]]> /Brisby_William_H_1836-1916 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:58:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brisby_William_H_1836-1916 William H. Brisby served one term in the House of Delegates (1869–1871), representing New Kent County. Brisby, who had an African American and Pamunkey Indian background, was born free and acquired enough money to establish his own blacksmith shop in 1860. He served as a blacksmith for a Confederate cavalry company to avoid impressment during the American Civil War (1861–1865), but also helped slaves and Union prisoners escape. The suspicion of the latter led to two imprisonments. By 1867 Brisby had entered politics as a Republican and he won a seat in the General Assembly two years later by just nineteen votes. He spent ten years on the New Kent County's board of supervisors and was a longtime justice of the peace. Brisby was strict and sometimes violent with his family, driving his sons out of the house. Late in life he began to suffer from dementia and died in 1916 at the Central State Hospital, in Petersburg, of kidney failure.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:58:47 EST]]> /Branch_Tazewell_1828-1925 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:53:55 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Branch_Tazewell_1828-1925 Tazewell Branch was born enslaved in Prince Edward County and later served two terms in the House of Delegates. Learning to read and write, Branch worked as a shoemaker and was known for his intelligence. By 1873 he owned land in Farmville and sat on the town council. That same year he won a seat in the General Assembly. Branch, who was respected by African Americans and whites, won reelection two years later as a member of a coalition that included the moderate factions of Prince Edward County's Republicans and Conservatives. He dropped out of politics after his second term, and his income declined as mass-produced footwear undermined his shoemaking business. His biggest legacy might have come from his children, who became educated and led successful careers in teaching and medicine.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:53:55 EST]]> /Bolling_Samuel_P_1819-1900 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:37:42 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bolling_Samuel_P_1819-1900 Samuel P. Bolling was a member of the House of Delegates from Cumberland County, the owner of a brickyard in Farmville, and an entrepreneur with enough wealth and success to attract national attention. Born enslaved, Bolling developed skills as a mechanic and manager. He began acquiring property after the American Civil War (1861–1865), purchasing more than 1,000 acres in Cumberland County. A front-page article in the Cleveland Gazette, published in 1886, estimated the value of his brick-making operation and country house at $40,000. Bolling joined the Readjuster Party in 1880 and served in a series of local positions, including the county board of supervisors. In 1885 he won the House of Delegates seat his son Phillip S. Bolling had captured two years earlier. Because of their similar names later works confused the two men. In his later years the elder Bolling sold part of his property to the area's poorer African Americans and contributed land for an industrial school. He died on his Cumberland County farm in 1900.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:37:42 EST]]> /Bolling_Phillip_S_ca_1849-1892 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:36:10 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bolling_Phillip_S_ca_1849-1892
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:36:10 EST]]> /Bland_Edward_David_1848-1927 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:09:04 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bland_Edward_David_1848-1927 Edward D. Bland served three terms in the House of Delegates and played a role in maintaining the volatile coalition between the Republicans and Readjusters. Bland was born a slave and eventually settled in Prince George County as a shoemaker. Known for his speaking, he became involved in local Republican politics. He advocated the alliance between his party and the Readjusters, and he ran for the General Assembly in 1879 with nomination of the former and de facto backing of the latter. The unwieldy partnership dominated Virginia politics for four years, and Bland won reelection in 1881 and again in 1883 even though a white supremacy campaign helped cause the Readjusters to collapse. He declined reelection for a fourth term, but remained a Republican organizer in the area. He died on his farm in Prince George County in 1927. In 1954, a housing project in Hopewell was named in his honor.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:09:04 EST]]> /Ash_William_H_1859-1908 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:05:16 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Ash_William_H_1859-1908 William H. Ash represented Amelia and Nottoway counties in the House of Delegates during the 1887–1888 session. Ash was born enslaved and graduated from Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (later Hampton University). He settled in Burkeville as a teacher and helped establish the first statewide organization for African American educators in 1884. Three years later the Republicans selected Ash as their candidate for the House of Delegates but his ties to party leader William Mahone likely cost him renomination in 1889. He remained an educator and was an agricultural instructor at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (later Virginia State University) at the time of his death in 1908.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:05:16 EST]]> /Toler_Burwell_ca_1822-1880 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:58:18 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Toler_Burwell_ca_1822-1880
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:58:18 EST]]> /Teamoh_George_1818-after_1887 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:55:55 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Teamoh_George_1818-after_1887 George Teamoh represented Portsmouth and Norfolk County at the Convention of 1867–1868 and in the Senate of Virginia (1869–1871). Born enslaved, Teamoh secretly learned to read in his youth and worked in Portsmouth's shipyards. After his wife was sold, one of his owners helped him escape from a ship. Teamoh returned to Virginia after the American Civil War (1861–1865), and he quickly became involved in local politics and labor issues. He won election to the Convention called to create a new state constitution, and then served a term in the General Assembly's upper house. Republican Party infighting cost him his political career. He returned to the Norfolk shipyards and died sometime after 1887. His autobiography, God Made Man, Man Made the Slave, was published in 1990.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:55:55 EST]]> /Taylor_James_T_S_1840-1918 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:49:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Taylor_James_T_S_1840-1918
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:49:21 EST]]> /Robinson_John_1825_or_1826-1908 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:33:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Robinson_John_1825_or_1826-1908
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:33:32 EST]]> /Norton_Daniel_M_later_Daniel_McNorton_d_1918 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:26:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Norton_Daniel_M_later_Daniel_McNorton_d_1918 Daniel M. Norton, one of three brothers elected to the General Assembly, was a physician who served in the Senate of Virginia (1871–1873, 1877–1887). Born enslaved, he escaped to New York in the mid-1850s. He learned the medical profession and by 1865 moved to Yorktown, where he quickly became a leader among the area's freedpeople. The region's voters elected him to the state Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868 and he later served for twelve years in the Senate of Virginia. Norton often clashed with the Republican Party's leadership and launched unsuccessful candidacies for the U.S. House of Representatives late in the 1860s and early in the 1870s. Norton aligned with the Readjuster Party in its early stages and played a key role in bringing African American voters into the short-lived, but powerful faction. He later clashed with political leader William Mahone, who engineered his removal from the Senate of Virginia. Norton owned considerable property in Yorktown, including the historic customs house. By 1910, he and his family were using the surname McNorton, although it is unclear why. He died in Hampton in 1918.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:26:47 EST]]> /Morgan_Peter_G_1817-1890 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:20:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Morgan_Peter_G_1817-1890 Peter G. Morgan represented Petersburg in the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868 and then in the House of Delegates for one term (1869–1871). Born enslaved, Morgan worked as a shoemaker, purchasing freedom for himself and then for his wife and children. After the American Civil War (1861–1865) he won election in 1867 as a Republican to the convention called to write a new state constitution, usually siding with the party's radical faction during the proceedings. After the convention Morgan represented Petersburg for a two-year term in the House of Delegates. He served three terms the Petersburg city council, where he helped oppose a scheme that would have given a local judge the power to appoint city officials. Committed to education, Morgan was a trustee for Saint Paul Normal and Industrial School (later Saint Paul's College), founded by his son-in-law, James Solomon Russell. Morgan died at Russell's home in Lawrenceville in 1890.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:20:47 EST]]> /Lindsey_Lewis_1843-1908 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:17:42 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lindsey_Lewis_1843-1908 Lewis Lindsey represented the city of Richmond at the Convention of 1867–1868. Lindsey was born enslaved but learned to read and write while working in a female seminary. He became politically active after the American Civil War (1861–1865) and gained some local notoriety, possibly due to his literacy and success as a musician. Lindsey developed a reputation as a fiery speaker, and he and four other Republicans won election as Richmond's delegation to the constitution convention. He advocated expanding African American political rights, integrating public schools, and prohibiting former Confederates from holding state office. Although he never held state office, Lindsey remained active in Richmond politics after the convention adjourned, serving on local committees, speaking at Republican events, and later campaigning for Readjuster Party candidates. Following his death the Richmond Planet named him one of the ten greatest black leaders in Richmond's history, alongside such figures as Maggie Lena Walker and newspaper editor John Mitchell Jr.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:17:42 EST]]> /Jones_Peter_K_ca_1834-1895 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:15:20 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Jones_Peter_K_ca_1834-1895 Peter K. Jones represented Greensville and Sussex counties in the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868 and then served four terms in the House of Delegates (1869–1877). Born free in Petersburg, he first acquired property in 1857. Soon after the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865), he became active in politics and began urging blacks to become self-sufficient and advocating for black suffrage and unity. He moved to Greensville County about 1867, and that same year he won a seat at the convention required by the Reconstruction Acts to write a new state constitution. A member of the convention's radical faction, Jones voted in favor of granting the vote to African American men and against segregating public schools. He represented Greensville County for four consecutive terms from 1869 to 1877. During his time in office he worked tirelessly to protect the rights of African Americans. By 1881 Jones had moved to Washington, D.C., and he continued his work in support of African American interests and of the Republican Party. He died in Washington in 1895.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:15:20 EST]]> /Cox_Joseph_ca_1835-1880 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:45:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cox_Joseph_ca_1835-1880 Joseph Cox, a leader of Richmond's African American population in the years after Emancipation, served as a delegate to the Convention of 1867–1868. Born in Powhatan County, he worked a variety of jobs, including laborer, huckster, and blacksmith. He helped organize the Union Republican Party in Virginia after the American Civil War (1861–1865). He aligned himself with the Radical faction in opposition to the more conservative wing that sought support from native white Virginians. In 1867 Cox sat on the petit jury that heard the treason case against former Confederate president Jefferson Davis. The same year Richmond voters elected him to the constitutional convention where he supported radical measures such as universal manhood suffrage, institution of a public school system, and proposed disfranchisement of Confederate loyalists. Cox shifted his efforts away from politics to nonpartisan movements aimed at improving living conditions for African Americans. Reportedly, 3,000 people attended his funeral after he died in 1880.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:45:09 EST]]> /Carter_James_B_ca_1816-1870 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:40:56 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Carter_James_B_ca_1816-1870
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:40:56 EST]]> /Canada_David_fl_1867-1868 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:39:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Canada_David_fl_1867-1868
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:39:21 EST]]> /Brown_John_ca_1830-after_1900 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:37:48 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brown_John_ca_1830-after_1900 John Brown represented Southampton County at the Convention of 1867–1868, called to rewrite Virginia's constitution. Brown was born enslaved, and before Emancipation his wife and children were sold and taken to Mississippi. How and why he entered politics after the American Civil War (1861–1865) is unknown, but he inspired a remarkable voter turnout during elections for the convention. White moderates who had been Whigs before the war sought African American support for the convention balloting. In an astonishing display of group cohesion, almost 98 percent of registered black men appeared at the polls on October 22, 1867. Brown received all 1,242 black voters to defeat his two white opponents. The turnout and support for Brown was a remarkable event in the county where Nat Turner's Rebellion of 1831 took place. Brown's political career did not continue after the convention. He likely never learned to read or write and died sometime between 1900 and 1910.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:37:48 EST]]> /Breedlove_William_ca_1820-1871 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:32:01 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Breedlove_William_ca_1820-1871 William Breedlove served as a delegate to the Convention of 1867–1868. The free-born Breedlove owned real estate and worked as a blacksmith before the American Civil War (1861–1865). He also operated a ferry across the Rappahannock River on which he transported an escaped slave in 1863. The Essex County court convicted him for the action, but local dignitaries successfully lobbied Governor John Letcher for Breedlove's clemency. After the war he won election to a convention called to rewrite the state's constitution. Representing the district of Essex and Middlesex counties, he served inconspicuously and voted consistently with the Radical Republican majority. Breedlove later served as an Essex County justice of the peace, sat on the Tappahannock town council, and was the town's postmaster until shortly before his death in 1871.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:32:01 EST]]> /Bland_James_William_D_1844-1870 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:30:02 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bland_James_William_D_1844-1870 J. W. D. Bland was a highly respected African American politician during his brief career. Born free and educated, voters in Appomattox and Prince Edward counties elected him one of their delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868. He served on three major committees and reached out to conservative whites by opposing test oaths and disfranchisement for former Confederates. He was elected to the Senate of Virginia in 1869, where he became a conciliatory figure in a racially volatile era. Focusing on education, he sponsored a successful bill that established Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (later Hampton University). The next year Bland was among a large crowd attending a session of the Supreme Court of Appeals in the State Capitol. The floor collapsed, killing him and about sixty other observers.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:30:02 EST]]> /Bayne_Thomas_ca_1824-1888 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:27:53 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bayne_Thomas_ca_1824-1888 Thomas Bayne was a member of the Convention of 1867–1868 and a Republican leader during Reconstruction. Bayne was born enslaved and was known as Samuel Nixon. Literate and possessing a keen intellect, he became an assistant dentist while working at his owner's Norfolk dental practice. His relative freedom of movement allowed him to work on the Underground Railroad until he fled to Massachusetts in 1855. There he adopted Thomas Bayne as his new name and established his own dental practice in New Bedford. Returning to Norfolk by 1865, he began working for African American equal rights as a political activist and an itinerant preacher. In 1867 the city's voters elected him as one of their delegates to the convention called to rewrite the state constitution. There he became the most powerful black leader of the Republican Party's radical faction, arguing forcefully for integrated public schools and equal suffrage. Bayne sought a congressional seat in 1869, but a split among party candidates doomed him to defeat. He reduced his role in state politics but remained active in local elections into the 1880s.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:27:53 EST]]> /Barrett_James_D_1833-1903 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:19:26 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Barrett_James_D_1833-1903 James D. Barrett represented Fluvanna County at the Convention of 1867–1868. Barrett, most likely enslaved before Emancipation, became involved with politics after the American Civil War (1861–1865). He and the county's African American voters showed an independent streak during elections for delegates to the convention that created a new state constitution. A public meeting nominated Abraham Shepherd, a white conservative and the county's court clerk, instead of Barrett. He ran anyway and won by a clear majority of Fluvanna's black voters. Outside of politics, he worked as a pastor and helped organize Thessalonia Baptist Church in 1868. Barrett married twice and died in 1903.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 11:19:26 EST]]> /Chesney_Last_of_the_Pioneers_or_Old_Times_in_East_Tenn_Being_the_Life_and_Reminiscences_of_Pharaoh_Jackson_Aged_120_Years_By_J_C_Webster_1902 Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:20:22 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Chesney_Last_of_the_Pioneers_or_Old_Times_in_East_Tenn_Being_the_Life_and_Reminiscences_of_Pharaoh_Jackson_Aged_120_Years_By_J_C_Webster_1902
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:20:22 EST]]> /Carter_A_Sketch_of_My_Life_and_Our_Family_Record_by_Willis_M_ca_1890s Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:05:55 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Carter_A_Sketch_of_My_Life_and_Our_Family_Record_by_Willis_M_ca_1890s
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:05:55 EST]]> /Carter_Willis_M_1852-1902 Wed, 04 Apr 2018 10:13:31 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Carter_Willis_M_1852-1902 Willis M. Carter was an educator and editor who, by the end of the nineteenth century, had become one of Virginia's best-known African Americans. Born into slavery in Albemarle County, he worked as a laborer and a waiter after the American Civil War (1861–1865). In 1874 he moved to Washington, D.C., and received a teaching degree in 1881. Carter then moved to Staunton, where he spent the rest of his life. He served as principal of the West End School there for fifteen years and as president of the August County Teachers' Association. Following the Danville Riot in November 1883 he led a group of African Americans that considered leaving Virginia. He also served as editor and president of the black newspaper the Southern Tribune, published in Staunton. (He changed the paper's name to the Staunton Tribune in 1893.) In 1901 he participated in protests against the new constitutional convention called to disfranchise African Americans. He died in Staunton in 1902.
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 10:13:31 EST]]> /Bowser_Mary_Richards_fl_1846-1867 Tue, 06 Mar 2018 16:05:36 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bowser_Mary_Richards_fl_1846-1867
Tue, 06 Mar 2018 16:05:36 EST]]> /Cook_Fields_ca_1817-1897 Tue, 06 Mar 2018 10:25:04 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cook_Fields_ca_1817-1897
Tue, 06 Mar 2018 10:25:04 EST]]> /Colored_Farmers_Alliance_and_Cooperative_Union_of_Virginia_The Thu, 22 Feb 2018 16:55:39 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Colored_Farmers_Alliance_and_Cooperative_Union_of_Virginia_The The Colored Farmers' Alliance and Cooperative Union was probably the largest organization of African Americans in nineteenth-century Virginia other than the loose associations of Baptist churches. It was also one of the shortest-lived. The alliance was founded in 1890 and collapsed in 1892, a decade after the brief successes of the biracial Readjuster Party that had united voters of both races and diverse political allegiances. The alliance came into being under the auspices of the Colored Farmers' Alliance and Cooperative Union that had been founded in Texas in 1886, a counterpart to the National Farmers' Alliance, which organized white farmers in the Great Plains and the Midwest, and the all-white Southern Farmers' Alliance. The Virginia group elected Joseph J. Rogers, a white alliance official from Norfolk, as president, and the Colored Farmers' Alliance flourished during 1891, enrolling as many as 20,000 members. At its 1891 convention, however, the group unanimously elected William H. Warwick, an African American, its president in place of the absent Rogers, a move Rogers publicly attacked. The resulting controversy, combined with the group's reluctance to support either of the major parties, led to the alliance's end.
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 16:55:39 EST]]> /Maggie_Lena_Walker_1864-1934 Thu, 22 Feb 2018 16:50:40 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Maggie_Lena_Walker_1864-1934 Maggie Lena Walker was an African American entrepreneur and civic leader who broke traditional gender and discriminatory laws by becoming the first woman—white or black—to establish and become president of a bank in the United States—the Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond. As of 2010, when it was known as Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, it was the oldest continually African American–operated bank in the United States. In her role as grand secretary of the Independent Order of Saint Luke, Walker also was indispensable in organizing a variety of enterprises that advanced the African American community while expanding the public role of women. Although as an African American woman in the post–Civil War South she faced social, economic, and political barriers in her life and business ventures, Walker, by encouraging investment and collective action, achieved tangible improvements for African Americans.
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 16:50:40 EST]]> /Clement_Memoirs_of_Samuel_Spottford_Clement_Relating_Interesting_Experiences_in_Days_of_Slavery_and_Freedom_by_Samuel_Spottford_1908 Wed, 07 Feb 2018 14:58:26 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Clement_Memoirs_of_Samuel_Spottford_Clement_Relating_Interesting_Experiences_in_Days_of_Slavery_and_Freedom_by_Samuel_Spottford_1908
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 14:58:26 EST]]> /Henry_Excerpt_from_Life_of_George_Henry_by_George_1894 Wed, 07 Feb 2018 08:55:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Henry_Excerpt_from_Life_of_George_Henry_by_George_1894
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 08:55:51 EST]]> /Robert_E_Lee_s_Testimony_before_Congress_February_17_1866 Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:42:08 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Robert_E_Lee_s_Testimony_before_Congress_February_17_1866
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:42:08 EST]]> /Allan_Memoranda_of_Conversations_with_General_Robert_E_Lee_by_William_1868_1870 Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:39:38 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Allan_Memoranda_of_Conversations_with_General_Robert_E_Lee_by_William_1868_1870
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:39:38 EST]]> /Johnston_Memoranda_of_Conversations_with_General_Robert_E_Lee_by_William_Preston_1868_1870 Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:34:46 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Johnston_Memoranda_of_Conversations_with_General_Robert_E_Lee_by_William_Preston_1868_1870
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:34:46 EST]]> /Letter_from_Robert_E_Lee_to_Edward_Lee_Childe_January_16_1868 Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:51:23 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Robert_E_Lee_to_Edward_Lee_Childe_January_16_1868
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:51:23 EST]]> /Lumpkin_s_Jail Thu, 25 Jan 2018 15:48:37 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lumpkin_s_Jail Lumpkin's Jail was a slave-trading complex located on Wall Street, in the Shockoe Bottom district of Richmond, which operated from the 1830s until the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865). The slave-trader Bacon Tait owned the property first, followed by Lewis A. Collier, who built the so-called jail, which confined enslaved African Americans prior to their sale. Robert Lumpkin purchased the property in 1844 and used the facility to pursue his own slave-trading business, accommodating his clients in a boardinghouse on the premises. Lumpkin also charged slave dealers and owners a daily fee for holding their slaves. Anthony Burns, a runaway slave returned to Richmond under the Fugitive Slave Law, was housed at Lumpkin's for four months under appalling conditions. Lumpkin died in 1866, and his widow, a formerly enslaved woman named Mary, leased the property to a Baptist minister who founded the Colver Institute, a religious school for emancipated African Americans, and held classes in the former jail building. The school eventually became Virginia Union University. The jail was demolished by 1876 and large industrial buildings later occupied the site. Its history was largely forgotten until 2005, when archaeologists began the first phase of an investigation that eventually found evidence of the complex, including the original jail building buried nearly fifteen feet beneath the modern ground level. The archaeological remains were subsequently reburied, and the Lumpkin's Jail site is commemorated as one of seventeen places on the Richmond Slave Trail.
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 15:48:37 EST]]> /Campbell_Joseph_T_1827-1876 Thu, 18 Jan 2018 17:03:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Campbell_Joseph_T_1827-1876
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 17:03:32 EST]]> /Dabney_John_ca_1824-1900 Wed, 03 Jan 2018 14:35:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dabney_John_ca_1824-1900 John Dabney was a renowned Richmond-based caterer through much of the nineteenth century. Dabney began acquiring his reputation while enslaved, even serving one of his famed mint juleps to the future Edward VII during the prince's 1860 visit to America. He was in the process of purchasing his own freedom when the American Civil War (1861–1865) and slavery ended. Known for his integrity, he could secure credit from banks, which he and his wife used to purchase several properties and open a restaurant. While outwardly conforming to the expectations of white society, he privately harbored no illusions about his clients' racism. Dabney inwardly experienced the "two-ness" that the sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois described in The Souls of Black Folk (1903), of being "an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings." Exemplifying his popularity, all four of Richmond's daily newspapers reported his death.
Wed, 03 Jan 2018 14:35:51 EST]]> /Beale_R_L_T_1819-1893 Wed, 20 Dec 2017 11:23:44 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Beale_R_L_T_1819-1893 R. L. T. Beale was twice a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1847–1849; 1879–1881), member of the Convention of 1850–1851, member of the Senate of Virginia (1857–1860), and a Confederate army officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865). After earning a law degree at the University of Virginia, Beale practiced law in his native Westmoreland County. He was first elected to Congress as a proslavery Democrat but did not seek reelection. Instead, he served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1850, generally opposing proposals to make state government more democratic. After serving a term in the state senate, he joined the Confederate cavalry and fought with the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war. In June 1862, a newspaper reporter accompanied Beale during J. E. B. Stuart's famous ride around the Union army, and in March 1864, Beale's cavalry detachment killed Union colonel Ulric Dahlgren, ending the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid. After the war, Beale wrote a history of the 9th Virginia, published posthumously, and served a second term in Congress.
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 11:23:44 EST]]> /Davis_John_Staige_1824-1885 Mon, 13 Nov 2017 15:59:10 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Davis_John_Staige_1824-1885 John Staige Davis was a professor of medicine at the University of Virginia from 1847 until 1885. Born in Albemarle County, he was the son of John A. G. Davis, a law professor at the university who was shot and killed by a student there in 1840. The younger Davis practiced medicine in western Virginia before joining the faculty himself in 1847. Preferring a practical approach to anatomy instruction, and thwarted by a Virginia law that prohibited the disinterment of dead bodies, he resorted to grave robbing. Most of the bodies came from African American and pauper cemeteries, others from executed convicts. In 1859, Davis requested the bodies of men sentenced to be hanged after John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry but received none. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Davis served as a Confederate surgeon in Charlottesville. He died in 1885.
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 15:59:10 EST]]> /Washington_John_M_1838-1918 Fri, 11 Aug 2017 10:37:52 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Washington_John_M_1838-1918 John M. Washington was a slave in Fredericksburg who escaped to freedom during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and later wrote a narrative of his life entitled Memorys of the Past. Born in Fredericksburg, Washington spent his earliest years on an Orange County plantation where his mother had been hired out as a field laborer. Upon their return to Fredericksburg, Washington served as his owner's personal slave, remaining in that role even when his mother was hired out to a school principal in Staunton. In 1860, Washington labored in a Fredericksburg tobacco factory and then spent the next year as a waiter in Richmond. When Union troops occupied Fredericksburg in April 1862, he was tending bar in that city's Shakespeare Hotel and used the opportunity to escape to Union lines. Washington worked at the headquarters of Union general Rufus King until Union troops abandoned the city on August 31. He escaped to Washington, D.C., and was eventually joined there by his wife and newborn son, his mother, and her husband. Washington worked as a painter after the war and was active in the Baptist church. He wrote his narrative in 1873 and died at the Massachusetts home of one of his sons in 1918.
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 10:37:52 EST]]> /Campbell_Archibald_W_1833-1899 Fri, 28 Jul 2017 15:52:48 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Campbell_Archibald_W_1833-1899 Archibald W. Campbell was a journalist, abolitionist, and Republican Party leader. Born in Ohio, he grew up in western Virginia and studied law in New York, where he met the abolitionist and future secretary of state William H. Seward. Campbell followed Seward into the Republican Party and in 1856 purchased the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, making it the most influential Virginia newspaper outside Richmond. During the American Civil War (1861–1865) Campbell helped lead the movement for the creation of West Virginia but fell out with many Republican Party leaders after the war. He never sought public office and died in 1899.
Fri, 28 Jul 2017 15:52:48 EST]]> /Davis_Ann_Banks_1830-1907 Thu, 06 Jul 2017 15:05:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Davis_Ann_Banks_1830-1907 Ann Banks Davis was an enslaved woman who bore several children with the Richmond slave trader Hector Davis. Little is known of Ann Davis's early life. She likely was the daughter of an enslaved woman named Mathilda Banks and did not take the name Davis until later in life. By 1852 she was owned by Hector Davis and that year bore him the first of at least four children. The two never legally married and it is unlikely that, as Davis's property, she could have consented to their physical relationship. By 1860, Hector Davis had moved Ann and her children to Philadelphia, where they continued to live after his death in 1863. He left them substantial money in his will but the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865) rendered much of his inheritance worthless or unattainable. Davis died in 1907.
Thu, 06 Jul 2017 15:05:24 EST]]> /Hinton_Corinna_1835-1887 Thu, 06 Jul 2017 15:00:35 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Hinton_Corinna_1835-1887 Corinna Hinton was an enslaved woman who bore several children with the Richmond slave trader Silas Omohundro and helped him run his business. Little is known of Hinton's early life. By the time she was thirteen years old, she was owned by Omohundro and had given birth to the first of their seven children. The two never legally married and it is unlikely that, as Omohundro's property, Hinton could have consented to their physical relationship, although historians have varying interpretations. In addition to running the household, Hinton made clothes for slaves about to be sold and helped operate a boardinghouse. Omohundro died in 1864, freeing Hinton and acknowledging himself as the father of her children. She later went into business with a white journalist from Maine, Nathaniel Davidson. It is unclear whether the two married. Hinton died in 1887.
Thu, 06 Jul 2017 15:00:35 EST]]> /Harland_Marion_1830-1922 Thu, 29 Jun 2017 11:52:17 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Harland_Marion_1830-1922 Marion Harland was a writer of novels, short stories, biographies, travel narratives, cookbooks, and domestic manuals whose career stretched across seven decades of sectional conflict and great change in American life. Harland chronicled much of that change, penning novels that suggested her own divided loyalties between North and South before establishing herself as an expert and often a sly and sarcastic commentator on the domestic arts of homemaking.
Thu, 29 Jun 2017 11:52:17 EST]]> /Stuart_Alexander_H_H_1807-1891 Thu, 22 Jun 2017 13:36:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Stuart_Alexander_H_H_1807-1891 Alexander H. H. Stuart was a member of the House of Delegates (1836–1839, 1873–1877) and the U.S. House of Representatives (1841–1843), secretary of the interior in the administration of Millard Fillmore (1850–1853), a member of the Senate of Virginia (1857–1861) and the Convention of 1861, and a principal member of the Committee of Nine, which negotiated with the federal government for an end to Reconstruction in Virginia in 1869. Born in Staunton, he studied law at the University of Virginia before going into politics. In the General Assembly and then Congress, Stuart was a typical Whig in his support of internal improvements and his moderation on the issue of slavery. After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, he helped pen a government report condemning Northern abolitionist agitation. Stuart voted against secession in 1861 but signed the Ordinance of Secession. Stuart did not serve in government or the military during the American Civil War (1861–1865), but in 1867, amidst controversy over a new state constitution, he helped to form the Conservative Party. He and eight other men, the so-called Committee of Nine, successfully negotiated a plan with the federal government to present an acceptable constitution to Virginia voters and so end Reconstruction in the state. He also served as rector of the University of Virginia (1876–1882, 1886–1887) and president of the Virginia Historical Society (1881–1891). He died in 1891.
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 13:36:09 EST]]> /Daniel_Peter_V_Jr_1818-1889 Tue, 16 May 2017 16:19:40 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Daniel_Peter_V_Jr_1818-1889 Peter V. Daniel Jr. was a railroad executive. Born in Henrico County, he was the son of Peter V. Daniel, a longtime member of the Council of State and later an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the grandson of Edmund Randolph, the Virginia governor and U.S. attorney general and secretary of state under George Washington. Daniel was privately educated and studied civil engineering and law. In 1853 he became president of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Company and seven years later of the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad Company. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Daniel struggled to keep the strategically important railroad, which connected Washington, D.C., and Richmond, running. The company suffered but remained afloat after the war, and in 1871 Daniel also became president of the Potomac Railroad Company. Daniel died in Richmond in 1889.
Tue, 16 May 2017 16:19:40 EST]]> /Broaddus_William_F_1801-1876 Tue, 16 May 2017 16:14:46 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Broaddus_William_F_1801-1876 William F. Broaddus was a Baptist minister. Born in what would later become Rappahannock County, he was educated there and in 1824 ordained as the pastor of the F. T. Baptist Church. Two years later he moved to Frederick County and advocated the work of traveling missionaries against the opposition of those who feared they would corrupt the principles of individual salvation. Broaddus's proposal that money be raised to evangelize among the poor led the Ketocton Baptist Association to deny him a seat and the Columbia Baptist Association, at least temporarily, to bar him from its conference. Broaddus eventually moved to Kentucky, then worked as an agent raising funds for Columbian College (later George Washington University) in Washington, D.C. In 1853, he became the pastor of Fredericksburg Baptist Church. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he was briefly imprisoned by the U.S. Army as a Confederate sympathizer. From 1863 to 1868 he served as pastor of the Charlottesville Baptist Church before returning to Fredericksburg. He died there in 1876.
Tue, 16 May 2017 16:14:46 EST]]> /Schele_de_Vere_Maximilian_1820-1898 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 13:04:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Schele_de_Vere_Maximilian_1820-1898 Maximilian Schele De Vere was a professor of modern languages at the University of Virginia and a founding member of the American Philological Society. Born in Sweden, likely with the surname von Scheele, he later changed his name, possibly after marrying an Irish woman named De Vere. After studying languages in Germany, Schele De Vere edited a German-language newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then studied Greek at Harvard. In 1844, he joined the faculty at the University of Virginia, teaching there for more than fifty years. He supported the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861–1865), serving as captain of a home guard unit. Before and after the war he published regularly, including translations, collections of essays, and textbooks. He resigned his teaching position in 1895 amid accusations he had sent libelous letters to another professor and the chair of the faculty. He also may have become addicted to morphine taken to control back pain. Schele De Vere died in Washington, D.C., in 1898.
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 13:04:09 EST]]> /Baldwin_John_Brown_1820-1873 Thu, 23 Feb 2017 13:30:30 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Baldwin_John_Brown_1820-1873 John Brown Baldwin was an attorney, member of the Virginia Convention of 1861, member of the Confederate House of Representatives (1861–1865), and Speaker of the House of Delegates (1865–1867). After attending the University of Virginia, Baldwin studied law in his native Staunton and became politically active on behalf of his law partner and brother-in-law Alexander H. H. Stuart, a Whig Party candidate for presidential elector in 1844. Baldwin served a term in the House of Delegates and, during the secession crisis of 1860–1861, was a staunch Unionist who, as a delegate to the secession convention, voted against leaving the Union, even meeting privately with U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in an attempt to find a compromise. After a brief stint in the Confederate army at the beginning of the American Civil War (1861–1865), he served in the Confederate Congress. After the war, he was a Conservative Party leader and, as Speaker of the House of Delegates, became such an expert on parliamentary law that the rules of the House became known as Baldwin's Rules. He was a moderate who supported limits on the rights of African Americans and, in 1869, as a member of the so-called Committee of Nine, met with U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant to negotiate the end of Reconstruction in Virginia. He died in 1873.
Thu, 23 Feb 2017 13:30:30 EST]]> /Allan_William_1837-1889 Thu, 23 Feb 2017 13:07:19 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Allan_William_1837-1889 William Allan was an educator, writer, and Confederate army officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865). A University of Virginia graduate, Allan served on the staff of Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and later with Jubal A. Early's Army of the Valley. After the war, at the invitation of Robert E. Lee, Allan taught mathematics at Washington College in Lexington. There he began to write about the Civil War, collaborating on a book with the mapmaker Jedediah Hotchkiss, contributing to the debates about the Battle of Gettysburg, and publishing a memoir. Allan became popular on the Lost Cause lecture circuit, and authored a history of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862 and the first volume of a history of the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1873, Allan became the first principal of McDonogh Institute, a private school for poor boys near Baltimore, Maryland. He died there in 1889.
Thu, 23 Feb 2017 13:07:19 EST]]> /Willoughby_Westel_1830-1897 Mon, 20 Feb 2017 08:51:54 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Willoughby_Westel_1830-1897 Westel Willoughby was a lawyer, a Union officer in a New York regiment during the American Civil War (1861–1865), and judge of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1869 until a new constitution was adopted in 1870. Born and educated in New York, Willoughby helped raise the 137th New York Volunteer Regiment and was severely wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville (1863). He resigned his commission a few months later but stayed in Virginia, serving as the commonwealth's attorney of Alexandria County (later Arlington County) from 1864 to 1869, when he was appointed first as a judge of the Ninth Circuit and then of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. He cast the deciding vote in a case that allowed an Alexandria railroad that had sided with the Confederacy to contest a sale of the line's assets during the Civil War. In private practice he defended the federal government's efforts to resist compensating the Lee family for the seizure of their Arlington estate. Willoughby made several unsuccessful runs for office as a Republican. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1897.
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 08:51:54 EST]]> /Custis_William_H_B_1814-1889 Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:09:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Custis_William_H_B_1814-1889
Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:09:51 EST]]> /Harrison_Burton_Mrs_1843-1920 Thu, 16 Feb 2017 15:59:00 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Harrison_Burton_Mrs_1843-1920 Mrs. Burton Harrison, also known as Constance Cary Harrison, was a prolific American novelist late in the nineteenth century who came from a prominent Virginia family. As a young woman, she witnessed the destruction of the American Civil War (1861–1865) and nursed the Confederate wounded in Manassas and Richmond. After the war, Harrison toured Europe, eventually married, and settled down in New York City. She was active in elite New York society and produced a large body of work, much of it popular serialized fiction and sentimental romance, in which she recorded the social mores of her time. The author of more than fifty works, including short stories, articles and essays, children's books, and short plays, she is best known for her 1911 autobiography, Recollections Grave and Gay.
Thu, 16 Feb 2017 15:59:00 EST]]> /Burnham_Horace_Blois_1824-1894 Tue, 07 Feb 2017 11:00:16 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Burnham_Horace_Blois_1824-1894
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 11:00:16 EST]]> /Freedmen_s_Education_in_Virginia_1861-1870 Mon, 06 Feb 2017 13:51:40 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Freedmen_s_Education_in_Virginia_1861-1870 Virginia's freed slaves sought education for themselves and their children at the earliest opportunity. Shortly after the American Civil War (1861–1865) began in Virginia, African Americans established and taught in schools for Virginia's freed people. An African American Virginian created the first black secondary school in the state. More than one-third of the teachers at Virginia's first black schools between 1861 and the end of Reconstruction were African American, and black teachers taught far longer in freedmen's schools in Virginia than white teachers, northern or southern. Not only were African Americans the first to teach in primary schools for Virginia's freed people, they also founded and staffed the first secondary school in the state for free blacks. Northern aid societies like the American Missionary Association sent teachers, books, and other educational support to Virginia's early black schools, and the federal government provided building material for schools and transportation for northern teachers through the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, popularly known as the Freedmen's Bureau. Many historians have portrayed freedmen's education as a northern white benevolent effort, a white gift to the black South. Although many northern teachers braved remarkably aggressive circumstances in their service, evidence suggests that black education in Virginia, as elsewhere in the South, was a product of the freed people's own initiative and determination, temporarily supported by northern benevolence and federal aid.
Mon, 06 Feb 2017 13:51:40 EST]]> /Barbour_B_Johnson_1821-1894 Mon, 06 Feb 2017 09:39:25 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Barbour_B_Johnson_1821-1894
Mon, 06 Feb 2017 09:39:25 EST]]> /Ruffin_Robert_D_1842-1916 Mon, 09 Jan 2017 17:17:17 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Ruffin_Robert_D_1842-1916 R. D. Ruffin was a lawyer, sheriff, and member of the House of Delegates (1875–1876) who achieved financial success in real estate. Born enslaved, he faced controversy throughout his long public life. In 1874 voters in Alexandria (later Arlington) County elected him sheriff, possibly the first African American to hold the position in state history, but he resigned as pressure mounted over his residency. The following year he won election to represent Dinwiddie County in the House of Delegates. He survived a challenge to his election from his opponent, who claimed that Ruffin was not a resident of the county, and he introduced three bills that died in committee. His tenure is most notable for his being expelled from the assembly in 1876 when the overwhelming majority of delegates believed Ruffin stole money from the first door keeper. Ruffin, a lawyer who engaged in real estate, rose from slave to owner of lands reportedly worth millions of dollars. His financial climb was matched by a large number of lawsuits and arrests. To what degree his troubles stemmed from wrongdoing or a cutthroat political climate is unknown. In his later years, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he died in 1916.
Mon, 09 Jan 2017 17:17:17 EST]]> /Franklin_A_Q_1852-1924 Tue, 20 Dec 2016 16:21:37 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Franklin_A_Q_1852-1924 A. Q. Franklin, educator and member of the House of Delegates (1889–1890). Born in Richmond to a former slave who had freed himself and possibly a white mother who taught him to read and write, Franklin worked as a laborer and then, Charles City County, a schoolteacher. He served as the county's commissioner of revenue for many years and helped establish Bull Field Academy, a school for African Americans. In 1889 Franklin won election to the House of Delegates as a Republican, one of only three African Americans elected in 1889. They were the last black candidates to win election to the General Assembly until 1967. In 1908 he began raising funds for an African American high school (later Charles City County High School), which prompted the closure of Bull Field Academy in 1911. According to at least one historian, Franklin's efforts produced an unusually high number of college-educated African Americans from Charles City County. He died in 1924.
Tue, 20 Dec 2016 16:21:37 EST]]> /Lynching_in_Virginia Mon, 07 Nov 2016 10:09:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lynching_in_Virginia Lynching involves the extralegal punishment of perceived wrongdoing by a mob. Lynching became pervasive in the American South late in the nineteenth century and, at its height, from 1880 to 1930, killed at least eighty-six men in Virginia, all but fifteen of them African Americans. Many historians believe the term can be traced to Charles Lynch, a Bedford County militia colonel during the American Revolution (1775–1783) who punished captured Loyalists outside the law. Although a regular feature of the Revolution, mob violence spiked during the 1830s in response to immigration and tensions over slavery. In the South, meanwhile, slavery had long encouraged violence against African Americans, implicating even non-slaveholding whites who were often called upon to search for escaped slaves. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), these two traditions—mob violence and violence against African Americans—joined to create an epidemic of lynchings that killed probably as many as 4,000 people from 1880 until the mid-twentieth century; the large majority of those victims were African Americans living in the South. White Virginians, who lynched the fewest number of people of any southern state, justified the practice by demonizing African Americans and arguing that the courts provided insufficient protection against their supposed criminal tendencies. Blacks and whites understood lynching as a means of enforcing white supremacy. Vocal black critics, such as the editor John Mitchell Jr., encouraged armed defense but were ignored by white lawmakers. In the 1920s, after a rash of mob violence, Virginia passed the South's first antilynching law, although no white person was ever convicted under the legislation.
Mon, 07 Nov 2016 10:09:49 EST]]> /Ku_Klux_Klan_in_Virginia Fri, 04 Nov 2016 16:34:31 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Ku_Klux_Klan_in_Virginia The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), also known as the Klan or the Invisible Empire, is a right-wing extremist organization that has emerged at three distinct periods of U.S. history: from 1865 to the 1870s, from 1915 to 1944, and from the 1950s to the present. In the name of white supremacy and the protection of "one-hundred percent Americanism," these Klan movements have targeted—through political rhetoric and violent actions—African Americans, immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and organized labor, as well as prostitution and the alcohol industry. While antipathy from political elites ensured that the Klan never gained the foothold in Virginia that it had in other states, it was most prominent in the Commonwealth during the 1920s and resurged during the 1950s and 1960s to target civil rights activists. During Reconstruction (1865–1877), the Klan was active in Virginia only for a period of several months before the newspapers that had once supported it condemned its use of violence. After the events of World War I (1914–1918) encouraged a heightened fear of "anti-American elements," the Klan was more efficiently mobilized and enjoyed a longer reign in Virginia, but was undone by legal restrictions on its violent activities, which included kidnappings, floggings, and at least one lynching. The Klan was reborn in the late 1950s to defend white supremacy against the threats of desegregation, but mounting pressure from civil rights groups led the white political establishment to commit to stamping out masked rallies and cross-burnings and making Virginia an inhospitable environment for Klan activity. The white political and social elite consistently decried the Klan, not because they were opposed to white supremacy but because they viewed the Klan's methods as crass and unsophisticated. Klan klaverns still exist in the Commonwealth, but there has been little public notice or concern of them since the late 1960s.
Fri, 04 Nov 2016 16:34:31 EST]]> /_quot_The_Negro_and_the_Criminal_Law_quot_chapter_6_of_The_Plantation_Negro_as_Freeman_by_Philip_Alexander_Bruce_1889 Tue, 01 Nov 2016 14:47:42 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_The_Negro_and_the_Criminal_Law_quot_chapter_6_of_The_Plantation_Negro_as_Freeman_by_Philip_Alexander_Bruce_1889
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 14:47:42 EST]]> /Dodge_Sanford_M_ca_1820-d_1870 Tue, 25 Oct 2016 17:06:40 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dodge_Sanford_M_ca_1820-d_1870
Tue, 25 Oct 2016 17:06:40 EST]]> /Southern_Horrors_Lynch_Law_in_All_Its_Phases_by_Ida_B_Wells_1892 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:13:35 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Southern_Horrors_Lynch_Law_in_All_Its_Phases_by_Ida_B_Wells_1892
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:13:35 EST]]> /_quot_Lynch_Law_Again_quot_Richmond_Dispatch_February_19_1880 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:12:38 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Lynch_Law_Again_quot_Richmond_Dispatch_February_19_1880
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:12:38 EST]]> /_quot_Page_Wallace_apos_s_Crime_quot_Richmond_Dispatch_February_3_1880 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:11:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Page_Wallace_apos_s_Crime_quot_Richmond_Dispatch_February_3_1880
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:11:47 EST]]> /_quot_Richlands_apos_Lynching_quot_Clinch_Valley_News_February_3_1893 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:10:00 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Richlands_apos_Lynching_quot_Clinch_Valley_News_February_3_1893
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:10:00 EST]]> /_quot_Peace_and_Quiet_quot_Roanoke_Times_September_22_1893 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:06:01 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Peace_and_Quiet_quot_Roanoke_Times_September_22_1893
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:06:01 EST]]> /_quot_Lynched_quot_Staunton_Spectator_October_3_1882 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:04:03 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Lynched_quot_Staunton_Spectator_October_3_1882
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:04:03 EST]]> /_quot_Rev_Dr_Hatcher_apos_s_Surprising_Assertions_quot_Richmond_Planet_June_23_1894 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:02:59 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Rev_Dr_Hatcher_apos_s_Surprising_Assertions_quot_Richmond_Planet_June_23_1894
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:02:59 EST]]> /_quot_Lynch_Law_quot_excerpt_from_Governor_Philip_W_McKinney_apos_s_Address_to_the_General_Assembly_December_6_1893 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:59:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Lynch_Law_quot_excerpt_from_Governor_Philip_W_McKinney_apos_s_Address_to_the_General_Assembly_December_6_1893
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:59:57 EST]]> /_quot_Hanged_by_a_Mob_quot_Alexandria_Gazette_April_23_1897 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:57:39 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Hanged_by_a_Mob_quot_Alexandria_Gazette_April_23_1897
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:57:39 EST]]> /_quot_The_Lynchers_Were_Convicted_quot_Richmond_Planet_July_8_1899 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:56:43 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_The_Lynchers_Were_Convicted_quot_Richmond_Planet_July_8_1899
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:56:43 EST]]> /_quot_Viewed_by_a_Thousand_People_quot_Roanoke_Times_February_13_1892 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:55:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Viewed_by_a_Thousand_People_quot_Roanoke_Times_February_13_1892
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:55:21 EST]]> /_quot_Judge_Lynch_quot_Roanoke_Times_February_12_1892 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:53:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Judge_Lynch_quot_Roanoke_Times_February_12_1892
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:53:57 EST]]> /_quot_The_Police_Force_Wakes_Up_quot_Roanoke_Times_February_11_1892 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:52:53 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_The_Police_Force_Wakes_Up_quot_Roanoke_Times_February_11_1892
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:52:53 EST]]> /_quot_Brutal_Attempt_of_a_Negro_quot_Roanoke_Times_February_10_1892 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:51:56 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Brutal_Attempt_of_a_Negro_quot_Roanoke_Times_February_10_1892
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:51:56 EST]]> /_quot_Lynch_Law_and_Barbarism_quot_Richmond_Dispatch_August_3_1893 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:50:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Lynch_Law_and_Barbarism_quot_Richmond_Dispatch_August_3_1893
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:50:49 EST]]> /_quot_The_Clifton_Forge_Tragedy_quot_Roanoke_Times_October_20_1891 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:49:43 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_The_Clifton_Forge_Tragedy_quot_Roanoke_Times_October_20_1891
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:49:43 EST]]> /_They_Hanged_Him_Richmond_Dispatch_November_9_1889 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:48:08 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_They_Hanged_Him_Richmond_Dispatch_November_9_1889
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:48:08 EST]]> /Confederate_Battle_Flag Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:11:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Confederate_Battle_Flag The Confederate battle flag, initially authorized for units of the Confederate armed forces during the American Civil War (1861–1865), has become one of the most recognized, misunderstood, and controversial symbols in American history. Originally designed as a Confederate national flag by William Porcher Miles of South Carolina, it was rejected by the Confederate Congress but subsequently adopted by the Confederate army, which needed a banner that was easily distinguishable from the United States flag. The battle flag transformed into a national symbol as the Army of Northern Virginia, with which it was closely associated, also became an important symbol. It even was incorporated into the Confederacy's second and third national flags. Following the war, proponents of the Lost Cause used the battle flag to represent Southern valor and honor, although it also was implicitly connected to white supremacy. In the mid-twentieth century, the battle flag simultaneously became ubiquitous in American culture while, partly through the efforts of the Ku Klux Klan, becoming increasingly tied to racial violence and intimidation. African Americans conflated the battle flag to opposition to the civil rights movement, while neo-Confederates argued that its meaning had to do with states' rights and southern identity, not racial hatred. The political and social lines of dispute over the flag remain much the same at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:11:57 EST]]> /Republican_Party_of_Virginia Wed, 31 Aug 2016 17:53:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Republican_Party_of_Virginia The Republican Party is one of two major political parties in Virginia. Although founded in 1854 in opposition to the spread of slavery, the party did not take hold in Virginia until after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Even then, for nearly a century the Republicans were an ineffectual, minority party with only pockets of regional strength. During this period, the conservative Democratic Party dominated politics in Virginia and the rest of the South. After World War II (1939–1945), economic growth, demographic trends, electoral reforms, and policy debates combined to spur a realignment that gradually brought the Virginia parties into line philosophically with their national counterparts. As the center-right party in a conservative-leaning state, the Virginia Republican Party became consistently competitive. Following the mid-1970s, Virginia politics settled into a pattern characterized by active competition between the two major party organizations and their candidates. Partisan fortunes ebbed and flowed, but neither party established durable majority support on a statewide basis. In the twenty-first century Republican candidates in Virginia routinely compete with their Democratic rivals for the support of nonaligned voters (generally called "independents") in addition to mobilizing fellow partisans.
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 17:53:47 EST]]> /Farrar_Joseph_E_1830-1892 Wed, 31 Aug 2016 17:13:59 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Farrar_Joseph_E_1830-1892 Joseph E. Farrar was a Richmond builder and civic leader in the decades after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Farrar was born free and held a respected position as a contractor before the abolition of slavery, but he needed a gubernatorial pardon to escape being sold into slavery after being convicted of receiving stolen property. He began his civic involvement less than a month after the fall of Richmond, helping organize the Colored Men's Equal Rights League. Farrar and other leaders established the Virginia Home Building Fund and Loan Association to assist African Americans in purchasing their own homes. He also received contracts from the Freedmen's Bureau to work on school buildings in Richmond. Farrar held leadership positions in a series of Baptist and educational organizations and served on Richmond's common council as a member of the Knights of Labor's reform faction. He remained active in the community until his 1892 death in Richmond.
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 17:13:59 EST]]> /Funders Mon, 29 Aug 2016 13:28:55 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Funders Funders were Virginians who during the 1870s and very early 1880s supported paying the full principal of the state's pre–Civil War public debt at the 6 percent annual rate that the Funding Act of 1871 established or who were willing to reduce the interest rate by a small amount if necessary. Some Funders were Democrats, some were Republicans, and many identified themselves with the state's Conservative Party that formed late in the 1860s in opposition to Congressional Reconstruction. The opponents of the Funders were called Readjusters because they wanted to refinance the debt—adjust, or readjust it—to reduce the rate of interest as much as possible and also to reduce, or repudiate, a portion of the principal and thereby lessen the expense of paying the debt. By the end of the 1870s, many of the state's African Americans supported the Readjusters and opposed the Funders.
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 13:28:55 EST]]> /Conference_with_President_Andrew_Johnson_June_16_1865 Mon, 29 Aug 2016 10:21:29 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Conference_with_President_Andrew_Johnson_June_16_1865 Five prominent African American men from Richmond met with President Andrew Johnson in the White House, in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 1865. Led by Fields Cook, a former slave and a Baptist minister, they complained about "the wrongs, as we conceive them to be, by which we are sorely oppressed." The men explained that, with the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the abolition of slavery in Virginia, they were now at the mercy of former masters and a law code not equipped to deal with the new circumstances. They articulated several specific grievances: their inability to employ African American ministers in their churches; their lack of full civil rights in Richmond; and the conduct of the U.S. Army and of the civilian government under Governor Francis H. Pierpont and Mayor Joseph Mayo. Although Johnson did not make a formal response to the complaints, he informed the petitioners of changes of civil and military leadership in Richmond that eased their concerns.
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 10:21:29 EST]]> /Cohabitation_Act_of_1866 Thu, 18 Aug 2016 15:05:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cohabitation_Act_of_1866 The Cohabitation Act of 1866, passed by the General Assembly on February 27, 1866, legalized the marriages of formerly enslaved people in Virginia and declared their children to be legitimate. Because slave marriages were neither legally recognized nor protected, Governor Francis H. Pierpont recommended that the General Assembly of the Restored government of Virginia, which had remained loyal to the United States during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and had abolished slavery, pass a law to legalize and protect their existing marriages. With the end of the war, the Restored government's jurisdiction extended across the state, and in 1866 the General Assembly in Richmond passed the law legitimizing such marriages and the children who resulted from them.
Thu, 18 Aug 2016 15:05:24 EST]]> /Anderson_Peyton_E_ca_1857-1950 Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:24:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Anderson_Peyton_E_ca_1857-1950 Peyton E. Anderson was a minister and the first African American superintendent of Prince Edward County's rural black schools. Born enslaved near Farmville, after the American Civil War (1861–1865) he committed himself to getting an education and studied ministry at Richmond Theological Institute. He became the superintendent of schools for African Americans in Prince Edward County, where he oversaw the construction of twenty-three rural schoolhouses and developed a curriculum centered on industrial education. For twenty-five years he was also principal of the Virso School, in Prince Edward County. One county superintendent described him as the most versatile schoolteacher he had ever seen. During his career in education, Anderson served as pastor of New Bethel and Shiloh churches, and at his death in 1950 was pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church.
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:24:09 EST]]> /Lost_Cause_The Wed, 27 Jul 2016 09:17:55 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lost_Cause_The The Lost Cause is an interpretation of the American Civil War (1861–1865) that seeks to present the war, from the perspective of Confederates, in the best possible terms. Developed by white Southerners, many of them former Confederate generals, in a postwar climate of economic, racial, and social uncertainty, the Lost Cause created and romanticized the "Old South" and the Confederate war effort, often distorting history in the process. For this reason, many historians have labeled the Lost Cause a myth or a legend. It is certainly an important example of public memory, one in which nostalgia for the Confederate past is accompanied by a collective forgetting of the horrors of slavery. Providing a sense of relief to white Southerners who feared being dishonored by defeat, the Lost Cause was largely accepted in the years following the war by white Americans who found it to be a useful tool in reconciling North and South. The Lost Cause has lost much of its academic support but continues to be an important part of how the Civil War is commemorated in the South and remembered in American popular culture.
Wed, 27 Jul 2016 09:17:55 EST]]> /Public_School_System_in_Virginia_Establishment_of_the Tue, 26 Jul 2016 13:50:18 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Public_School_System_in_Virginia_Establishment_of_the The first statewide system of free public schools in Virginia was established in 1870 after the ratification of a new constitution and was one of the most important and enduring accomplishments of Reconstruction. Prior to the American Civil War (1861–1865), education had been reserved mostly for elite white families; no southern states had public school systems and in Virginia the education of free and enslaved African Americans had been discouraged and, in some forms, made illegal. After the abolition of slavery, the federal Freedmen's Bureau established the first statewide system of schools, but only for African Americans; other, biracial systems were set up, but only in Petersburg, Richmond, and Norfolk. The new constitution created a new statewide system that, in spite of protests by African American members of the General Assembly, segregated black and white students. The first state superintendent, William Henry Ruffner, set about building the system's infrastructure—creating more than 2,800 schools and hiring about 3,000 teachers by August 1871—and building political support for its funding. In debates over how to pay off Virginia's large antebellum debt some politicians advocated reducing funding for public schools, although the system became more stable when the biracial Readjuster Party took over government in 1881, appointed R. R. Farr superintendent, and increased appropriations. By the turn of the century, public schools had attained broad social and political support.
Tue, 26 Jul 2016 13:50:18 EST]]> /Anderson_William_A_1842-1930 Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:03:54 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Anderson_William_A_1842-1930 William A. Anderson, who came to be known as the "Lame Lion of the Confederacy," helped establish the Democratic Party's dominance in Virginia during and after the Reconstruction period. Wounded during the American Civil War (1861–1865), he was nominated to the House of Delegates in 1868 as a member of the Conservative Party, which sought to bring back the state's pre-war power structure. In 1883 Anderson was elected to the House of Delegates as a member of the Democratic Party (the successor of the Conservative Party). He helped cement Democratic control over Virginia by engineering the party's acceptance of the Readjusters' successful debt reduction policy and by co-sponsoring a law that gave control of elections to Democrats. In 1900 Anderson became head of the Virginia State Bar Association, and his presidential speech became the basis for the provisions in the Constitution of 1902 that disfranchised African American and poor white voters. (Anderson was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1901–1902.) He served as attorney general of Virginia from 1902 to 1910 and in the House of Delegates from 1918 to 1919. Anderson died at his home in Lynchburg in 1930.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:03:54 EST]]> /Mahone_William_1826-1895 Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:02:29 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Mahone_William_1826-1895 William Mahone was a Confederate general, Virginia senator (1863–1865), railroad tycoon, U.S. senator (1881–1887), and leader of the short-lived Readjuster Party. Known by his nickname, "Little Billy," Mahone was, in the words of a contemporary, "short in stature, spare almost to emaciation, with [a] long beard, and keen, restless eyes." He attended the Virginia Military Institute on scholarship, worked as a railroad engineer, and eventually became president of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he distinguished himself at the Battle of the Crater (1864), leading a successful counterattack that also involved the massacre of surrendered black troops. After the war, Mahone founded the Atlantic, Mississippi, and Ohio Railroad, which, before it failed, served his business interests in Norfolk and Southside Virginia. In 1881, he was elected to the United States Senate as a member of the Readjuster Party, an unlikely coalition of poor whites and African Americans interested in repudiating a portion of the massive state debt and, in so doing, restoring social services such as free public education. One of the most successful biracial political coalitions in the New South, the Readjusters held power until 1886, when Mahone lost his Senate seat. A gubernatorial bid in 1889 failed, and Mahone died in Washington, D.C., in 1895.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:02:29 EST]]> /Wells_Henry_Horatio_1823-1900 Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:01:22 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Wells_Henry_Horatio_1823-1900 Henry Horatio Wells, a Republican and a native of New York, served as governor of Virginia from April 1868 until September 1869. After attending school in Detroit, Michigan, where he was raised, Wells practiced law and served in the state legislature. He supported free public schools, temperance, and the abolition of slavery. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Wells served in a Michigan infantry regiment and then as provost marshal of Union-occupied Alexandria. He stayed on in Alexandria after the war, helping to found a railroad company and practicing law. In 1865, he publicly called for military rule of Virginia in order to protect the African American right to vote. When military rule came to pass, General John M. Schofield, commander of the First Military District, appointed Wells governor of Virginia, an office he held until the next year, when a new constitution was ratified and he lost statewide election as a Republican. Wells later served as a U.S. attorney for Virginia (1870–1872) and for the District of Columbia (1875–1880). He died in 1900.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:01:22 EST]]> /Republican_Party_in_Virginia_During_the_Nineteenth_Century Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:00:28 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Republican_Party_in_Virginia_During_the_Nineteenth_Century The Republican Party of Virginia was founded in 1856 and by the end of the century had become, with the Democratic Party, one of the state's two main political parties. Most of its earliest members lived in western Virginia. While not necessarily opposing slavery itself, these Republicans opposed both its expansion into the western territories and the political and economic advantages it bestowed on Piedmont and Tidewater Virginians. They also opposed secession in 1861. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), most of antebellum Virginia's Republicans lived in West Virginia. The few who were left had been Unionists but were now divided on questions such as African American civil rights and whether to allow former Confederates back into government. Newly enfranchised African Americans also flocked to the party. In 1869, a coalition of Conservative Party members and moderate Republicans—in opposition to radical Republicans—won all statewide offices. In 1881, 300 African American Republicans met in Petersburg and voted to endorse the Readjuster Party, formed in support of lowering, or "readjusting," the state debt in order to protect services such as free public schools. This alliance gave Readjusters control of the General Assembly, the governorship, and a seat in the U.S. Senate. In an environment of racial tensions, and just days after the Danville Riot of 1883, the Democratic Party (formerly the Conservatives) swept to power. No Republican won statewide office again until 1969.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:00:28 EST]]> /Readjuster_Party_The Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:59:19 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Readjuster_Party_The The Readjuster Party was the shortest-lived and most radical reforming political party in Virginia's history. Founded in February 1879, it won majorities in both houses of the General Assembly in the legislative election that autumn, and its candidates won all the statewide offices in 1881. The party rose to power because of the debt controversy, which involved disagreements about how to pay almost $34 million in state debt accrued before the American Civil War (1861–1865) on internal-improvement projects. By 1871, that number had risen to $45.6 million. The political faction called Funders resisted any reduction on the state debt lest it hurt Virginia's standing with creditors, while the Readjusters, seeing the debt as threatening important state programs such as public schools, sought to "readjust," or reduce the amount of the principal and the rate of interest. With a coalition of white farmers and working men, Democrats, Republicans, and African Americans, and under the leadership of the railroad executive and former Confederate general William Mahone, the party passed the Riddleberger Act of 1882, which reduced the principal of the debt and the interest owed. The next year, however, the Readjuster Party's candidates lost their legislative majorities, and its candidates for statewide office all lost in 1885, after which the party ceased to function.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:59:19 EST]]> /Field_James_G_1826-1902 Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:56:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Field_James_G_1826-1902 James Gaven Field was attorney general of Virginia (1877–1882) and a Populist party leader. Born in Culpeper County, he taught school briefly and worked in California before returning to Virginia to study law. He served as the commonwealth's attorney of Culpeper County (1860) before volunteering for the Confederate army at the start of the American Civil War (1861–1865). He was wounded but remained with the Army of Northern Virginia until the surrender at Appomattox. An active Baptist and member of the Conservative Party, he continued to practice law and was appointed attorney general in 1877, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court, in Ex Parte Virginia (1879), that Congress could not require local officials to allow African Americans on trial juries. Unable to secure a nomination for reelection, Field retired to Albemarle County, although he stayed active in Democratic Party politics. In the 1890s he became a prominent agricultural reformer and presided over the Populist party state convention in 1892. The national convention nominated him for vice president, losing in the general election to Grover Cleveland. Continuing to support Populist candidates in subsequent years, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Constitutional Convention of 1901–1902. He died in Albemarle County in 1902.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:56:47 EST]]> /Disfranchisement Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:55:25 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Disfranchisement Disfranchisement (also called disenfranchisement) is the revocation of the right of suffrage. African American males voted in Virginia for the first time in October 1867, during Reconstruction (1865–1877), when the military governor of the state, John M. Schofield, ordered a referendum on whether to hold a convention to write a new state constitution and to elect delegates to serve in the convention. A majority of white Virginians disapproved of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1870, which prohibited states from denying the vote to any man because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Ensuring that Virginia elections were set up to express the public opinion rather than suppress it was a task that took decades to complete. It was not until the abolition of the poll tax in the 1960s and adoption of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 that black men and women registered and voted in appreciable numbers in Virginia outside a few urban precincts and that white men and women began to register and vote in significantly larger percentages than during the first half of the twentieth century.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:55:25 EST]]> /Debt_Controversy_The_Virginia Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:54:13 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Debt_Controversy_The_Virginia The Virginia debt controversy involved disagreements about how to pay almost $34 million in state debt accrued between 1822 and 1861. The money had been spent on the construction of canals, toll roads, and railroads, with the expectation that these would contribute toward Virginia's future economic vitality. After the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the creation of West Virginia, Virginia's economy was in tatters. In 1871, the General Assembly passed what came to be known as the Funding Act, which reduced the state debt, held West Virginia responsible for a third of the principal, and allowed interest-bearing coupons on debt bonds to be receivable for taxes. This caused a shortfall in revenue and conflict with West Virginia. In time, two competing parties rose to prominence. The Funders resisted any reduction on the state debt lest it hurt Virginia's standing with creditors, while the Readjusters, seeing the debt as threatening important state programs such as public schools, sought to "readjust," or lower, the principal. With a biracial political coalition, the Readjuster Party captured control of the General Assembly in 1879 and of the governor's office in 1881. In 1882, the assembly passed the Riddleberger Act, which reduced the principal of the debt and the interest owed. The Funders, having reorganized as Democrats, accepted the plan. With prompting from the U.S. Supreme Court, West Virginia agreed in 1919 to pay its third of the debt. Virginia's share of the debt was paid in 1937.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:54:13 EST]]> /Conservative_Party_of_Virginia Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:52:29 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Conservative_Party_of_Virginia The Conservative Party of Virginia dominated the state's politics and government for a decade after its founding late in 1867, when it united people who opposed radical Republican reformers in Congress and in the state. In particular, Conservatives opposed giving the right to vote to African American men and denying it to men who had held Confederate political or military office during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Conservatives lost the first battle but won the second, and electoral successes in 1869 gave them the power to enact alternatives to Republican policies. Holding a majority in the General Assembly, the Conservatives helped create the state's first system of free public schools. By the end of the 1870s, however, the party collapsed during the political turmoil about payment of the antebellum state debt, which deeply divided the Conservatives. Some wanted to pay the debt in full, maintaining Virginia's good credit, while others argued for a "readjustment," lest the payments overwhelm other priorities, such as public schools. The party's division allowed a coalition of white and black voters, called Readjusters, and Republicans to gain temporary control of the state government. Following the subsequent collapse of that biracial coalition, many of the white Conservatives joined the reorganized and revived Democratic Party of Virginia.
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:52:29 EST]]> /Page_Thomas_Nelson_1853-1922 Wed, 06 Jul 2016 09:43:05 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Page_Thomas_Nelson_1853-1922 Thomas Nelson Page was the most prominent writer among several southern local colorists whose poems, stories, and novels idealized the Old South and served as a kind of imaginative precursor to Margaret Mitchell's epic novel Gone with the Wind (1936). In fact, few writers have so lauded Virginia's plantation class as Page, or had so great an impact on the ideology of both Virginia and the American South during the Reconstruction period (1865–1877) that followed the American Civil War (1861–1865). In the context of the great social upheaval following that war, stories like Page's hugely influential "Marse Chan" (1884) promoted the image of an Old South replete with gracious aristocrats and loyal servants and a New South fraught with turmoil but ready for reconciliation with the North. This nostalgic, revisionist version of history was embraced with gusto by both northern and southern readers, and its vestiges remain even today in popular concepts of the South.
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 09:43:05 EST]]> /Ruffner_William_H_1824-1908 Fri, 29 Apr 2016 15:56:36 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Ruffner_William_H_1824-1908 William Henry Ruffner was the designer and first superintendent of Virginia's public school system and later served as principal of the State Female Normal School (later Longwood University). Born in Lexington and a graduate of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), he spent the years before the American Civil War (1861–1865) as a Presbyterian minister and farmer in Rockingham County. Ruffner owned slaves, and he advocated the gradual emancipation and colonization of the state's African Americans. He raised funds for the American Colonization Society. After the Constitution of 1869 mandated the creation of public schools, the General Assembly elected Ruffner the state's first superintendent of public instruction. During his twelve-year tenure Ruffner gave Virginia's public school system a lasting foundation and as he defended the system from vigorous opposition and the shortfalls generated by the state's crippling debt. In 1884 he became principal of the new State Female Normal School, where he served for three years. Ruffner spent his later years teaching geology, writing about the history of Washington and Lee University, and advocating the school system he helped create. He died at his daughter's home in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1908.
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 15:56:36 EST]]> /Farr_R_R_1845-1892 Wed, 20 Apr 2016 16:27:43 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Farr_R_R_1845-1892
Wed, 20 Apr 2016 16:27:43 EST]]> /Thomas_s_Administrator_v_Bettie_Thomas_Lewis_June_16_1892 Mon, 18 Apr 2016 09:13:59 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Thomas_s_Administrator_v_Bettie_Thomas_Lewis_June_16_1892
Mon, 18 Apr 2016 09:13:59 EST]]> /_Bettie_Thomas-Lewis_from_the_Richmond_Times_June_19_1892 Mon, 18 Apr 2016 09:04:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Bettie_Thomas-Lewis_from_the_Richmond_Times_June_19_1892
Mon, 18 Apr 2016 09:04:57 EST]]> /Allen_Joseph_ca_1836-after_1905 Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:54:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Allen_Joseph_ca_1836-after_1905
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:54:57 EST]]> /Fitzgerald_T_B_1840-1929 Thu, 31 Mar 2016 18:01:02 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fitzgerald_T_B_1840-1929 T. B. Fitzgerald helped to found and served as the longtime president of the Riverside Cotton Mills, in Danville. Born in Halifax County, he served briefly in the Confederate army during the American Civil War (1861–1865) before being discharged for illness. In 1882, he was a founder of the Riverside Cotton Mills, a company that provided contracts to a construction business Fitzgerald had established a decade earlier. Over the next several decades, the business and Danville both grew rapidly, and Fitzgerald invested in real estate and lumber and helped establish the Danville College for Young Ladies and the Danville Street Car Company. In 1895, he became president of the newly chartered Dan River Power and Manufacturing Company, which merged with the cotton mills in 1909, eventually becoming Dan River Mills. Fitzgerald, who remained on the company board for the rest of his life, died in his Danville home in 1929.
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 18:01:02 EST]]> /Flemings_L_R_d_1937 Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:26:19 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Flemings_L_R_d_1937 L. R. Flemings was an African American justice of the peace in Lancaster County from about 1887 until 1937; records are not complete, but it is possible he served in office continuously during these years. Whatever the case, he likely was the longest-serving black public official in Virginia's history prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Born free in that county sometime between 1857 and 1861, Flemings was a storekeeper when he first won election as justice of the peace. He served four-year terms in the majority-black county for at least thirty-two years despite widespread efforts in Virginia to disfranchise African American men, especially after passage of the Constitution of 1902. In 1912, Flemings was named registrar of vital statistics in Lancaster County, serving for more than a decade. He also served as a coroner, a member of the county grand jury, and a delegate to the Republican Party state convention in 1896. Flemings died in Lancaster County in 1937.
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:26:19 EST]]> /Fitzhugh_George_1806-1881 Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:22:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fitzhugh_George_1806-1881 George Fitzhugh was a proslavery writer best known for two books: Sociology for the South; or the Failure of Free Society (1854) and Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters (1857). Born in Prince William County and raised in King George County, Fitzhugh studied law before marrying and establishing a practice in Caroline County. In the years before the American Civil War (1861–1865), Fitzhugh distinguished himself for his aggressive and provocative defenses of slavery. In Fitzhugh's writings, Virginia slaveholders presided over a society that was more free than in factory towns in the North and where enslaved African Americans were well treated and even better off enslaved. He argued for the benefits of slavery in general, regardless of the slave's skin color, although he also asserted the moral inferiority of black people. In addition to publishing book-length arguments, Fitzhugh traveled widely, including in the North, where he sometimes debated abolitionists. In order to pay for his travels and publishing, Fitzhugh, ironically, may have had to sell many of his slaves. Before the war he worked in Washington, D.C., briefly, during the war for the Confederate Treasury Department in Richmond, and after the war for the Freedmen's Bureau. He later moved to Kentucky and then Texas, where he died in 1881.
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:22:49 EST]]> /Blackwell_James_Heyward_ca_1864-1931 Tue, 01 Mar 2016 16:37:03 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Blackwell_James_Heyward_ca_1864-1931 James H. Blackwell served as a principal of and helped develop the high school curriculum for Manchester's first African American school. Blackwell was raised in the city (later annexed by Richmond) and worked under the tutelage of Anthony Binga, a prominent pastor. He was one of three teachers selected when Binga was named principal of the school, and Blackwell ultimately succeeded his mentor. After Richmond absorbed Manchester in 1910, city rules stipulated that no African American could serve as principal. Blackwell also helped create two financial service companies, though they met with limited success. He died in 1931. In 1951 the school where he taught was named for him, and in turn the institution gave its name to the Richmond neighborhood of Blackwell.
Tue, 01 Mar 2016 16:37:03 EST]]> /Cottrell_Sally_d_1875 Wed, 10 Feb 2016 13:44:56 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cottrell_Sally_d_1875 Sally Cottrell was an enslaved maid and seamstress. Born sometime around 1800, she served as a maid to Ellen Wayles Randolph at Monticello from 1809 until 1824, after which Randolph married and moved to Boston. Cottrell was then hired out to a University of Virginia professor, who later purchased her with the intention of freeing her. It is unclear whether Cottrell was ever officially freed, but by early 1828 she was working on her own as a seamstress. She was baptized in Charlottesville in 1841, married in 1846, and died in 1875. She had no children.
Wed, 10 Feb 2016 13:44:56 EST]]> /Cabell_J_L_1813-1889 Thu, 04 Feb 2016 15:27:10 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cabell_J_L_1813-1889 J. L. Cabell was a medical educator and public health advocate. Likely born in Nelson County, he attended the University of Virginia and received his medical degree from the University of Maryland in Baltimore. In 1837, he became a professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Virginia, teaching for more than fifty years, until 1889. In 1859, Cabell published a treatise arguing that all people, even those of supposedly inferior races, descended from a single creation. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Cabell served as the surgeon in charge of the Confederate military hospitals in Charlottesville and Danville. After the war, he helped to found the Medical Society of Virginia and served as its president from 1876 to 1877. He was the first president of the Virginia State Board of Health, and in 1879 became president of the new National Board of Health. Cabell died in 1889.
Thu, 04 Feb 2016 15:27:10 EST]]> /University_of_Virginia_Board_of_Visitors_Minutes_July_5-6_1865 Tue, 02 Feb 2016 11:14:31 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/University_of_Virginia_Board_of_Visitors_Minutes_July_5-6_1865
Tue, 02 Feb 2016 11:14:31 EST]]> /Slavery_at_the_University_of_Virginia Tue, 02 Feb 2016 10:55:46 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Slavery_at_the_University_of_Virginia The University of Virginia utilized the labor of enslaved African Americans from the earliest days of its construction, in 1817, until the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Most of the university's first enslaved laborers were rented from local landowners and worked alongside whites and free blacks in performing all the tasks associated with building what the school's founder, Thomas Jefferson, called the Academical Village. In March 1825, the first students arrived and African Americans transitioned to working in the pavilions, hotels, and the Rotunda; maintaining classrooms, laboratories, and the library; ringing the bell; and serving the daily needs of students and faculty. While faculty were allowed to bring personal slaves on Grounds, as the university campus was called, students were not—a reflection, perhaps, of Jefferson's view that slavery raised the young in habits of tyranny. Students nevertheless tended to treat the university's slaves poorly, at times even attacking them. The university's response to such behavior was inconsistent. Although the men who founded the university were ambivalent about slavery, over time students and faculty alike tended to take a harder line in favor of the institution. When the slaves were freed in 1865, the faculty was not, as a group, inclined to help them. The university hired many of its former slaves to work their previous jobs but never articulated a formal policy regarding the newly freed men and women.
Tue, 02 Feb 2016 10:55:46 EST]]> /Munford_Mary-Cooke_Branch_1865-1938 Fri, 29 Jan 2016 10:41:20 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Munford_Mary-Cooke_Branch_1865-1938 Mary-Cooke Branch Munford was an advocate of woman suffrage, interracial cooperation, education, health, and labor reforms. Armed with a pedigree that connected her to some of the wealthiest families of Virginia, she threw herself into such "unfeminine" pursuits as education reform and civil rights. She helped to found the Richmond Education Association, was the first woman to serve on the city's school board, was a member of the University of Virginia's board of visitors, and was the first woman to serve on the College of William and Mary's board of visitors. Munford also served on the board of the National Urban League, was a founding member of the Virginia Inter-Racial League, and became a trustee at the historically black Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Fri, 29 Jan 2016 10:41:20 EST]]> /Cowan_George_R_1837-1904 Tue, 12 Jan 2016 17:24:16 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cowan_George_R_1837-1904 George R. Cowan represented Russell and Buchanan counties at the Convention of 1867–1868. The son of a General Assembly member, Cowan served with Confederate forces during the American Civil War (1861–1865) until wounds led to an 1862 furlough. On the first day of 1863 he was elected Russell County's clerk and held the position until 1869. In 1867 he earned one of three spots as a delegate for the convention that would write a new state constitution. Described as "unreconstructed," he voted with the Conservatives on key issues, such as opposing the racial integration of public schools and challenging efforts to disfranchise white Virginians who had supported secession or the Confederacy. Cowan did not vote to adopt the new constitution, but along with other Conservatives did sign a public address protesting most of its provisions. By 1894 he had moved to the Oklahoma Territory and by 1904 was living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he died.
Tue, 12 Jan 2016 17:24:16 EST]]> /Bigelow_v_Forrest_December_1869 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:55:31 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bigelow_v_Forrest_December_1869
Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:55:31 EST]]> /McVeigh_v_United_States_1871 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:54:29 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/McVeigh_v_United_States_1871
Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:54:29 EST]]> /Speech_by_John_C_Underwood_January_16_1868 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:51:04 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Speech_by_John_C_Underwood_January_16_1868
Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:51:04 EST]]> /Underwood_v_McVeigh_April_23_1873 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:47:02 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Underwood_v_McVeigh_April_23_1873
Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:47:02 EST]]> /_Standing_Interrogatories_Southern_Claims_Commission_1874 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:34:26 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Standing_Interrogatories_Southern_Claims_Commission_1874
Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:34:26 EST]]> /Depositions_for_the_Claim_of_William_James_March_20_1872 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:30:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Depositions_for_the_Claim_of_William_James_March_20_1872
Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:30:49 EST]]> /Depositions_for_the_Claim_of_Benjamin_Summers_February_6_1872 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:29:00 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Depositions_for_the_Claim_of_Benjamin_Summers_February_6_1872
Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:29:00 EST]]> /Proclamation_412_Calling_Forth_Volunteers_to_Serve_in_the_War_with_Spain_April_23_1898 Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:25:37 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Proclamation_412_Calling_Forth_Volunteers_to_Serve_in_the_War_with_Spain_April_23_1898
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:25:37 EST]]> /Proclamation_415_Calling_Forth_Additional_Volunteers_to_Serve_in_the_War_with_Spain_May_25_1898 Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:23:45 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Proclamation_415_Calling_Forth_Additional_Volunteers_to_Serve_in_the_War_with_Spain_May_25_1898
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:23:45 EST]]> /_Hard_Times_in_the_Sixth_Virginia_RichmondPlanet_December_24_1898 Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:18:39 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Hard_Times_in_the_Sixth_Virginia_RichmondPlanet_December_24_1898
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 13:18:39 EST]]> /_Negro_Officers_Richmond_Dispatch_June_5_1898 Tue, 05 Jan 2016 15:48:42 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Negro_Officers_Richmond_Dispatch_June_5_1898
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 15:48:42 EST]]> /_At_Work_for_the_Prizes_Washington_Post_May_27_1887 Tue, 05 Jan 2016 15:40:38 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_At_Work_for_the_Prizes_Washington_Post_May_27_1887
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 15:40:38 EST]]> /Resolution_of_the_U_S_House_of_Representatives_January_30_1866 Tue, 05 Jan 2016 14:58:23 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Resolution_of_the_U_S_House_of_Representatives_January_30_1866
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 14:58:23 EST]]> /_Loyal_War_Claims_New_York_Times_February_3_1879 Tue, 05 Jan 2016 14:55:06 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Loyal_War_Claims_New_York_Times_February_3_1879
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 14:55:06 EST]]> /Southern_Claims_Commission_in_Virginia_The Fri, 18 Dec 2015 09:34:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Southern_Claims_Commission_in_Virginia_The The Southern Claims Commission was created by Congress on March 3, 1871, to compensate southern Unionists for property appropriated by the Union army during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Although claims for reimbursement had been made since early in the war, many in Congress had resisted authorizing their payment. They feared fraud and dismissed the sincerity of Unionism in the South. Once former Confederate states began to be readmitted to the Union, however, pressure mounted and the law passed. The act required the president to appoint three commissioners to "receive, examine, and consider the justice and validity" of claims for "stores and supplies" taken by the Union army in the Confederate states. The commissioners reported their decisions on each claim to Congress for approval and appropriation. Because the Union presence was so extensive in the state, Virginians submitted 3,197 claims, the second largest number after Tennessee. The claims from Virginia suggest the wide diversity of Unionism in the state during the war. White men often expressed their loyalty by opposing secession, while African Americans sought freedom from slavery and women worked within their traditional gender roles to assist the Union war effort. Over time, the Southern Claims Commission lost support and was seen as divisive. It finished its work in 1880.
Fri, 18 Dec 2015 09:34:32 EST]]> /African_American_Militia_Units_in_Virginia_1870-1899 Mon, 14 Dec 2015 16:21:37 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/African_American_Militia_Units_in_Virginia_1870-1899 African American militia units served as part of the Virginia state militia, the Virginia Volunteers, from 1872 until 1899. Although the General Assembly had long prohibited the arming of both enslaved and free blacks, African Americans still fought in all American wars from the French and Indian War (1754–1763) to the American Civil War (1861–1865). The first black militia unit to form in Virginia after the Civil War was the Attucks Guard, in Richmond. Established in 1870, the group joined the Virginia Volunteers two years later. By 1884, there were nineteen black companies, composed mostly of laboring men who sought recreational opportunities and social advancement. Faced with the high cost of membership—men provided their own uniforms—and poor discipline, membership dwindled to just eight companies by 1895. Between 1886 and 1895, black companies were called up five times, including in 1887, when Governor Fitzhugh Lee became the only southern governor to activate an all-black militia unit to help suppress a violent longshoremen's strike. During the Spanish-American War (1898), Virginia raised the all-black 6th Virginia Volunteers and contributed about a third of the men of the all-black 10th U.S. Volunteers, or so-called Immunes, a regiment of soldiers believed to be resistant to tropical diseases. The men of both regiments challenged the racist treatment they received while stationed in the Deep South, and the negative publicity that resulted led the governor to leave black companies out of the reconstituted Virginia Volunteers beginning in 1899.
Mon, 14 Dec 2015 16:21:37 EST]]> /_Frivolous_Reasons_Richmond_Planet_June_11_1898 Mon, 14 Dec 2015 14:25:33 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Frivolous_Reasons_Richmond_Planet_June_11_1898
Mon, 14 Dec 2015 14:25:33 EST]]> /Underwood_John_C_1809-1873 Sun, 13 Dec 2015 13:03:45 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Underwood_John_C_1809-1873 John C. Underwood was one of the most conspicuous antislavery activists in Virginia during the 1850s, one of the first members of the Republican Party in Virginia, a federal judge from 1863 to 1873, and the president of the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868. Born in New York, Underwood practiced law before moving to Virginia. There his condemnations of slavery were such that his wife, a cousin of the future Confederate general Thomas J. Jackson, worried for his safety. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), President Abraham Lincoln appointed Underwood a federal judge for the eastern district of Virginia. His actions on the bench often appeared to be politically motivated and included repeated efforts to confiscate the estates of Confederates in order to destroy slavery and apply what he called "retributive justice." After the war, he admitted that he could pack a jury, if necessary, to convict the former Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, of treason. He also publicly endorsed African American suffrage and full citizenship rights for freedpeople. Toward that end, he served as president of the constitutional convention that met in 1867–1868, during which he argued, unsuccessfully, that women, too, should be granted full suffrage rights. Underwood remained on the bench in his later years, earning a reputation as an outspoken radical and one who was often contemptuous of his critics. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1873.
Sun, 13 Dec 2015 13:03:45 EST]]> /_Griffin_Men_Did_Their_Duty_in_Checking_Drunken_Negroes_Atlanta_Constitution_March_10_1899 Mon, 30 Nov 2015 15:15:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Griffin_Men_Did_Their_Duty_in_Checking_Drunken_Negroes_Atlanta_Constitution_March_10_1899
Mon, 30 Nov 2015 15:15:49 EST]]> /_The_Griffin_Episode_Atlanta_Constitution_March_19_1899 Mon, 30 Nov 2015 14:28:17 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Griffin_Episode_Atlanta_Constitution_March_19_1899
Mon, 30 Nov 2015 14:28:17 EST]]> /Pierpont_Francis_H_1814-1899 Thu, 19 Nov 2015 14:38:03 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Pierpont_Francis_H_1814-1899 Francis Harrison Pierpont was a lawyer, early coal industrialist, governor of the Restored government of Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865), governor of Virginia (1865–1868) during the first years of Reconstruction (1865–1877), and a state senator representing Marion County in West Virginia (1869–1870). Pierpont was an antislavery member of the Whig Party and delegate to the First and Second Wheeling Conventions in 1861, during which Unionist politicians in western Virginia resisted the state's vote to secede by establishing the Restored government of Virginia. The second convention unanimously elected him governor. Although never actually governor of West Virginia, he is still remembered as one of the state's founding fathers.
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 14:38:03 EST]]> /Kemper_James_Lawson_1823-1895 Thu, 19 Nov 2015 10:39:52 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Kemper_James_Lawson_1823-1895 James Lawson Kemper was a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861–1865), who later served as governor of Virginia (1874–1877). Kemper volunteered in the Mexican War (1846–1848), but returned to his civilian life as a lawyer. He served five terms in the Virginia House of Delegates (1853–1863), including time as Speaker of the House (1861–1863). There he garnered a reputation for honesty and attention to duty. Kemper volunteered for service in 1861, and with his promotion in June 1862 became the Confederacy's youngest brigade commander. Badly wounded at Gettysburg in July 1863, Kemper oversaw the Virginia Reserve Forces for the remainder of the war. He helped found the Conservative Party during Reconstruction (1865–1877). Soundly defeating the Republican candidate in the 1873 gubernatorial race, Kemper found himself, as governor, at odds with previous supporters over his progressive stance on civil rights, prison reform, and public school improvements. Still suffering from his wound, Kemper retired to his law practice, and died in Orange County in 1895.
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 10:39:52 EST]]> /Lee_Mary_Anna_Randolph_Custis_1807-1873 Thu, 19 Nov 2015 10:30:05 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lee_Mary_Anna_Randolph_Custis_1807-1873 Mary Randolph Custis Lee was an artist, author, and early antislavery activist. The great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, she enjoyed virtually unequalled social status throughout her life. Tutored in history and philosophy, she became acquainted with the early republic's leaders, who visited her father's estate, Arlington. Following her mother's lead, she fought slavery, and helped to ease the lives of her own family's slaves. Her uncle's death in 1830 prompted a religious awakening, and marriage the next year to Robert E. Lee put her in the position of being an army wife, a somewhat uncomfortable role for someone of her background. She followed her husband to his various outposts, sketching her travels and becoming an artist of some note. While her connection to Lee did not immediately augment her social standing, when he led the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865), she was accorded further deference. Mary Custis Lee had not supported secession, but she was a devoted Confederate, her grace under pressure making her a symbol of quiet strength in wartime Richmond. At the end of her life, she was embittered by the Union occupation of her beloved Arlington and felt betrayed by her family's former slaves. She died in 1873.
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 10:30:05 EST]]> /Petersburg_Convention_of_March_14_1881 Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:37:55 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Petersburg_Convention_of_March_14_1881 On March 14, 1881, almost 300 African American men representing Republicans in a majority of the cities and counties of Virginia met in convention in Petersburg. The purpose of the convention was to decide whether their party should cooperate with or endorse the new Readjuster Party in the important 1881 general election, in which the voters would elect a new General Assembly and a new governor. By day's end, most delegates agreed to a statement of principles that endorsed supporting Virginia's Readjusters while remaining loyal to the national Republican Party. The convention marked an important turning point in the state's political history. With African American support, the Readjusters won majorities in the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia and were able to pass reform laws, refinance the debt, and increase funding for public schools.
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:37:55 EST]]> /Daniel_John_Warwick_1842-1910 Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:36:45 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Daniel_John_Warwick_1842-1910 John Warwick Daniel served as a member of the House of Delegates (1869–1872), of the Senate of Virginia (1875–1881), of the House of Representatives (1885–1887), of the U.S. Senate (1887–1910), and of the Convention of 1901–1902. Daniel earned the nickname "The Lame Lion of Lynchburg" after the American Civil War (1861–1865), when he suffered an injury that required him to use a crutch for the rest of his life. A gifted writer and orator, Daniel memorialized the Confederate war effort and spoke out against Reconstruction. He began his political career as a Conservative, became a prominent Funder late in the 1870s, and then in the 1880s helped rebuild the Democratic Party. At the Convention of 1901–1902, called to revise the state constitution, Daniel chaired the important Committee on the Elective Franchise. At first advocating less-onerous suffrage restrictions, he ultimately pushed for a more aggressive path that disfranchised most African Americans in Virginia, along with large numbers of poorer white citizens. Daniel spent his last years as an elder statesman of the Democratic Party, and died in 1910.
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:36:45 EST]]> /Bolling_Stith_1835-1916 Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:34:40 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bolling_Stith_1835-1916 Stith Bolling was a politician whose fluid party affiliation illustrates the churning coalitions in Virginia after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Bolling began his professional career as a clerk and a few years later joined the Confederate cavalry. Rising to captain, he eventually led the largest cavalry company commander under Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart. In 1869 Bolling won election to the House of Delegates as part of a Conservative Party–moderate Republican coalition and captured a second term as a Conservative. He moved to Petersburg, where he joined William Mahone's Readjuster movement, which evolved from a Conservative faction to a short-lived party aligned with the Republicans. Both he and Mahone joined the Republicans after the Readjusters collapsed. Unlike Mahone he retained his popularity among whites and held high positions in the United Confederate Veterans' Army of Northern Virginia Department. Bolling died in Petersburg in 1916.
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:34:40 EST]]> /Daniels_Edward_Dwight_1828-1916 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:59:11 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Daniels_Edward_Dwight_1828-1916 Edward D. Daniels was an agricultural reformer, newspaper editor, and an active member of the Republican Party. The Massachusetts-born Daniels worked as a geologist in Wisconsin, helped mount expeditions to establish abolitionist colonies in Kansas, served in the U.S. Army, and was involved in manufacturing in the Midwest before settling in Virginia in 1868, at his doctor's recommendation. That same year he bought Gunston Hall, the onetime home of George Mason, and tried to transform the plantation into a cooperative community of independent farmers and artisans. He hired African American laborers, instructed them in scientific farming techniques, and paid them relatively high wages. The venture was not profitable, however, and he sold the property in 1891, retaining a small piece of land for himself. Daniels extended his ambitions for reform into politics: he edited and published the Richmond Evening State Journal in support of the Republican Party, twice ran for office (and was twice defeated), and supported the nascent Readjusters. Daniels's financial troubles often thwarted his reform efforts, but a primary school for black children that he helped found survived into the 1920s. He died at his farm near Gunston Hall in 1916 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:59:11 EST]]> /Daniel_Raleigh_Travers_1805-1877 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:55:14 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Daniel_Raleigh_Travers_1805-1877 Raleigh T. Daniel helped establish the Conservative Party in 1867. Daniel spent his antebellum political career as a Whig, winning a House of Delegates seat from Richmond in 1841. The Whig majority in the General Assembly selected Daniel to the first of two terms on the Council of State, a body that advised the governor, in 1845. He supported Constitutional Union candidate John Bell in the 1860 presidential election. After the American Civil War (1861–1865) he sought to promote white supremacy and marshal opposition to Republicans and radicals, especially from newly franchised African Americans. Daniel helped found the Conservative Party in 1867 and sat as its first chair until 1873. He returned to the House of Delegates in 1871 and was elected the state's attorney general two years later. During his four-year term as the Virginia government's top lawyer, he resisted federal efforts to protect African American voting rights.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:55:14 EST]]> /Copeland_Walter_Scott_1856-1928 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:50:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Copeland_Walter_Scott_1856-1928 Walter S. Copeland owned or co-owned important newspapers across Virginia including the Danville Register, Richmond Evening Leader, Roanoke Times, and Newport News Daily Press. Held in high esteem by his journalistic peers, he served four terms as president of the Virginia Press Association. Copeland supported Progressive reforms to improve welfare and education programs for poor whites, which he viewed as necessary for social order. He opposed the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and supported what later became Hampton University. Yet Copeland became a strong backer of harsh segregation laws in his later years. He joined forces with John Powell, founder of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs, and supported the 1924 Virginia Act to Preserve Racial Integrity. Two years later Copeland and his newspapers crusaded for what became the Massenburg Bill, the strongest segregation law in the United States.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:50:49 EST]]> /Chappell_John_Taylor_1845-1915 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:48:31 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Chappell_John_Taylor_1845-1915 John T. Chappell was a labor leader who helped guide the Knights of Labor during the organization's peak in Richmond. He served in the Confederate army and navy during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and later recounted his wartime experiences in a nonheroic style that focused on the common soldier. While working as a carriage painter after the war Chappell joined both fraternal and labor organizations. By the mid-1880s he emerged as a leader of the Knights of Labor in Richmond. Elected a city alderman in 1886, he and other white progressives allied themselves with African Americans whose interests were increasingly associated with the Knights of Labor. He was also instrumental in opening membership in the Knights' building association to African Americans. The labor union's power eventually declined locally and nationally, however, as the Knights divided along lines of race, occupational skill, and religion. Chappell remained with the Knights until the local withdrew from the national organization and became the Socialist Educational Club of Richmond in 1898. Chappell died suddenly of an aneurysm in 1915.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:48:31 EST]]> /Cameron_William_Evelyn_1842-1927 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:41:05 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cameron_William_Evelyn_1842-1927 William E. Cameron was a veteran of the American Civil War (1861–1865), a journalist, a governor of Virginia (1882–1886), and a member of the Convention of 1901–1902. Cameron served in the Confederate army during the war, then worked as a journalist in Petersburg and Richmond, supporting the Conservative Party. Beginning in 1876, he was elected to three consecutive two-year terms as the mayor of Petersburg. Later in the 1870s he began to side with the Readjusters, a faction that sought to adjust the payment of Virginia's prewar debt. He won the governorship as a nominee of the Readjuster-Republican coalition in 1881. Cameron and the Readjusters issued a series of reforms, including repealing the poll tax, but his aggressive use of political patronage angered voters and his opponents. The revived Democratic Party, capitalizing on white supremacy and the electorate's unease over Cameron's tactics, took over the General Assembly in 1883. Cameron left politics after completing his term, but was elected in 1901 to a state constitutional convention. He played an influential role, advocating provisions that strengthened the governor's authority to discharge subordinate officials; defending legislative election of judges; and supporting reinstating the poll tax and other restrictions that disfranchised African American voters. Cameron returned to journalism in 1906, editing the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot until 1919. He died in Louisa County in 1927.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:41:05 EST]]> /Butt_Israel_LaFayette_1848-1916 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:30:20 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Butt_Israel_LaFayette_1848-1916 Israel L. Butt played a key role in expanding and overseeing the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Virginia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in Norfolk County, Butt escaped slavery and joined the Union army, where he learned to read and underwent a religious experience. He was ordained in 1881 and graduated with a theology degree from what later became Hampton University. Butt ministered and oversaw different districts of the denomination. Through his work, he became a school principal and served as a trustee or board member of educational institutions in Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio. Butt researched and wrote History of African Methodism in Virginia, or Four Decades in the Old Dominion, which was published in 1908.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:30:20 EST]]> /Brown_Thomas_Henry_1864-1952 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:20:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brown_Thomas_Henry_1864-1952 Thomas H. Brown was a civic leader of African American communities in Petersburg and Hopewell. A child laborer, Brown worked his way up the social and financial ladder by joining civic associations and learning the undertaker's trade. In 1893, he organized the People's Memorial Cemetery Association to save Petersburg's African American cemetery from deteriorating conditions and a possible foreclosure. Brown opened a funeral home in Hopewell about 1916 and remained involved with the locality during its World War I boom years. He was a civic leader in Petersburg and across the state for the rest of his life, continuing his involvement with the cemetery. The burial ground fell into disrepair after his death in 1952 but was revived after Petersburg took possession of it in 1986. Four years later People's Memorial Cemetery formally opened as a city-owned historic site.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:20:21 EST]]> /Brown_Edward_Wellington_d_1929 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:18:00 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brown_Edward_Wellington_d_1929 Edward W. Brown was a politician, editor, and minister. Born into slavery, he became his church's clerk at age twelve and later taught school in Prince George County. Brown was among the last successful African American politicians in the nineteenth century, serving as the county's commissioner of revenue from 1887 to 1895. He moved to Richmond the year after he left office, where he worked for the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers, a fraternal beneficiary organization. Eventually becoming editor of its weekly newspaper, the Reformer, Brown promoted the order's various enterprises while condemning the new segregation laws. The organization's finances collapsed in 1910, causing the removal of its officers. Brown became a Baptist preacher, but left the ministry in the mid-1920s to join his son's real estate and insurance agency in Norfolk. He died in 1929.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:18:00 EST]]> /Brooks_Albert_Royal_c_1817-1881 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:13:41 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brooks_Albert_Royal_c_1817-1881 Albert R. Brooks was a Richmond businessman who thrived before the American Civil War (1861–1865) despite his enslavement. In the antebellum years Brooks took advantage of the common though illegal practice of earning wages for his work, which he then invested in an eating house and a prosperous hack and livery stable. Between 1862 and 1865 Brooks managed to purchase his freedom, his wife's, and that of most of their children. After the war Brooks became a community leader. He helped halt the revival of slavery-era pass laws that governed African American movement in the city and sat on the racially mixed jury that considered Jefferson Davis's treason charges. He was also active in the state's nascent Republican Party. Brooks retreated from political activity in 1868, possibly worried that his white customers would boycott his businesses, but continued to support universal suffrage, equal justice, public education, black uplift, and civil rights. Brooks died in 1881 and is probably buried in Richmond's Union Mechanics Cemetery.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:13:41 EST]]> /Bristow_Joseph_Allen_1838-1903 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:11:33 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bristow_Joseph_Allen_1838-1903 Joseph A. Bristow was a Republican member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901–1902. The Middlesex County Confederate veteran developed an interest in oyster harvesting and took out a patent for deepwater tongs with an associate. He joined the Republican Party and later supported the Readjusters who wished to reduce the antebellum state debt. Becoming one of Readjuster leader William Mahone's chief local organizers, Bristow remained the most important Republican in the county for more than thirty years. After unsuccessful attempts at being elected a presidential elector and a congressman, he won a seat to the state constitutional convention from the district of Essex and Middlesex counties. One of only a dozen Republicans in the convention and the only one from east of the mountains, he voted against the restrictive voter-registration provisions that the convention adopted and against the adoption of the constitution. Bristow's resolution that naturally occurring oyster beds be held as a public trust did evolve into a section of the new constitution.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:11:33 EST]]> /Braxton_Carter_Moore_1836-1898 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:05:20 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Braxton_Carter_Moore_1836-1898 Carter M. Braxton was a civil engineer, businessman, and a Confederate artillery officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865). A Norfolk native, he fought in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's major campaigns, from the Seven Days' Battles outside Richmond in 1862 to the Gettysburg Campaign in 1863 and the Overland Campaign in 1864. One account claimed that he had seven horses shot from under him, but he was never wounded in the fighting. Following the war, he published a map of the battlefield at Fredericksburg. In June 1866 Braxton became president of the Fredericksburg and Gordonsville Railroad, and later formed his own engineering construction firm, Braxton, Chandler, and Marye, in Newport News. Braxton also founded a railway company and was vice president of both a bank and a gas company. He died of Bright's disease in Newport News in 1898.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:02:48 EST]]> /Bowden_Thomas_Russell_1841-1893 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:59:56 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bowden_Thomas_Russell_1841-1893 Thomas R. Bowden served as Virginia's attorney general from 1863 to 1869, first under the Restored government of Virginia and then, after the American Civil War (1861–1865), under the postwar government of Virginia. Bowden was a member of a prominent Unionist family in Williamsburg that left the town along with Union troops in 1862. The next year he won election as attorney general for the part of Virginia recognized by the United States. When the Confederacy collapsed in Virginia, he moved to Richmond and served as attorney general for the state. He and the rest of the Republican ticket lost in 1869 and soon thereafter he moved to Washington, D.C. He died in 1893.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:59:56 EST]]> /Blair_Robert_William_1873-1924 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:46:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Blair_Robert_William_1873-1924 Robert W. Blair was one of the few Republicans who served in the Convention of 1901–1902, opposing the new constitution's strict restrictions on voting rights for African Americans and lower-income whites. Blair began his legal career working with his father, Francis S. Blair, a former attorney general of Virginia. He soon became the chairman of Wythe County's Republican Party. He ran for the locality's seat in the convention, winning by twenty-three votes. Blair and the eleven other members of his party had little influence as the new state government was formed by the overwhelming Democratic majority. The Republicans nominated Blair for lieutenant governor in 1901, but he withdrew his candidacy since he was too young to hold the position. About five years later his work took him out of state, and he settled in the Detroit area and drowned in the Detroit River in 1924.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:46:24 EST]]> /Blair_Lewis_Harvie_1834-1916 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:37:15 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Blair_Lewis_Harvie_1834-1916 Lewis . Blair, a Richmond businessman and economics expert, authored The Prosperity of the South Dependent upon the Elevation of the Negro (1889), a book that called on white southerners to treat African Americans with respect and offer them quality education. Blair hailed from a prominent family and worked as an army clerk in Texas and Michigan and a dry goods clerk in Richmond. His record during the American Civil War (1861–1865) was undistinguished, but after the conflict he excelled in business. Blair started a grocery business in Richmond and owned one of the largest real-estate businesses in the city. In addition, he became a respected writer on economic issues and was outspoken on the question of race relations. In Blair's mind, the two were related: the fair treatment and education of African Americans would improve the economic outlook of the South. Such views were more well received nationally than in Richmond, and in later years Blair reversed his stance, arguing that blacks should be subordinate to whites. He wrote privately that this change was the result of "experience and observation." Blair married twice and died in Richmond in 1916. He is buried in Hollywood Cemetery.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:37:15 EST]]> /Blair_Francis_Simpson_1839-1899 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:35:05 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Blair_Francis_Simpson_1839-1899 Francis S. Blair helped found the short-lived Readjuster Party and served as Virginia's attorney general from 1882 to 1886. A veteran of the American Civil War (1861–1865), he established himself as a successful attorney in Wytheville. Blair, who preferred to be called Frank, entered politics as a populist. He clashed with the state's conservative political establishment, enthusiastically attacking foes for their strict plan to pay Virginia's pre–Civil War debt and their campaign to drive African Americans out of politics. The Readjusters, a coalition of reform-minded Democrats, Republicans, and black voters, sought to readjust the way the state paid its deficit. The new political force nominated Blair for attorney general in 1881. He was the leading vote-getter for the victorious ticket, and the party accomplished all of its main goals almost immediately. The quick success undermined the Readjusters' long-term future, and Blair lost his reelection bid in 1885. He returned to Wytheville and died in 1899.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:20:50 EST]]> /Anderson_Joseph_Reid_1813-1892 Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:17:17 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Anderson_Joseph_Reid_1813-1892 Joseph R. Anderson was an iron manufacturer and Confederate army officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865). In 1848 he purchased the Tredegar Iron Company, the largest producer of munitions, cannon, railroad iron, steam engines, and other ordnance for the Confederate government during the Civil War. One of Anderson's most notable decisions was to introduce slaves into skilled industrial work at the ironworks, and by 1864, more than half the workers at Tredegar were bondsmen. Anderson served as a brigadier general for the Confederate army, and fought and was wounded during the Seven Days' Battles. He resigned his commission in the Confederate Army in 1862 to resume control of the ironworks, and after the war, Anderson was a strong proponent for peace, hoping to keep the Union army from taking possession of the ironworks. He failed, but regained control of Tredegar after he was pardoned by U.S. president Andrew Johnson in 1865. By 1873 Anderson had doubled the factory's prewar capacity, and its labor force exceeded 1,000 men, many of them black laborers and skilled workmen who received equal pay with white workers. Though Tredegar failed to make the transition from iron to steel production late in the nineteenth century, the company survived into the 1980s. Anderson was a well-known member of the Richmond community, serving multiple terms on the Richmond City Council and in the House of Delegates before and after the war.
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:17:17 EST]]> /Beach_S_Ferguson_1828-1893 Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:00:03 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Beach_S_Ferguson_1828-1893 S. Ferguson Beach was a member of the Convention of 1864 and a U.S. attorney. Born in Connecticut, he taught school before moving to Alexandria, where he opened a law practice. During the American Civil War (1861–1865) Beach was an outspoken Unionist. In 1864 he was one of seventeen delegates, and the only attorney, elected to the Convention of 1864, called by the Restored government to draft a new state constitution. Although records indicate that he was a slave holder himself in 1860, Beach voted in favor of a provision to abolish slavery. Later that year Beach argued in court that, according to Virginia law, an African American should not be allowed to testify against his white client. Beach's political views tended in favor of African American civil rights, however, and after the war he became a Republican. In 1868, President Andrew Johnson appointed Beach U.S. attorney for the district of Virginia, and in that position he successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of former Confederates whose property had been seized and auctioned during the Civil War. These cases helped force the federal government to pay the family of Robert E. Lee for the seized Arlington estate. Beach died in Baltimore in 1893.
Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:00:03 EST]]> /Lexington_During_the_Civil_War Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:23:59 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lexington_During_the_Civil_War The town of Lexington is the seat of Rockbridge County in the Shenandoah Valley. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), it was home to Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) and the Virginia Military Institute. Although not of great strategic importance, the town nevertheless smoldered in the atmosphere of war long before many other Virginian communities felt the conflict. In November 1859, a detachment of its resident corps of cadets from the Virginia Military Institute was deployed to Charles Town (in what is now West Virginia) to provide security at the execution of the infamous John Brown for his raid on Harpers Ferry. Unionist sentiments prevailed, however, until U.S. president Abraham Lincoln's call for troops, when many of Lexington's male citizens enlisted in service of the Confederate States of America. Events such as the burial of Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and Union general David Hunter's fiery raid brought the quiet mountain town momentary attention from the wider world, but the demands of the Civil War also siphoned its resources on a daily basis.
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:23:59 EST]]> /Pickett_LaSalle_Corbell_1843-1931 Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:35:25 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Pickett_LaSalle_Corbell_1843-1931 LaSalle Corbell Pickett was a prolific author and lecturer, and the third wife of George E. Pickett, the Confederate general best known for his participation in the doomed frontal assault known as Pickett's Charge during the American Civil War (1861–1865). After her husband's death in 1875, she traveled the country to promote a highly romanticized version of his life and military career that was generally at odds with the historical record. George Pickett emerged from the war with a strained relationship with Robert E. Lee—whom he partly blamed for the destruction of his division at Gettysburg (1863)—and accused of war crimes. But in his wife's history, Pickett and His Men (1899), this not-always-competent soldier was transformed into the ideal Lost Cause hero, "gallant and graceful as a knight of chivalry riding to a tournament." This image largely stuck in the American consciousness, leaving historians to spend much of the next century attempting to separate Pickett from his myth.
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:35:25 EST]]> /Stuart_Flora_Cooke_1836-1923 Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:25:10 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Stuart_Flora_Cooke_1836-1923 Flora Cooke Stuart was the wife of Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart and the daughter of Union general Philip St. George Cooke. She met Stuart, a dashing subordinate of her father, while living in the Kansas Territory in the 1850s, and after marrying, the two settled in Virginia. Secession, however, split their family, with Cooke, a respected cavalryman, remaining in the United States Army and Stuart eventually becoming chief of cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia. "He will regret it but once & that will be continually," Stuart said of his father-in-law's decision; he even renamed his and Flora's months'-old son, Philip St. George Cooke Stuart, after himself, James Ewell Brown Stuart Jr. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Flora Stuart spent as much time as possible in camp with her husband, and chafed at the generous attention he received from admiring women in Virginia and across the South. When Stuart died after being wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern (1864), she donned mourning garb and wore it for the remaining fifty-nine years of her life. During that time, she served as headmistress of a women's school in Staunton that was subsequently named for her. She later moved to Norfolk, where she died in 1923.
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:25:10 EST]]> /Grand_Fountain_of_the_United_Order_of_True_Reformers Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:10:06 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Grand_Fountain_of_the_United_Order_of_True_Reformers The Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers was an African American fraternal organization that became the largest and most successful black business enterprise in the United States between 1881 and 1910. William Washington Browne founded and organized the Grand Fountain in Richmond in January 1881. A former slave, veteran of the Union army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), teacher, and Methodist minister, Browne created the Grand Fountain with a renewed purpose and energy out of the languishing Grand United Order of True Reformers, which began in the 1870s in Alabama and Kentucky. Where the original order taught temperance and provided members with sick and death benefits, Browne's vision expanded into an enterprise that cultivated a growing black middle class by offering services that included a savings bank, a real estate company, a retirement home, and a youth and children's division that taught discipline, thrift, and business skills. Although the Grand Fountain operated until 1934, it was never the same after 1910, when an embezzlement scandal and a number of large loan defaults caused the bank to close its doors. Despite the organization's downfall, the order left a powerful legacy because it provided employment and business opportunities to African Americans and helped to establish community leaders and business networks amidst a period of Jim Crow laws and strict racial segregation in Virginia.
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:10:06 EST]]> /The_Abolition_of_Slavery_in_Virginia Mon, 26 Oct 2015 08:59:54 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/The_Abolition_of_Slavery_in_Virginia The abolition of slavery in Virginia occurred by 1865, with the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Census of 1860 reported that almost half a million Virginians lived in slavery; five years later they were all free. For these men, women, and children, the end of their enslavement was a momentous event that occurred at different times and places and under unique circumstances depending on where they were. Many freed themselves by escaping into areas, such as Fort Monroe or the grounds of Arlington House, controlled by the Union army. The Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves in Virginia to be free but could only be enforced in those places controlled by the Union army. The proclamation excepted that part of Virginia that became West Virginia. Its Constitution of 1863 included a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery, but its legislature abolished slavery in February 1865. The Restored government of Virginia, which remained loyal to the Union during the war, also created a new constitution, this one in 1864, that abolished slavery. It effectively freed few people, however.
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 08:59:54 EST]]> /Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_U_S_Constitution Mon, 26 Oct 2015 08:47:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_U_S_Constitution The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1870, and granted the right to vote to African American men. It was the third of three amendments adopted during Reconstruction that profoundly altered American society, government, and politics. The Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished and prohibited slavery in the wake of the American Civil War (1861–1865), was ratified in December 1865, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which defined citizenship and guaranteed the rights of citizens, was ratified in July 1868. Specifically, the Fifteenth Amendment prevented the federal and state governments from using race or former servitude as an excuse not to allow its citizens to vote. At the time of the amendment's ratification in 1870, African Americans had already legally voted in Virginia, but during the next generation, with the use of a poll tax and other methods, that right would be chipped away. In 1901–1902, delegates to the state constitutional convention openly debated the best way to disfranchise blacks while not technically violating the Fifteenth Amendment. They largely succeeded and black voting rights were not fully restored until the 1960s.
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 08:47:32 EST]]> /Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_U_S_Constitution Mon, 26 Oct 2015 08:44:33 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_U_S_Constitution The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified on July 9, 1868, defined citizenship and guaranteed the rights of citizens. It was the second of three amendments adopted during Reconstruction that profoundly altered American society, government, and politics. The Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished and prohibited slavery in the wake of the American Civil War (1861–1865), was ratified in December 1865, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which granted the vote to African American men, was ratified in February 1870. The Fourteenth Amendment made all native-born men and women citizens and guaranteed them equal protection under the law. It included provisions to protect men's right to vote while abridging the rights of former Confederates. The General Assembly of Virginia refused to ratify the amendment until ratification became a precondition of regaining representation in Congress. The assembly voted in favor of the amendment on October 8, 1869, more than a year after it had become part of the Constitution. In Ex Parte State of Virginia (1880), the U.S. Supreme Court cited the Fourteenth Amendment when ruling that a Danville judge did not have the right to exclude African American men from serving on juries.
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 08:44:33 EST]]> /African_Americans_and_Politics_in_Virginia_1865-1902 Wed, 21 Oct 2015 13:19:27 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/African_Americans_and_Politics_in_Virginia_1865-1902 African Americans were deeply involved in Virginia politics from the American Civil War (1861–1865) until the first years of the twentieth century. Prior to 1865, Virginia law had restricted the vote to adult white men. With the abolition of slavery, African American men began to lobby for their full rights as citizens. In Norfolk, in May 1865, they even cast votes for the first time, although local electoral boards refused to count them. The first election in which black men voted and those votes were counted was for delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868, to which they elected two dozen of their own. Beginning in 1869, African Americans began to be elected to the General Assembly, mostly as Republicans and later as members of the biracial Readjuster Party. Some black politicians were more radical than others, but they generally advocated black civil rights, access to free public schools, and a refinancing of the state's large antebellum debt. Although records are scarce to document the fact, African American women were probably active behind the scenes, particularly in campaigns supporting public schools. Formal black participation in Virginia politics after the Civil War may have peaked in 1881, when the Readjusters swept statewide offices and took control of both houses of the assembly. In 1888, John Mercer Langston even won a contested election for House of Representatives, becoming the first African American from Virginia to serve in Congress and the only one prior to 1993. In the years that followed, however, white supremacist Democrats asserted control again, passing various laws to reduce black suffrage, which culminated in the Constitution of 1902 and a 50 percent reduction in the state's voters. African Americans largely did not participate again in formal state politics until after World War II (1939–1945).
Wed, 21 Oct 2015 13:19:27 EST]]> /Black_Baptist_Convention Mon, 19 Oct 2015 09:15:08 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Black_Baptist_Convention
Mon, 19 Oct 2015 09:15:08 EST]]> /Colored_Persons_and_Indians_Defined_1887 Wed, 23 Sep 2015 12:49:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Colored_Persons_and_Indians_Defined_1887
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 12:49:51 EST]]> /Bowler_John_Andrew_1862-1935 Mon, 14 Sep 2015 09:51:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bowler_John_Andrew_1862-1935 J. Andrew Bowler helped organize the first school for African Americans on Richmond's Church Hill and then served on its faculty for more than fifty years. The son of an enslaved woman, Bowler demonstrated unusual intelligence in his childhood and after the war worked to pay for his education at what later became Virginia Union University. After a brief sojourn in New York, he returned to Richmond and helped establish George Mason Elementary School. He spent years as its highest ranking African American faculty member. Bowler, a religious man, was ordained a minister in 1901 and served as pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church. Thirteen years after his death, Richmond's school board opened J. Andrew Bowler School.
Mon, 14 Sep 2015 09:51:57 EST]]> /Thomas_s_Administrator_v_Bettie_Thomas_Lewis_1892 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 14:20:13 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Thomas_s_Administrator_v_Bettie_Thomas_Lewis_1892 In Thomas's Administrator v. Bettie Thomas Lewis, decided on June 16, 1892, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a decision by the Richmond City Court of Chancery to honor the deathbed wishes of William A. Thomas. Evidence suggested that Thomas, a white man, desired that his property be inherited by his daughter, Bettie Thomas Lewis, whose mother had been one of Thomas's former slaves. Thomas did not leave a will, and the administrators of his estate, which was valued at about $225,000, challenged the inheritance. They argued that too few witnesses testified to Thomas's intent and that their testimony—including that of Fannie Coles, who was described in a brief as "a pariah of mixed blood"—was not sufficiently credible. The Supreme Court of Appeals, however, credited a number of white witnesses who generally corroborated Coles and described Coles herself, who lived with Thomas and his daughter, as "intelligent" and "agreeable." The ruling awarded Lewis the bulk of her father's estate and made her, according to the Richmond Times, "the richest colored woman in Virginia.
Tue, 01 Sep 2015 14:20:13 EST]]> /An_Act_to_amend_and_re-enact_the_9th_section_of_chapter_103_of_the_Code_of_Virginia_for_1860_1866 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:03:48 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/An_Act_to_amend_and_re-enact_the_9th_section_of_chapter_103_of_the_Code_of_Virginia_for_1860_1866
Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:03:48 EST]]> /First_Military_District Thu, 27 Aug 2015 17:17:48 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/First_Military_District
Thu, 27 Aug 2015 17:17:48 EST]]> /Hunnicutt_James_W_1814-1880 Thu, 27 Aug 2015 17:10:40 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Hunnicutt_James_W_1814-1880 James W. Hunnicutt, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868, saw his public career shift during the 1860s from a slavery supporter to a prominent Radical Republican to an ally of the Conservative Party. In 1860 Hunnicutt, a minister and newspaper publisher, voiced his concerns that secession would lead to the American Civil War (1861–1865), and would end slavery. He fled Fredericksburg for Philadelphia in 1862, already evolving into an advocate of African American rights. Settling in Richmond after the Civil War, his actions to help organize freedpeople earned him enemies in the white community. He won election to the Convention of 1867–1868 that wrote the state's new constitution but his political power soon declined because of increased scrutiny on his prewar support of white supremacy, disenchantment from blacks outside of Richmond, and estrangement from other party leaders. In 1869 he lost a congressional election as a True Republican, a moderate Republican-Conservative coalition, and retired to Stafford County where he died a decade later.
Thu, 27 Aug 2015 17:10:40 EST]]> /Adams_John_H_ca_1848-1934 Thu, 27 Aug 2015 16:54:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Adams_John_H_ca_1848-1934 John H. Adams served six years in Richmond's government representing Jackson Ward, two years on the city council and four years as an alderman. Adams hailed from a successful free black family, and received a bachelor's degree from a Pennsylvania college in 1873. A plasterer by trade, he became involved with the African American religious and spiritual community. He helped his neighborhood, created as a gerrymandered constituency to limit black political power, improve its schools, streets, and lighting. Adams moved to Danville in the 1890s, but retired about 1930 and returned to Richmond, where he died at the home of a niece in 1934.
Thu, 27 Aug 2015 16:54:24 EST]]> /Brooks_Lucy_Goode_1818-1900 Thu, 27 Aug 2015 16:51:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brooks_Lucy_Goode_1818-1900 Lucy Goode Brooks played the primary role in establishing the Friends' Asylum for Colored Orphans, an orphanage for African American children in Richmond, after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Born into slavery, she married Albert Royal Brooks, whose master allowed him to operate a livery stable and eating house. Although he eventually purchased his freedom and that of Lucy Brooks and several of their children, one daughter was sold by her owner to bondage in Tennessee. After Emancipation former slaves flocked to Richmond to look for missing family members. Having lost one of her own children to the slave trade, Lucy Brooks had a special concern for the plight of parentless children. She worked with the Ladies Sewing Circle for Charitable Work, a local Society of Friends meeting, and several black churches to create an orphanage. In March 1872 the General Assembly incorporated the Friends' Asylum for Colored Orphans, which remained in operation for almost sixty years. Brooks died in Richmond in 1900.
Thu, 27 Aug 2015 16:51:51 EST]]> /Andrews_William_H_b_ca_1839 Thu, 27 Aug 2015 16:09:37 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Andrews_William_H_b_ca_1839 William H. Andrews was a member of the Convention of 1867–1868 and served in the House of Delegates (1870–1871). Little is known about him, although his appearances in the public record indicates a troubled man who struggled with alcoholism. Andrews won his seat in the convention called to rewrite Virginia's state constitution in a racially polarized vote. Although he served quietly during the convention and generally voted with the Radical Republicans, for unexplained reasons he became the only African American delegate to vote against the new constitution. He narrowly won election to the House of Delegates from Surry County in 1869, but he acted erratically during his term. He was arrested multiple times, accused of whipping a page, and charged with bribery. He served out his term despite several attempts to expel him from the House. Andrews disappeared from public records after his term.
Thu, 27 Aug 2015 16:09:37 EST]]> /Vagrancy_Act_of_1866 Tue, 25 Aug 2015 15:14:14 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Vagrancy_Act_of_1866 The Vagrancy Act of 1866, passed by the General Assembly on January 15, 1866, forced into employment, for a term of up to three months, any person who appeared to be unemployed or homeless. If so-called vagrants ran away and were recaptured, they would be forced to work for no compensation while wearing balls and chains. More formally known as the Act Providing for the Punishment of Vagrants, the law came shortly after the American Civil War (1861–1865), when hundreds of thousands of African Americans, many of them just freed from slavery, wandered in search of work and displaced family members. As such, the act criminalized freedpeople attempting to rebuild their lives and perhaps was intended to contradict Governor Francis H. Pierpont's public statement discouraging punitive legislation. Shortly after its passage, the commanding general in Virginia, Alfred H. Terry, issued a proclamation declaring that the law would reinstitute "slavery in all but its name" and forbidding its enforcement. Proponents argued that the law applied to all people regardless of race, but the resulting controversy, along with other southern laws restricting African American rights, helped lead to military rule in the former Confederacy and congressional Reconstruction. It is unknown to what degree it was ever enforced, but the Vagrancy Act remained law in Virginia until 1904.
Tue, 25 Aug 2015 15:14:14 EST]]> /Davis_D_Webster_1862-1913 Mon, 27 Jul 2015 15:02:28 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Davis_D_Webster_1862-1913 D. Webster Davis was a teacher, poet, and lecturer in Richmond and Manchester. Born into slavery, Davis became a teacher in 1879, working in Richmond public schools for thirty-three years. In 1896 he was ordained a pastor. He also worked as an editor in the 1890s, but his literary ambitions centered mostly on poetry. His first collection was published in 1895 and a second two years later. Literary scholars have criticized his work for perpetuating racial stereotypes, but some argue that, read in context, the works illustrate the complicated position of the first generation of free, educated African Americans. Davis also became a popular lecturer, incorporating his poems into speeches. His notoriety augmented his position within Richmond and Manchester's African American communities, where he held a series of leadership positions. Schools in Richmond and Staunton, as well as Virginia State University, named buildings in honor of Davis, and several Richmond city schools closed on the day of his funeral in 1913.
Mon, 27 Jul 2015 15:02:28 EST]]> /Dickey_William_R_1823-1903 Tue, 07 Jul 2015 08:23:33 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dickey_William_R_1823-1903
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 08:23:33 EST]]> /Davis_Marion_E_1862-1946 Tue, 07 Jul 2015 08:18:33 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Davis_Marion_E_1862-1946 Marion E. Davis, an African Methodist Episcopal minister, led the Negro Organization Society (NOS) from 1930 until 1942. Born enslaved in Mississippi, Davis moved to Virginia in 1910 and took over Portsmouth's Emmanuel Church. After leading congregations in Richmond and Norfolk, he served as presiding elder over four separate districts. Davis became involved with the Negro Organization Society, a community-improvement organization in line with the non-confrontational style associated with Booker T. Washington, a few years after its 1910 start. During his tenure as president of the NOS, the organization funded voter registration programs and took full advantage of opportunities made possible by New Deal federal aid. Davis died in Portsmouth in 1946.
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 08:18:33 EST]]> /George_L_Christian_s_note_in_the_Virginia_Law_Journal_April_1880 Tue, 30 Jun 2015 15:25:10 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/George_L_Christian_s_note_in_the_Virginia_Law_Journal_April_1880
Tue, 30 Jun 2015 15:25:10 EST]]> /Danville_Riot_1883 Mon, 29 Jun 2015 15:52:26 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Danville_Riot_1883
Mon, 29 Jun 2015 15:52:26 EST]]> /American_Civil_War_and_Virginia_The Fri, 26 Jun 2015 14:08:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/American_Civil_War_and_Virginia_The The American Civil War was fought from 1861 until 1865. It began after Virginia and ten other states in the southern United States seceded from the Union following the election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. president in 1860. Worried that Lincoln would interfere with slavery and citing states' rights as a justification, Southern leaders established the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as its president and Richmond as its capital. After Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, the war moved to Virginia. Union forces made several failed attempts to capture Richmond, and Confederate general Robert E. Lee twice invaded the North, only to be defeated in battle. Most, but not all, Virginians supported the Confederacy. In 1863, Unionists in the western part of the state established West Virginia. On the home front, both white and African American families suffered food shortages or were forced to flee their homes. The Confederate government instituted a draft, or conscription law, and in some cases impressed, or confiscated, private property. By the time Lee surrendered in 1865, much of the state had been ravaged by war. But the end of fighting also meant emancipation, or freedom, for enslaved African Americans. In the years that followed, many white Virginians saw their fight for independence as the Lost Cause, while black Virginians struggled to overcome institutionalized white supremacy and earn full citizenship rights.
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 14:08:21 EST]]> /Affidavit_of_Powhatan_Bouldin_November_14_1883 Thu, 25 Jun 2015 12:11:35 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Affidavit_of_Powhatan_Bouldin_November_14_1883
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 12:11:35 EST]]> /_The_Danville_Riot_Richmond_Dispatch_November_4_1883 Thu, 25 Jun 2015 11:53:11 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Danville_Riot_Richmond_Dispatch_November_4_1883
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 11:53:11 EST]]> /_The_Danville_Massacre_New_York_Times_November_10_1883 Thu, 25 Jun 2015 11:38:39 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Danville_Massacre_New_York_Times_November_10_1883
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 11:38:39 EST]]> /_The_Riot_in_Danville_Staunton_Spectator_November_6_1883 Thu, 25 Jun 2015 11:37:06 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Riot_in_Danville_Staunton_Spectator_November_6_1883
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 11:37:06 EST]]> /_The_Danville_Massacre_Chicago_Tribune_February_16_1884 Tue, 23 Jun 2015 16:28:50 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Danville_Massacre_Chicago_Tribune_February_16_1884
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 16:28:50 EST]]> /_Coalition_Rule_in_Danville_October_1883 Tue, 23 Jun 2015 16:10:15 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Coalition_Rule_in_Danville_October_1883
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 16:10:15 EST]]> /Testimony_of_Charles_D_Noel_November_13_1883 Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:48:07 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Testimony_of_Charles_D_Noel_November_13_1883
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:48:07 EST]]> /Testimony_of_Robert_J_Adams_February_19_1884 Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:33:43 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Testimony_of_Robert_J_Adams_February_19_1884
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:33:43 EST]]> /Testimony_of_Hense_Lawson_February_18_1884 Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:18:15 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Testimony_of_Hense_Lawson_February_18_1884
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:18:15 EST]]> /Testimony_of_George_A_Lea_February_15_1884 Tue, 23 Jun 2015 14:06:05 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Testimony_of_George_A_Lea_February_15_1884
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 14:06:05 EST]]> /Testimony_of_R_W_Glass_February_15_1884 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 15:53:14 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Testimony_of_R_W_Glass_February_15_1884
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 15:53:14 EST]]> /Massey_John_E_1819-1901 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:52:08 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Massey_John_E_1819-1901 John E. Massey served as the lieutenant governor of Virginia (1886–1890), a member of the General Assembly (1873–1879), and an influential member of two Virginia political parties. Born in Spotsylvania County, he served as a Baptist minister before the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning him the nickname Parson Massey. He won election to the General Assembly in 1873 as a Conservative, but joined the new Readjuster Party in 1879. After he lost his seat in the Senate, the Readjusters appointed Massey auditor of public accounts in 1879. He broke with Readjuster leader William Mahone in 1882 and the next year Massey helped revive the Democratic Party. As part of a Democratic sweep in 1885, Massey won election as lieutenant governor, supporting the disfranchisement of African Americans. In 1889 the assembly voted him to the first of two terms as state superintendent of public instruction. During his tenure, he promoted summer teacher training institutes but endorsed a proposal that would limit already meager appropriations for African American schools. He selected the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (later Hampton University) as the site for a state-supported summer normal institutes for teacher education. He remained active in the Baptist Church throughout his life, supported the temperance movement, and died on April 24, 1901, in Charlottesville, after having been elected to the upcoming constitutional convention.
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:52:08 EST]]> /_The_Richmond_Freedmen_from_theNew-York_Tribune_June_17_1865 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:18:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Richmond_Freedmen_from_theNew-York_Tribune_June_17_1865
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:18:24 EST]]> /Extracts_from_Equal_Suffrage_Address_from_the_Colored_Citizens_of_Norfolk_Va_to_the_People_of_the_United_States_Also_an_Account_of_the_Agitation_among_the_Colored_People_of_Virginia_for_Equal_Rights_With_an_Appendix_Conce Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:11:14 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Extracts_from_Equal_Suffrage_Address_from_the_Colored_Citizens_of_Norfolk_Va_to_the_People_of_the_United_States_Also_an_Account_of_the_Agitation_among_the_Colored_People_of_Virginia_for_Equal_Rights_With_an_Appendix_Conce
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:11:14 EST]]> /_An_act_to..._legalize_the_Marriages_of_Colored_Persons_now_cohabiting_as_Husband_and_Wife_1866 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:58:02 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_An_act_to..._legalize_the_Marriages_of_Colored_Persons_now_cohabiting_as_Husband_and_Wife_1866
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:58:02 EST]]> /John_E_Massey_Debts_and_Taxes_or_Obligations_and_Resources_of_Virginia_1875 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:55:13 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/John_E_Massey_Debts_and_Taxes_or_Obligations_and_Resources_of_Virginia_1875
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:55:13 EST]]> /_amp_Kemper_s_Address_to_the_Senate_and_House_of_Delegates_amp_December_5_1877 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:50:17 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_amp_Kemper_s_Address_to_the_Senate_and_House_of_Delegates_amp_December_5_1877
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:50:17 EST]]> /Funder_Governor_Frederick_William_Mackay_Holliday_s_message_vetoing_the_Barbour_Bill_February_27_1878 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:46:03 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Funder_Governor_Frederick_William_Mackay_Holliday_s_message_vetoing_the_Barbour_Bill_February_27_1878
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:46:03 EST]]> /Extract_from_Readjuster_Governor_William_Evelyn_Cameron_s_annual_message_to_the_General_Assembly_December_5_1883 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:35:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Extract_from_Readjuster_Governor_William_Evelyn_Cameron_s_annual_message_to_the_General_Assembly_December_5_1883
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:35:51 EST]]> /_The_Press_on_the_Danville_Riot_Richmond_Dispatch_November_6_1883 Fri, 19 Jun 2015 16:49:25 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Press_on_the_Danville_Riot_Richmond_Dispatch_November_6_1883
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 16:49:25 EST]]> /Letter_to_Fields_Cook_and_the_Colored_State_Convention_1865 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:46:29 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_to_Fields_Cook_and_the_Colored_State_Convention_1865
Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:46:29 EST]]> /Davis_John_H_d_1896 Thu, 11 Jun 2015 14:50:22 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Davis_John_H_d_1896 John H. Davis was an African American entrepreneur and newspaper publisher who advanced with the economic boom created by Roanoke's establishment in the 1880s and then lost much of his wealth in the financial panic of 1893. It is unknown whether Davis was born free or into slavery, but in 1869 he owned property in Lynchburg. In January 1879 he purchased land in the Roanoke County community of Big Lick, soon to become the railroad center Roanoke. His business holdings expanded over the next thirteen years, ultimately solely owning thirty lots, the four-story Davis Hall, and the Roanoke Weekly Press published in the Davis Building. Davis attended two state conventions as a supporter of the Readjuster Party, and had two failed bids for city council. At his peak, his real and personal property valued between $50,000 and $75,000. Davis's holdings shrank rapidly during the economic bust of the mid-1890s, and he died in 1896.
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 14:50:22 EST]]> /Early_Jubal_A_1816-1894 Thu, 04 Jun 2015 09:22:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Early_Jubal_A_1816-1894 Jubal A. Early was a lawyer, a politician, and a Confederate general in the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865). An excellent brigade and division commander, he was quick and aggressive on the offensive and steady and tough on the defensive. While, at times, he was outstanding in independent command or temporary corps command, especially at Chancellorsville (1863), he was less successful leading the Army of the Valley during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864. Known as "Old Jube," Early was opinionated and critical of others but slow to see his own faults. In an army famous for its religious revival, he was notoriously quick-tempered, witty, and profane; Robert E. Lee called him "my bad old man." Prematurely bent by arthritis, he was described by one Confederate in 1861 as "a plain farmer-looking man … but with all, every inch a soldier." In his later years, Early became preeminent in debates over the war, working to venerate Lee and isolate James Longstreet, who had once been Lee's second in command. In so doing, Early helped to invent the highly influential Lost Cause view of the war. As long as Early was alive, one of his former soldiers wrote, "no man ever took up his pen to write a line about the great conflict without the fear of Jubal Early before his eyes."
Thu, 04 Jun 2015 09:22:32 EST]]> /Eastham_John_B_ca_1828-1869 Wed, 27 May 2015 11:49:42 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Eastham_John_B_ca_1828-1869
Wed, 27 May 2015 11:49:42 EST]]> /Ex_Parte_State_of_Virginia_1879 Fri, 22 May 2015 09:40:26 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Ex_Parte_State_of_Virginia_1879
Fri, 22 May 2015 09:40:26 EST]]> /Browne_William_Washington_1849-1897 Wed, 20 May 2015 10:46:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Browne_William_Washington_1849-1897 William Washington Browne was a slave, a Union solder during the American Civil War (1861–1865), a teacher, a Methodist minister, and the founder of Richmond's Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers, an African American fraternal organization. As leader of the True Reformers, Browne strived to help members live productive lives without depending upon the white community. By establishing insurance that provided members with sick and death benefits and by encouraging members to purchase land and engage in practices of temperance and thrift, Browne believed that blacks in the post–Civil War South could thrive. Browne's enterprising mind helped lead the True Reformers in creating and organizing a bank which became the nation's first chartered black financial institution and a model that others, such as Maggie Lena Walker, would follow. Browne died in 1897 and the True Reformers initially continued to prosper, but the order collapsed in the wake of the scandalous failure of its bank in 1910.
Wed, 20 May 2015 10:46:58 EST]]> /Jefferson_Davis_s_Imprisonment Thu, 14 May 2015 14:05:48 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Jefferson_Davis_s_Imprisonment Union cavalrymen arrested former Confederate president Jefferson Davis near Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865. Davis was taken into custody as a suspect in the assassination of United States president Abraham Lincoln, but his arrest and two-year imprisonment at Fort Monroe in Virginia raised significant questions about the political course of Reconstruction (1865–1877). Debate over Davis's fate tended to divide between those who favored a severe punishment of the former Confederate political leaders and those who favored a more conciliatory approach. When investigators failed to establish a link between Davis and the Lincoln assassins, the U.S. government charged him instead with treason. U.S. president Andrew Johnson's impeachment hearings delayed the trial, however, and in the end the government granted Davis amnesty.
Thu, 14 May 2015 14:05:48 EST]]> /_The_Appeal_from_Proceedings_of_the_Convention_of_the_Colored_People_of_VA_Held_in_the_City_of_Alexandria_1865 Mon, 11 May 2015 14:54:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Appeal_from_Proceedings_of_the_Convention_of_the_Colored_People_of_VA_Held_in_the_City_of_Alexandria_1865
Mon, 11 May 2015 13:19:04 EST]]> /_The_Passing_of_John_Robinson_from_the_Richmond_Planet_January_25_1908 Mon, 11 May 2015 12:50:22 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Passing_of_John_Robinson_from_the_Richmond_Planet_January_25_1908
Mon, 11 May 2015 12:50:22 EST]]> /Remarks_by_William_Williams_August_11_1865 Mon, 27 Apr 2015 14:56:12 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Remarks_by_William_Williams_August_11_1865
Wed, 15 Apr 2015 14:42:36 EST]]> /_quot_Republican_Convention_quot_from_the_Wheeling_Daily_Intelligencer_October_1_1856 Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:20:18 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Republican_Convention_quot_from_the_Wheeling_Daily_Intelligencer_October_1_1856
Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:20:18 EST]]> /_Virginia_Republican_Convention_Full_Report_of_Proceedings_from_the_Wheeling_Daily_Intelligencer_May_3_1860 Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:07:22 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Virginia_Republican_Convention_Full_Report_of_Proceedings_from_the_Wheeling_Daily_Intelligencer_May_3_1860
Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:07:22 EST]]> /Crump_Josiah_ca_1838-1890 Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:58:43 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Crump_Josiah_ca_1838-1890 Josiah Crump represented the Jackson Ward neighborhood on Richmond's city council for nearly ten years (1876–1884, 1888–1890). While it is unknown if Crump was born enslaved, by 1860 he was free and worked as a teamster. In 1871 he became a postal clerk in Richmond, most likely gaining the post because of his involvement with the Republican Party. He also joined the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers and served as a captain in one the city's African American militias. Crump won his first election to the city's board of aldermen in 1876, serving until 1884. He returned to office for two more years in 1888. In spite of increasing racial tensions, both black and white politicians respected Crump. He served on the committee of ordinances, a rarity for African American council members, and ended the practice of medical schools robbing graves for black cadavers. Crump died in 1890, and his funeral drew between 5,000 and 6,000 mourners.
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 14:58:43 EST]]> /Russell_James_Solomon_1857-1935 Thu, 29 Jan 2015 17:33:54 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Russell_James_Solomon_1857-1935 James Solomon Russell founded Saint Paul Normal and Industrial School (later Saint Paul's College). Born enslaved, after the American Civil War (1861–1865) Russell sought an education and attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (later Hampton University) when family finances allowed it. He established himself as a teacher and became attracted to the Episcopal Church. Russell entered divinity school, serving in a series of religious positions while attending what became the Bishop Payne Divinity School, in Petersburg. The church ordained him a deacon in 1882 and a priest in 1887. He began his ministry in 1882 in the Brunswick County town of Lawrenceville. In 1888 he founded Saint Paul Normal and Industrial School, in response to the local community's intense desire for educational opportunities. Russell fended off the school's early struggles by aggressively fund-raising, and Saint Paul's expanded in both its size and curriculum. He retired as its principal 1929 and was succeeded by his son James Alvin Russell. He died in Lawrenceville in 1935.
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 17:33:54 EST]]> /Roanoke_Weekly_Press Thu, 29 Jan 2015 16:28:55 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Roanoke_Weekly_Press The Roanoke Weekly Press was Roanoke City's first black newspaper, founded early in 1891 by John H. Davis, a wealthy African American businessman, philanthropist, and Republican political activist. The paper first appeared as an afternoon daily called the Press; several weeks later, it was moved to a weekly publication schedule and renamed the Roanoke Weekly Press (RWP). The paper was staunchly Republican in political orientation, reflecting its readership's deep antipathy toward the all-white Democratic Party in late nineteenth-century Virginia. Davis owned and edited the paper, which he published in different lengths on a periodic basis, often suspending publication for several months between issues. The only extant copy of the RWP is its fifth issue from 1892, which appeared on April 2 that year. Although some sources indicate the paper continued publication until 1897, it is more likely that it ceased operations in 1892. Davis left no personal or business papers behind, making details of his life difficult to discern. Even less is known about his newspaper, which remains an obscure and largely forgotten enterprise.
Tue, 27 Jan 2015 16:38:59 EST]]> /Chambers_Edward_R_1795-1872 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:37:57 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Chambers_Edward_R_1795-1872 Edward R. Chambers served in the Convention of 1850–1851 and parts of the Convention of 1861. Chambers settled in Mecklenburg County, where he established his law practice. He won election to the Convention of 1850–1851, which created a new constitution that established universal white-male suffrage and provided for a popularly elected governor. During the proceedings he called for a committee to look into the removal of all free people of color from Virginia. This ultimately led to Article IV, Section 19 of the constitution, which continued an 1806 law mandating that freed slaves leave the state within twelve months. In 1861 Mecklenburg County voters elected him to fill an unexpired term in the convention that had already passed the Ordinance of Secession leading to the American Civil War (1861–1865), which he signed. Chambers received his postwar pardon in July 1865. Two months later Governor Francis H. Pierpont appointed him a circuit court judge, but he was removed in 1869 in compliance with a congressional resolution ordering the replacement of Virginia's civil officeholders who had supported the Confederacy. He returned to the practice of law, became a commonwealth attorney, and died in his home at Boydton.
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:37:57 EST]]> /Jones_Sarah_Garland_Boyd_1866-1905 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:14:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Jones_Sarah_Garland_Boyd_1866-1905 Sarah Garland Boyd Jones became the first African American woman to pass the Virginia Medical Examining Board's examination. Jones grew up among Richmond's black elite and became a teacher upon graduating from Richmond Colored Normal School. She entered Howard University's medical school in 1890 and earned her medical degree three years later. Jones established a successful practice in Richmond. She and her physician husband helped create a medical association for Virginia's African American doctors, and the pair opened their own small hospital. In 1922, the Sarah G. Jones Memorial Hospital, Medical College and Training School for Nurses (later Richmond Community Hospital) was named in her honor.
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:14:32 EST]]> /Echols_Edward_1849-1914 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:08:19 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Echols_Edward_1849-1914 Edward Echols served a term as lieutenant governor (1892–1902) and represented the Staunton area in the General Assembly (1883–1897, 1906–1914). The son and nephew of members of the Convention of 1861, Echols entered the House of Delegates as the Democratic Party's nearly century-long hegemony over Virginia politics began. As lieutenant governor he presided over the Senate of Virginia when the General Assembly passed legislation calling for a referendum on a new state constitutional convention that ultimately slashed the voting rights of African Americans. Elected to the Senate of Virginia after his term, he helped forge a compromise that allowed the 1914 referendum that brought statewide Prohibition to the state.
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:08:19 EST]]> /Bassette_Andrew_W_E_1857-1942 Fri, 23 Jan 2015 16:48:29 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bassette_Andrew_W_E_1857-1942 Andrew W. E. Bassette was a teacher, lawyer, and businessman who rose from an impoverished upbringing to become a prosperous leader of Hampton's African American community. Born in Hampton, possibly enslaved, Bassette attended Hampton Institute and then taught school, supplementing his income with farm work. Finding time to study law, he passed the bar, and likely served as assistant commonwealth's attorney for Elizabeth City County. In 1889 he became one of a dozen founders of the People's Building and Loan Association of Hampton, writing the charter and serving as general counsel. Known as "Lawyer Bassette," he was one of Hampton's best-known African American figures, participating and sometimes presiding over the city's annual Emancipation Proclamation Day celebration. The city named a school for him. The father of an attorney, physician, and dentist, Bassette died at his home in 1942.
Fri, 23 Jan 2015 16:48:29 EST]]> /Democratic_Party_of_Virginia Thu, 15 Jan 2015 16:53:10 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Democratic_Party_of_Virginia The Democratic Party, the dominant political party in Virginia from the 1880s to the 1960s, can trace its origins to the early years of the republic, when disputes over domestic and foreign policies gave birth to the Republican (Democratic-Republican) and Federalist parties. In the 1830s, while Andrew Jackson was president, the name "Democratic" began to gain currency among his supporters. Opposition to Jackson's policies resulted in the formation of a party known as the Whigs. Two-party competition continued in the Old Dominion until the eve of the American Civil War (1861–1865). During Reconstruction (1865–1877), Congress mandated the enfranchisement of black males. Former Democrats and Whigs established the Conservative Party. After Reconstruction, the Conservatives triumphed, but soon they lost power to an interracial coalition known as the Readjusters. In 1883 the Conservative Party changed its name to the Democratic Party. They regained control of the General Assembly that same year, and the governorship two years later. Their control solidified by the suffrage provisions of the Virginia Constitution of 1902, the Democrats were immune to challenge in statewide elections for decades—the only meaningful competition was in the Democratic primary. Early in the twentieth century, party leader Thomas S. Martin and later Harry F. Byrd Sr. developed political organizations based on the support of local officials across the state, but by the 1960s the Byrd Organization was in decline: changes in federal civil rights laws, federal court decisions, the arrival of many newcomers in the state, the rise of the modern Republican Party, and the passing of the old generation of Democratic leaders initiated a party realignment. In the 1970s Virginia's political parties were philosophically more in tune with their respective national parties. Since then, two-party competition has characterized Virginia politics. Virginia Democrats made history by electing an African American as governor in 1989 and giving the state's electoral vote to Barack Obama, the first African American to be the candidate of a major party for president, in 2008.
Thu, 15 Jan 2015 16:53:10 EST]]> /Armistead_John_M_1852-1929 Thu, 15 Jan 2015 16:31:11 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Armistead_John_M_1852-1929 John M. Armistead was an influential Baptist minister in Portsmouth. Born enslaved, Armistead began his religious studies in 1868. He was a successful minister in Tennessee before taking over Portsmouth's Zion Baptist Church in 1882. During his forty-three years at the congregation's helm its membership nearly tripled and helped create five other churches. One of the most inspiring pulpit orators of his time, Armistead presided over the Virginia Baptist State Convention for six years, and he helped broker a deal that led to the establishment of Lynchburg Baptist Seminary (later Virginia University of Lynchburg). He retired in 1925 and died in Portsmouth four years later.
Thu, 15 Jan 2015 16:31:11 EST]]> /Archer_Edinboro_ca_1849-1907 Thu, 15 Jan 2015 09:49:41 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Archer_Edinboro_ca_1849-1907 Edinboro Archer served on the common council, one of two boards of the Richmond City Council, from 1882 until 1888. Born enslaved, he learned carpentry and eventually became a wheelwright. He settled in Jackson Ward, the famous political district in Richmond created by conservative whites in 1871 to concentrate the African American population in one location. This gerrymandering mitigated blacks' political strength by reducing the overall impact of their votes in city elections. Between 1871 and 1898 thirty-three African Americans represented Jackson Ward in the city government. In 1882 Archer won the first of three elections to the council. During his tenure he served on important committees and fought to gain needed improvements for Jackson Ward, such as a city park. After leaving office, Archer continued as a wheelwright and then worked at Evergreen Cemetery. He died in 1907.
Thu, 15 Jan 2015 09:49:41 EST]]> /Riddleberger_Harrison_H_1843-1890 Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:16:40 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Riddleberger_Harrison_H_1843-1890 Harrison H. Riddleberger was a Confederate veteran from Shenandoah County who helped settle Virginia's controversial prewar debt crisis in the 1880s. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), he became a newspaper publisher and a politician. He served in the House of Delegates for two terms as a Conservative (1871–1875) before entering the Senate of Virginia in 1879 as a Readjuster. In 1882 the assembly passed the Riddleberger Act and two other bills that refinanced two-thirds of the public debt (West Virginia was allocated the remaining one-third) with new lower-interest bonds and helped convert a treasury deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. Although subsequent legislation modified Riddleberger's law in detail, the act ended a decade of divisive politics about the public debt. Taking a seat in the U.S. Senate the next year, he caucused with the Republicans. While he was serving in Washington, the Readjusters splintered and Riddleberger later became a Democrat. Prone to depression and excessive drinking, he held a reputation as an eccentric and even engaged in two duels on the same day. He died in his home less than a year after his Senate term ended.
Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:16:40 EST]]> /_quot_Sheridan_apos_s_Raid_quot_an_excerpt_from_Sabres_and_Spurs_by_Frederic_Denison_1876 Mon, 22 Dec 2014 12:46:39 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_quot_Sheridan_apos_s_Raid_quot_an_excerpt_from_Sabres_and_Spurs_by_Frederic_Denison_1876
Mon, 22 Dec 2014 12:46:39 EST]]> /Excerpt_from_An_Historical_Sketch_of_the_Seventh_Regiment_Michigan_Volunteer_Cavalry_by_Asa_B_Isham_1893 Sat, 20 Dec 2014 15:31:28 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Excerpt_from_An_Historical_Sketch_of_the_Seventh_Regiment_Michigan_Volunteer_Cavalry_by_Asa_B_Isham_1893
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 15:31:28 EST]]> /Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_U_S_Constitution_The Wed, 03 Dec 2014 16:52:31 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_U_S_Constitution_The The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished and permanently prohibited the reintroduction of slavery throughout the country. Congress submitted it to the states on January 31, 1865, and it was ratified on December 6, 1865. It was the first of three amendments adopted during Reconstruction that profoundly altered American society, government, and politics. The Fourteenth Amendment that defined citizenship and guaranteed the rights of citizens was ratified in July 1868, and the Fifteenth Amendment that granted the vote to African American men was ratified in February 1870.
Wed, 03 Dec 2014 16:52:31 EST]]> /No_Action_Taken_Lively_Discussion_of_the_Colored_Pulpit-Press_Controversy Tue, 16 Sep 2014 14:35:00 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/No_Action_Taken_Lively_Discussion_of_the_Colored_Pulpit-Press_Controversy
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 14:35:00 EST]]> /_Bloodthirsty_Vest_from_The_Roanoke_Times_March_10_1891 Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:05:26 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Bloodthirsty_Vest_from_The_Roanoke_Times_March_10_1891
Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:05:26 EST]]> /_Jno_H_Davis_from_The_Roanoke_Daily_Times_July_21_1896 Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:03:50 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Jno_H_Davis_from_The_Roanoke_Daily_Times_July_21_1896
Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:03:50 EST]]> /_The_Press_in_Trouble_from_The_Roanoke_Times_May_24_1891 Mon, 15 Sep 2014 09:48:08 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Press_in_Trouble_from_The_Roanoke_Times_May_24_1891
Mon, 15 Sep 2014 09:48:08 EST]]> /Barbour_John_S_1820-1892 Tue, 02 Sep 2014 10:19:45 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Barbour_John_S_1820-1892 John S. Barbour served as a United States senator, but his biggest effect on Virginia's political history came from his organizational skills. Barbour hailed from a politically active family and joined the House of Delegates in his twenties. After four years in the General Assembly, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad (later the Virginia Midland Railway) named him its president. Barbour held the position for thirty-four years. He began his rivalry with fellow transportation leader and politician William Mahone when railroad consolidation accelerated after the American Civil War (1861–1865). He reentered politics in 1880 when the Funder wing of the Conservative Party nominated him for Congress, winning the first of three terms. Three years later he became state chairman of the party, now called the Democratic Party, and led it to convincing win in that year's elections over Mahone's Readjuster Party. By emphasizing white supremacy and animosity to Mahone's political power while accepting the Readjusters' financial reforms, Barbour engineered the start of the Democrats' nearly century-long domination of Virginia politics.
Tue, 02 Sep 2014 10:19:45 EST]]> /Bowden_Henry_Moseley_1819-1871 Sun, 17 Aug 2014 11:22:45 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bowden_Henry_Moseley_1819-1871
Sun, 17 Aug 2014 11:22:45 EST]]> /Bouldin_Wood_1838-1911 Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:58:46 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bouldin_Wood_1838-1911 Wood Bouldin, a Democratic Party stalwart, played a key role in disfranchising African Americans and poorer whites during the Convention of 1901–1902. Born in Charlotte County, he became an attorney and served as a Confederate artillery officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Settling in Halifax County after the war, he became an attorney and Democratic Party leader. Halifax voters elected him to the convention called to write a new constitution for Virginia. Bouldin introduced a resolution that limited voting rights to literate property owners and jury duty to registered voters. He also gave a long speech that defending the right of the convention to put the constitution into effect without approval by the voters.
Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:58:46 EST]]> /Binga_Anthony_Jr_1843-1919 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 08:44:02 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Binga_Anthony_Jr_1843-1919 Anthony Binga Jr. was a Baptist minister and educator. Born in Canada, where his parents had fled to escape slavery, Binga became a preacher and principal in Ohio before settling in Richmond in 1872. He served as the minister of Manchester's First Baptist Church and became the first African American teacher in Manchester, during that period an independent city across the James River from Richmond. He served in the school system for sixteen years, overseeing secondary education for Manchester's black students at what expanded to include six schools. His church grew as the city developed, and he quickly became a leading light in the African American Baptist organizations. He was the first chairman of the Foreign Mission Board of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, the antecedent to the National Baptist Convention.
Sun, 10 Aug 2014 08:44:02 EST]]> /Armstrong_Samuel_Chapman_1839-1893 Sun, 10 Aug 2014 07:10:13 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Armstrong_Samuel_Chapman_1839-1893 Samuel Chapman Armstrong was the founder of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (later Hampton University). Armstrong's father served as the kingdom of Hawaii's minister of education and emphasized student labor as a key part of schooling. The younger Armstrong enlisted in the Union army during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and commanded regiments in the United States Colored Troops. After the war he worked with the Freedmen's Bureau and began planning a school to train black teachers. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute opened in 1868 and emphasized labor alongside academics. The institution produced African American educators across the South, most notably Booker T. Washington. In 1878 Hampton's mission expanded with the admission of Native American students. The growth intensified Armstrong dependence on benefactors and in turn left it further exposed to the rising racism among American whites. In his later years academics at Hampton were publicly de-emphasized in favor of its trade-school programs. Armstrong died of a stroke in 1893.
Sun, 10 Aug 2014 07:10:13 EST]]> /Fay_Lydia_Mary_ca_1804-1878 Thu, 24 Jul 2014 15:09:23 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fay_Lydia_Mary_ca_1804-1878 Lydia Mary Fay was an educator who supervised an Episcopal mission school in Shanghai almost continuously from 1851 until her death in 1878. Between 1839 and 1850, when she volunteered to go to China, Fay worked as a governess and educator in Virginia and New York. Her mission work was inspired by Bishop William Meade and Rector Charles Backus Dana of Alexandria's Christ Episcopal Church, which she attended while living in Fairfax County. Fay became so proficient in Chinese that she supervised the translation of texts into English and taught composition courses in both languages. The year after Fay's death, the school merged with another Episcopal boarding school in Shanghai to form Saint John's College.
Thu, 24 Jul 2014 13:25:50 EST]]> /Beauregard_G_T_1818-1893 Sat, 19 Jul 2014 08:36:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Beauregard_G_T_1818-1893 G. T. Beauregard (also known as Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and, after helping engineer victory at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861, one of the Confederacy's first war heroes. Raised in an aristocratic French home in New Orleans, Louisiana, Beauregard graduated from West Point and served in the Mexican War (1846–1848) before becoming the Confederacy's first brigadier general and later a full general. He commanded Confederate and South Carolina troops at Charleston Harbor in April 1861, forcing the surrender of Fort Sumter, and, with Joseph E. Johnston, routed Irvin McDowell at Manassas in July. Beauregard's Napoleonic pretensions did not suit the temperament of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, however, and the two quarreled for much of the war and postwar. Beauregard fought well at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, but left his army without leave for the summer and was transferred east. He was critical in the defense of Petersburg in 1864, but ended the war largely out of favor. After the war, he engaged in politics that were sympathetic to the civil rights of African Americans, criticized Davis and Johnston in a two-volume, ghostwritten memoir, and accumulated wealth that was unusual for a former Confederate commander. Beauregard died in New Orleans in 1893.
Sat, 19 Jul 2014 08:36:09 EST]]> /Harper_v_Virginia_State_Board_of_Elections_March_24_1966 Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:15:36 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Harper_v_Virginia_State_Board_of_Elections_March_24_1966
Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:15:36 EST]]> /Poll_Tax Wed, 02 Jul 2014 14:08:18 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Poll_Tax A poll tax is a tax levied as a prerequisite for voting. After Reconstruction (1865–1877)—the twelve-year period of rebuilding that followed the American Civil War (1861–1865)—many southern states passed poll taxes in an effort to keep African Americans from voting. As a result, many African Americans (and other impoverished citizens) who could not afford to pay the poll tax were disfranchised and deprived of their rights as citizens. In 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, stipulating that an individual's right to vote could not be denied by any state on the basis of race or color. Southern state legislators, however, soon looked for other ways to keep the vote from African Americans, which inevitably, and perhaps by design, blocked some white Americans. In response, many state legislatures drew up grandfather clauses to ensure that non–African American constituents were included in the voting process. The U.S. Supreme Court declared grandfather clauses unconstitutional in 1915 and again in 1939, but poll taxes had greater longevity and remained in effect into the era of the civil rights movement. The Twenty-fourth Amendment, ratified in 1964, outlawed the use of this tax (or any other tax) as a pre-condition in voting in federal elections, and the 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections extended this ruling, stating that the imposition of a poll tax in state elections violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Wed, 02 Jul 2014 14:08:18 EST]]> /Willey_Waitman_T_1811-1900 Fri, 20 Jun 2014 13:46:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Willey_Waitman_T_1811-1900 Waitman T. Willey was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850–1851, a delegate to the Virginia Convention of 1861 that voted to secede from the Union, a United States senator from the Restored government of Virginia (1861–1863), and, alongside Peter G. Van Winkle, one of the first two United States senators from West Virginia (1863–1871). A native of western Virginia, he was instrumental in the formation of the new state of West Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865). As a member of the U.S. Senate, he authored the Willey Amendment in 1863—a compromise on the question of the freedom of the state's African Americans that extinguished his hopes for compensated emancipation. Instead, it decreed that slaves younger than twenty-one years old on July 4, 1863, would become free once they reached that age. The compromise assured West Virginia's acceptance into the Union.
Fri, 20 Jun 2014 13:46:21 EST]]> /Booker_George_William_1821-1884 Fri, 20 Jun 2014 13:17:30 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Booker_George_William_1821-1884 George William Booker's political career, which included a term in Congress (1869–1871), provides an example of the shifting political alliances during and after the American Civil War (1861–1865). A strong Unionist during the secession crisis, he voted for the Ordinance of Secession to avoid reprisals from his neighbors. A post as justice of the peace kept him from military service during the Civil War. Booker won election to the House of Delegates in 1865 representing Henry County and aligned himself with former Whig John Minor Botts during the formation of Virginia's Republican Party. The Republicans nominated him for attorney general in 1868, but elections were postponed. The next year he won a seat in the House of Representatives as a True Republican, an alliance between moderate members of his party and Democratic-aligned Conservatives in opposition to the Radical Republicans. He moderated his earlier anti-secession views and advocated an amnesty for former Confederates. Declining a run for a second term, he returned to the House of Delegates where he became one of the Conservative Party's floor leaders. He died near Martinsville in 1884.
Fri, 20 Jun 2014 13:17:30 EST]]> /An_Act_to_admit_the_State_of_Virginia_to_Representation_in_the_Congress_of_the_United_States_January_26_1870 Thu, 19 Jun 2014 10:30:04 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/An_Act_to_admit_the_State_of_Virginia_to_Representation_in_the_Congress_of_the_United_States_January_26_1870
Thu, 19 Jun 2014 10:30:04 EST]]> /Address_on_the_Difficulties_of_the_Colored_Youth_In_Obtaining_an_Education_in_the_Virginias_1875 Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:27:04 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Address_on_the_Difficulties_of_the_Colored_Youth_In_Obtaining_an_Education_in_the_Virginias_1875
Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:27:04 EST]]> /Cromwell_John_Wesley_1846-1927 Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:23:35 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cromwell_John_Wesley_1846-1927 John Wesley Cromwell was an educator, lawyer, and journalist. Born enslaved in Portsmouth, he became free after his mother, who was manumitted in 1849, purchased and freed his father and siblings. The family settled in Philadelphia, where Cromwell attended the Institute for Colored Youth, a Quaker school. He taught at several schools between 1865 and 1871, some of which were located in Portsmouth and Norfolk County. Cromwell acquired his law degree at Howard University and likely was the first African American attorney to argue before the Interstate Commerce Commission. He also published and edited the People's Advocate, a weekly newspaper, from 1876 to 1884; established a series of intellectual associations, such as the Negro American Society and the Bethel Literary and Historical Association; and helped found the American Negro Academy. He resumed his career in education in 1899. Cromwell was a strong advocate for industrial and agricultural education, but later came to believe that African American leaders should also seek political solutions to racial problems. He died at his Washington, D.C., residence in 1927.
Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:23:35 EST]]> /Fox_John_Jr_1862-1919 Tue, 27 May 2014 07:29:36 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fox_John_Jr_1862-1919 John Fox Jr. was one of Virginia's best-selling writers in the first decade of the twentieth century. He chronicled in popular fiction the customs and characters of southern Appalachia and produced two of the first million-selling novels in the United States. Though he enjoyed enormous commercial success, especially with The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1903) and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1908), today Fox is regarded as a fairly sentimental practitioner of the local-color genre, a style of writing that foregrounds place and regionalism. Still, he is fondly celebrated by the southwestern Virginia town Big Stone Gap, where he resided much of his life. The Kentucky-born, Harvard-educated Fox embodied a contrast that he often explored in his novels: the insular culture of Appalachia set against a more sophisticated outside world.
Thu, 22 May 2014 16:37:12 EST]]> /Virginia_Chapter_CXCII_of_the_Code_of_1873 Fri, 25 Apr 2014 15:34:45 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Virginia_Chapter_CXCII_of_the_Code_of_1873
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 15:34:45 EST]]> /Virginia_Chapter_17_of_Acts_of_the_General_Assembly_of_the_State_of_1866 Fri, 25 Apr 2014 14:54:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Virginia_Chapter_17_of_Acts_of_the_General_Assembly_of_the_State_of_1866
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 14:54:24 EST]]> /Kinney_v_The_Commonwealth_October_3_1878 Fri, 25 Apr 2014 10:11:41 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Kinney_v_The_Commonwealth_October_3_1878
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 10:11:41 EST]]> /Jackson_Giles_B_1853-1924 Sun, 23 Mar 2014 13:39:06 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Jackson_Giles_B_1853-1924 Giles B. Jackson, although born enslaved, became an attorney, entrepreneur, real estate developer, newspaper publisher, and civil rights activist in the conservative mold of his mentor, Booker T. Washington. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he served as a body servant to his master, a Confederate cavalry colonel. After the war, Jackson worked for the Stewart family in Richmond, where he learned to read and write. Subsequently, he was employed in the law offices of William H. Beveridge, who tutored Jackson in the law. In 1887, Jackson became the first African American attorney certified to argue before the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The next year, he helped found a bank associated with the United Order of True Reformers, and in 1900 became an aide to Washington, who had just founded the National Negro Business League in Boston. Jackson organized and promoted the Jamestown Negro Exhibit at the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition of 1907 in the face of criticism from some black intellectuals that his attempt to highlight black achievement was itself an accommodation of Jim Crow segregation. He published a newspaper designed to publicize the exhibition and, in 1908, a book detailing its history. His efforts at the end of his life on behalf of a congressional bill aimed at addressing interracial labor problems failed. Jackson died in 1924.
Sun, 23 Mar 2014 13:39:06 EST]]> /Lee_Fitzhugh_1835-1905 Wed, 19 Mar 2014 18:39:28 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lee_Fitzhugh_1835-1905 Fitzhugh Lee was a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and governor of Virginia (1886–1890). The nephew of Robert E. Lee, "Fitz" Lee commanded the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia during the last months of the conflict. Neither an innovative tactician nor an astute strategist, he achieved modest success during his Confederate service. Thirty years after the war, he became a national hero thanks to his well-publicized promotion of American interests as United States consul general in Havana, Cuba, on the eve of the Spanish-American War (1898). At the time of his death he was hailed as "Our Dear Old Fitz," a celebrated symbol of postbellum reconciliation.
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 18:39:28 EST]]> /Longstreet_James_1821-1904 Sat, 08 Mar 2014 17:13:05 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Longstreet_James_1821-1904 James Longstreet was a Confederate General who served as Robert E. Lee's second-in-command for most of Lee's tenure as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Longstreet fought in many of the most important battles of the conflict and ended the war as a respected figure. Lee affectionately called him "my old war horse," while his soldiers nicknamed him "the old bulldog" and "the bull of the woods." In the postwar period, however, Longstreet drew criticism for his support of Republican policies during Reconstruction (1865–1877), and controversy erupted over his conduct years earlier at the Battle of Gettysburg (1863). As southerners in general and Virginians in particular enshrined Lee's memory, Longstreet became a scapegoat for Lee's failures and the central figure in the emergent Lost Cause mythology white southerners developed to explain the loss of the war.
Sat, 08 Mar 2014 17:13:05 EST]]> /Martin_Thomas_Staples_1847-1919 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:16:17 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Martin_Thomas_Staples_1847-1919 Thomas Staples Martin was a railroad attorney, a longtime U.S. senator from Virginia (serving from 1895 until 1919), and an architect of the state Democratic Party machine that during his time was known as the Martin Organization. A quiet, behind-the-scenes political player, Martin rose through the party ranks largely due to his influence with powerful railroad interests. Under the leadership of Martin's mentor, John S. Barbour Jr., Democrats reestablished control of state politics that, since Reconstruction (1865–1877), had been in the hands of Republicans and Readjusters. Then, in 1893, in a huge and unexpected upset, Martin defeated former Confederate general and Virginia governor Fitzhugh Lee for election to Barbour's U.S. Senate seat, allowing him to take control of the party and, to a large extent, the state. Accused by his critics of bribery and corruption, Martin stayed in power and managed to rise to the position of Senate Majority Leader at least in part because of his pragmatic willingness to forge coalitions between the competing conservative and progressive wings of the Democratic Party. As a result, Martin's political machine and its successor, the Byrd Organization, dominated Virginia politics until the 1960s.
Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:16:17 EST]]> /Maury_Dabney_Herndon_1822-1900 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:24:44 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Maury_Dabney_Herndon_1822-1900 Dabney Herndon Maury was a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861–1865). The nephew of renowned scientist Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, he fought in the Western Theater, rising quickly in the ranks after the battles of Pea Ridge, Iuka, and Corinth in 1862. As commander of the District of the Gulf in the war's last two years, he became known for his tenacious defense of the port of Mobile, Alabama. After the war, however, he struggled with poverty. In 1869, he helped to found the Southern Historical Society, which became an important institution for advocates of the Lost Cause view of the war. His 1894 memoir, Recollections of a Virginian in the Mexican, Indian, and Civil Wars, was marked by Maury's distinctively intelligent affability. In fact, he was rare among former Civil War officers on either side for his willingness to maintain an equitable view of the Civil War.
Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:24:44 EST]]> /Mosby_John_Singleton_1833-1916 Sat, 01 Mar 2014 06:39:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Mosby_John_Singleton_1833-1916 John Singleton Mosby was a Confederate colonel during the American Civil War (1861–1865). As a private in the 1st Virginia Cavalry, Mosby chose his commander, General J. E. B. Stuart, as his role model and mentor. Stuart and General Robert E. Lee came to value Mosby's skills as a scout and raider. In June 1863 Confederate secretary of war James A. Seddon permitted Mosby to form and recruit soldiers for Company A, 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry (Partisan Rangers). The battalion expanded steadily to the size of a regiment (approximately 1,900 men served in the command during its existence) and Mosby was accordingly promoted to colonel. The raids of "Mosby's Men" helped to demoralize Union cavalry and rally Southern support for the war. Wounded seven times, the combative Mosby disbanded his troops, rather than surrender, on April 21, 1865. After the war he resumed his career as a lawyer and turned Republican. Mosby served as U.S. consul to Hong Kong, and from 1904 until 1910 worked as assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department. An excellent writer, Mosby devoted his latter years to letters, articles, and books defending the actions and reputation of his own command, the reputations of J. E. B. Stuart and Ulysses S. Grant, and arguing that slavery was the main cause of the war. Mosby died in Washington, D.C., in 1916.
Sat, 01 Mar 2014 06:39:09 EST]]> /Allan_Edgar_1842-1904 Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:25:35 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Allan_Edgar_1842-1904 Edgar Allan was one of Virginia's leading Republicans from 1867 until 1902. A native of England who fought with George A. Custer's cavalry during the American Civil War (1861–1865), Allan settled in Prince Edward County as a farmer in 1865. He then taught himself law and established a Farmville practice. The region's African American voters elected him to the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868. Though mocked as "Yankee" Allan, he spent twelve years as Prince Edward's commonwealth's attorney and three years in the Senate of Virginia. In 1883 he moved to Richmond, becoming a prosperous lawyer. In 1892 he helped Bettie Thomas Lewis, daughter of a former slave and a wealthy white man, claim her inheritance. Eight years later he lost a bid for Congress, and Republicans aligned with U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt took control of the state party from Allan's group in 1902. Sickly, in pain, and emotionally devastated by the loss of political power, Allan committed suicide in 1904.
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:25:35 EST]]> /Boland_Robert_J_1850-1918 Thu, 09 Jan 2014 15:23:53 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Boland_Robert_J_1850-1918 Robert J. Boland was a physician and African American leader in Roanoke. The Georgia-born Boland earned his medical degree in Michigan. He arrived in Virginia in 1886, possibly becoming the first black doctor to complete the new Virginia Board of Medical Examiners test. Five years later he settled in growing Roanoke, headquarters of the Norfolk and Western Railway, where he became a substantial property owner and a newspaper editor. Boland died in Roanoke in 1918.
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 15:23:53 EST]]> /Swanson_Claude_A_1862-1939 Sat, 28 Dec 2013 10:54:53 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Swanson_Claude_A_1862-1939 Claude A. Swanson was a powerful Democratic Party leader and one of the most successful Virginia politicians of his era. He served seven terms in the United States House of Representatives (1893–1906), was governor of Virginia from 1906 until 1910, and U.S. senator from 1910 until 1933. In addition, Swanson served as secretary of the United States Navy under U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 until his death in 1939. While in the House, Swanson presided over a raucous time in state politics that culminated in the adoption of the state Constitution of 1902 that was notorious for its disfranchisement of African Americans and poor whites in spite of the universal suffrage called for by the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1870). As governor, he instituted a number of progressive reforms and continued to advance those reforms, as well as his belief in a strong U.S. Navy while in the U.S. Senate and in Roosevelt's cabinet.
Sat, 28 Dec 2013 10:54:53 EST]]> /Thomas_George_H_1816-1870 Fri, 27 Dec 2013 08:06:26 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Thomas_George_H_1816-1870 George H. Thomas was a Virginia native, a veteran of the Mexican War (1846–1848), and a Union general during the American Civil War (1861–1865) who earned the nickname "the Rock of Chickamauga" after his defensive stand at the Georgia battle in 1863. He won an early Union victory at the Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky (1862), and decisively defeated the Confederate Army of Tennessee during the Battle of Nashville (1864). He also served as a subordinate at the Battle of Stone's River (1862–1863) and the Chattanooga Campaign (1863) in Tennessee and, under his West Point roommate William T. Sherman, the 1864 Atlanta Campaign. Thomas was a slave owner before the war, but his experience commanding African American soldiers led him to change his views, and he became a staunch defender of civil rights during Reconstruction (1865–1876). As senior military commander in Kentucky and Tennessee from 1865 until 1869, he fought to protect African Americans from the Ku Klux Klan and other white-supremacist groups. He died of a stroke in 1870.
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 08:06:26 EST]]> /Babcock_Lemuel_E_1809-1897 Wed, 18 Dec 2013 16:05:15 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Babcock_Lemuel_E_1809-1897
Wed, 18 Dec 2013 16:05:15 EST]]> /Clements_James_H_1831-1900 Thu, 12 Dec 2013 14:23:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Clements_James_H_1831-1900
Thu, 12 Dec 2013 14:23:58 EST]]> /Branch_James_Read_1828-1869 Thu, 12 Dec 2013 14:19:38 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Branch_James_Read_1828-1869 James Read Branch was a Confederate artillery officer and banker who helped reestablish Richmond's struggling economy after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Branch fought in the battles of Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, and Plymouth. He resigned from the army in 1865, after he was slow to recover from a severe leg injury. After the war he revived Thomas Branch and Sons, the banking house he had founded with his father and brother, and became active in the Conservative Party, serving on its executive committee. He was nominated to run for a seat in the Senate of Virginia in 1869. Branch and others felt the party needed the support of African American voters to defeat the Radical Republicans. Days before the election a large crowd attending a Conservative Party picnic to attract black voters crushed the bridge on which he stood. Branch fell into the James River and drowned.
Thu, 12 Dec 2013 14:19:38 EST]]> /Brown_George_O_1852-1910 Wed, 30 Oct 2013 16:43:07 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brown_George_O_1852-1910 George O. Brown established a family-run photography studio that recorded African American life in Richmond for seventy years. Brown, probably born enslaved, was working in the photography business by age nineteen old. He opened his own studio in 1899 and moved it to Jackson Ward, the center of Richmond's African American community, in 1905. Two years later his skills earned him a silver medal at the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition. Along with his children, Brown became the most important visual chronicler of Richmond's African American population, documenting community life at schools, colleges, sporting events, and fraternal meetings. The studio took thousands of portraits of ordinary citizens and famed figures such as Maggie Lena Walker and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Brown died in 1910, but his photography business continued to operate until 1969.
Wed, 30 Oct 2013 16:43:07 EST]]> /Dyer_Carrie_Victoria_1839-1921 Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:18:15 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dyer_Carrie_Victoria_1839-1921 Carrie Victoria Dyer was a key founder of Hartshorn Memorial College, an African American Baptist women's college in Richmond that later merged with Virginia Union University. Dyer, who spent her early years in Michigan and Vermont, initially taught black students in Providence, Rhode Island, and Nashville. She and Hartshorn co-founder Lyman Beecher Tefft believed female students were better served by single-sex education, which led to the establishment of the new institution. The college opened in 1883 with Dyer as principal and second in command to Tefft, who served as its president. Dyer also acted as an instructor and spent twenty-nine years as the treasurer of the Rachel Hartshorn Education and Missionary Society. She took over Hartshorn's day-to-day operations for the 1905–1906 term while Tefft was ill. Dyer became dean in 1912 and served for two academic years before she gave up the position to teach one final session. In 1926 money bequeathed by Dyer's estate to the Woman's National Baptist Convention Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., was used to establish the Carrie V. Dyer Memorial Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia.
Thu, 17 Oct 2013 14:57:45 EST]]> /Butt_Martha_Haines_1833-1871 Mon, 23 Sep 2013 17:22:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Butt_Martha_Haines_1833-1871 Martha Haines Butt was a novelist, poet, and essayist who in 1853 became one of five southern women to respond to Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) with a novel of her own. Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South (1853) defended slavery as moral and Christian, but it never achieved the critical or popular success that Stowe or even the other rebuttals received. A Norfolk native, Butt continued to write, contributing to both regional and national magazines. She championed women's intellectual engagement but criticized efforts on behalf of women's rights, generally affirming the traditional role of women. Late in her life, however, she became involved in the woman suffrage movement and served as vice president of the Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association in 1870. Butt died of pneumonia a year later.
Mon, 23 Sep 2013 17:22:49 EST]]> /Dean_Jennie_Serepta_1848-1913 Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:50:25 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dean_Jennie_Serepta_1848-1913 Jennie Serepta Dean founded the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth. A former slave, Dean attended schools in Fairfax County and Washington, D.C., and in 1878 began to establish a series of Sunday schools. She was a skilled fund-raiser, securing money from African American and white donors in Virginia and in northern cities to support her plan to open a school that would teach skilled trades to young African Americans. The Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth opened in 1894 after nearly six years of fundraising. Dean served on the school's board of directors and executive committee. She died in 1913.
Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:50:25 EST]]> /Dabney_Robert_Lewis_1820-1898 Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:19:43 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Dabney_Robert_Lewis_1820-1898 Robert Lewis Dabney was a Presbyterian minister who, during the American Civil War (1861–1865), emerged as one of the most influential leaders of the southern Presbyterian Church. Born in Louisa County, he was educated at the Union Theological Seminary and served on the school's faculty, becoming chair of theology in 1859 and preaching Calvinist orthodoxy. Dabney opposed secession but served as chaplain to the 18th Virginia Infantry Regiment and, for several months in 1862, as adjutant, or chief of staff, to Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Ill health forced him to return to the seminary, but he later wrote a biography of Jackson. Dabney was an ardent defender of slavery and the Old South, opposed the Progressive Movement, and was skeptical of modern science. As an important Presbyterian leader in the South, he opposed reunifying the southern church with its northern counterpart. In 1883, he left Virginia to teach at the new University of Texas, in Austin, where he helped to found the Austin School of Theology. He died in Victoria, Texas, in 1898.
Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:19:43 EST]]> /Curtiss_Gaston_G_1819-1872 Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:11:55 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Curtiss_Gaston_G_1819-1872 Gaston G. Curtiss served as a member of the Convention of 1867–1868. He grew up in Oswego County, New York, and arrived in Virginia about 1861. Four years later he purchased land near what is now the seat of Bedford County and became active in the radical branch of the Republican Party. Newly enfranchised African American voters elected Curtiss to the constitutional convention where he chaired the Committee on the Executive Department of Government. He voted for the new constitution, which included among its reforms universal manhood suffrage, the establishment of a public school system, and more elective local offices. In 1869 he lost a bid for the House of Representatives.
Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:11:55 EST]]> /Curry_Jabez_Lamar_Monroe_1825-1903 Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:10:56 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Curry_Jabez_Lamar_Monroe_1825-1903 J. L. M. Curry was one of the most important educational reformers in the second half of the nineteenth century. He was born in Georgia, but moved to Alabama at age thirteen. Curry served as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the First Confederate Congress. He was also an officer in the Confederate army. He joined the faculty of Richmond College (later the University of Richmond) in 1868 and taught there until 1881. Once he left the school, Curry became an advocate for education in the South. He worked with the Peabody Education Fund and the John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen to promote industrial education for the region's African Americans, and worked with state governments in the South to bolster their public education systems. Curry served as president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, as president of the National Baptist Sunday School Convention, as president of the Foreign Mission Board, and served as American minister to Spain. Although a native of Georgia and important citizen of Alabama, Curry's connection to Virginia was strong and he was buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery. The University of Virginia's school of education is named for Curry.
Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:10:56 EST]]> /Cocke_Edmund_R_1841-1922 Thu, 05 Sep 2013 10:19:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cocke_Edmund_R_1841-1922 Edmund R. Cocke was a veteran of the American Civil War (1861–1865) who, after the war, became a Populist Party leader, running unsuccessful campaigns for Virginia governor (1893) and lieutenant governor (1897). After being wounded at Gettysburg (1863) and captured at Sailor's Creek (1865), Cocke, a staunch Democrat and white-supremacist, chaired Cumberland County's electoral board beginning in 1884. He told a friend that Republicans "putrefy every thing they touch," but he never was accused of being unfairly partisan in his position. Around the same time, Captain Cocke, as he was known, became involved in populist politics through the Farmers' Assembly of the State of Virginia, which he cofounded, and his disagreement with Democrats over the gold standard led to his defection to the People's Party in 1892. Although intellectually gifted, he was considered by his peers to be an uninspiring speaker, and he was soundly defeated in his run for governor in 1893 and, four years later, for lieutenant governor. This latter defeat effectively ended Populism in Virginia. In 1898, Cocke's wife died, in 1900 his plantation burned, and in his last few years he experimented with making gold through alchemy and lashed out at Prohibition Democrats. He died of kidney failure in 1922.
Thu, 05 Sep 2013 10:19:47 EST]]> /Bouldin_Powhatan_1830-1907 Wed, 04 Sep 2013 17:50:16 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bouldin_Powhatan_1830-1907 Powhatan Bouldin was a Democratic journalist who covered the Danville Riot of 1883. The son of a congressman, Bouldin served in a series of Charlotte County public offices before purchasing a local Danville newspaper in 1865. He ran the weekly Danville Times until illness forced his retirement in 1894. The most notable event during his journalistic career was the Danville Riot, which resulted in the deaths of four African Americans. As editor of the Danville Times, Bouldin helped shape the pro-Democratic spin on the violence that spurred the downfall of local Readjuster Party officeholders in Danville and helped rally white supremacist Democrats to reclaim political power throughout Virginia.
Wed, 04 Sep 2013 17:50:16 EST]]> /Christian_William_S_1830-1910 Thu, 22 Aug 2013 15:59:43 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Christian_William_S_1830-1910 William S. Christian was a Confederate army officer, a temperance organization leader, and a doctor who worked in Middlesex County. In 1859 Christian raised a cavalry company known as the Middlesex Light Dragoons, which became Company C of the 55th Virginia Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Christian was wounded twice during the war: first at the Battle of Glendale (1862) and then again at the Battle of Chancellorsville (1863). Christian participated in the Army of Northern Virginia's advance into Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863 and was captured by Union forces after the Gettysburg campaign (1863). He was imprisoned for less than a year at Johnson's Island in Ohio, where he composed a long poem entitled "The Past." After the war Christian returned to Urbanna to practice medicine. From 1876 to 1881 he served as state head of the Independent Order of Good Templars, an international temperance league. In 1880 he set up a segregated Dual Grand Lodge in Richmond, accommodating members who believed African Americans should be admitted to the society while pacifying white southerners who resisted that notion. Christian was also a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and Middlesex County's board of health and, from 1890 to 1909, the superintendent of Middlesex County's public schools. He died on December 10, 1910.
Thu, 22 Aug 2013 15:59:43 EST]]> /Chamberlaine_William_W_1836-1923 Wed, 21 Aug 2013 14:44:38 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Chamberlaine_William_W_1836-1923 William W. Chamberlaine was a Confederate army officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865), founder of the Norfolk Electric Light Company, first president of the Savings Bank of Norfolk, and a longtime railroad executive who retired as secretary of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad. Born in Norfolk, Chamberlaine was wounded at the Battle of Antietam (1862). After the war he worked at a bank with his father before becoming secretary and treasurer of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad in 1877. He stayed with the company through the rest of his career, during which time he also founded the light company (1884) and led the Savings Bank (1886). After retiring in 1904, he moved to Washington, D.C., and published a memoir about his wartime service (1912). He died in Washington in 1923.
Wed, 21 Aug 2013 14:44:38 EST]]> /Archer_Fletcher_H_1817-1902 Thu, 15 Aug 2013 16:16:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Archer_Fletcher_H_1817-1902 Fletcher H. Archer was a Confederate army officer and Petersburg mayor. After earning a law degree from the University of Virginia and practicing law in his native Petersburg, Archer led a company of Virginia volunteers during the Mexican War (1846–1848). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he served in the infantry and at the Norfolk Naval Hospital before retiring back to his Petersburg law practice. In 1864, however, with Union general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac moving south, Archer raised a battalion of Virginia Reserves—composed mostly of men either too young or old for regular duty—and, on June 9, helped to successfully defend the city at the Battle of Old Men and Young Boys. After the war, Archer joined the Conservative Party and, as president of the Petersburg City Council, became mayor in 1882 when William E. Cameron, the previous mayor, became governor. Archer served until 1883, and died in Petersburg in 1902.
Thu, 15 Aug 2013 16:16:21 EST]]> /Carr_David_Green_1809-1883 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:15:10 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Carr_David_Green_1809-1883 David Green Carr served as a member of the Convention of 1867–1868 and the Senate of Virginia (1869–1871). He was born in Otsego County, New York, in 1809 and purchased a Dinwiddie County farm in 1853. He became active in Virginia's Republican Party after the American Civil War, and in 1867 Dinwiddie and Prince George county voters elected him as one of their two representatives to the state constitutional convention. He voted in favor of the new constitution, which included such reforms as universal manhood suffrage and the establishment of a public school system. In 1869 Carr, a member of the party's radical faction, won a seat in the state senate. He became Petersburg's collector of customs in 1870. He left the position by 1874, but he reacquired the job in 1877 and held it until his death in 1883.
Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:15:10 EST]]> /Blackford_W_W_1831-1905 Mon, 12 Aug 2013 14:57:06 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Blackford_W_W_1831-1905 W. W. Blackford was a Confederate army officer and civil engineer. A native of Fredericksburg who studied engineering at the University of Virginia, Blackford worked as acting chief engineer for the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. At the start of the American Civil War (1861–1865), he joined the 1st Virginia Cavalry and became an aide-de-camp for its commander, J. E. B. Stuart. He fought with the Confederate cavalry from the Seven Days' Battles in June 1862 until the end of the war, suffering two wounds and being promoted to lieutenant colonel. After the war, Blackford worked for a railroad in Lynchburg, owned and operated a sugar plantation in Louisiana, and was a college professor in Blacksburg. He worked for the railroads again before retiring in 1890. His Civil War letters have been used by historians, and his memoir of the war was published in 1946 with an introduction by Douglas Southall Freeman. Blackford died in Princess Anne County in 1905.
Mon, 12 Aug 2013 14:57:06 EST]]> /Black_Leonard_A_1820-1883 Fri, 09 Aug 2013 11:00:32 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Black_Leonard_A_1820-1883 Leonard A. Black was a Baptist minister in Norfolk and Petersburg. Born enslaved in Maryland, Black moved to New England in his youth. He became a member of the clergy and wrote his autobiography, The Life and Sufferings of Leonard Black, a Fugitive from Slavery (1847). Black became pastor at Norfolk's First Baptist Church about 1871, and in 1873 became the leader of Petersburg's historic First Baptist Church. He doubled the latter church's membership during his tenure. Black died in Petersburg in 1883, and accounts of his funeral service stated that 5,000 people attended the ceremony.
Fri, 09 Aug 2013 11:00:32 EST]]> /Brooks_Robert_Peel_1853-1882 Tue, 23 Jul 2013 14:09:58 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brooks_Robert_Peel_1853-1882 Robert Peel Brooks was one of Richmond's first African American lawyers and a Republican Party leader. Born into slavery, he was manumitted in 1862 and graduated from Howard University's law school in 1875. While practicing law in Richmond he also edited the Richmond Virginia Star. Brooks became involved in politics and was elected secretary of the Republican State Central Committee in 1880. Initially siding with the Funders, who advocated full payment of the state's prewar debt, he came to support the Readjusters, who sought adjustment of the debt, because they promoted black political participation. He contracted typhoid fever in 1882 and died not long before his twenty-ninth birthday.
Tue, 23 Jul 2013 14:09:58 EST]]> /Brock_Sarah_Ann_1831-1911 Tue, 23 Jul 2013 11:28:10 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brock_Sarah_Ann_1831-1911 Sarah Ann Brock, a writer who often published under the pseudonym Virginia Madison, published numerous editorials, historical articles, reviews, essays, letters, travel sketches, short stories, biographies, and translations in her career. She is best known for her memoir of life in Richmond during the American Civil War (1861–1865), Richmond During the War: Four Years of Personal Observation (1867). Published anonymously, the book, which is still in print, offers intelligent analysis and detailed description of the Confederate capital in wartime. In addition, Brock edited a collection of southern poetry about the war, in which she contributed verse about Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Brock also published a novel, Kenneth, My King (1873) modeled after Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre; however, it was poorly reviewed, and after Brock married in 1882, her literary output diminished. She died in 1911.
Tue, 23 Jul 2013 11:28:10 EST]]> /Breckinridge_Cary_1839-1918 Fri, 19 Jul 2013 15:21:49 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Breckinridge_Cary_1839-1918 Cary Breckinridge was a Confederate cavalry officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865), who suffered five wounds, including at the Second Battle of Manassas (1862), reportedly had five horses shot from under him, and was captured and briefly imprisoned in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. Following the war, Breckinridge farmed, possibly worked in banking, and served in the House of Delegates (1869–1871). Physically imposing and from a prominent family, Breckinridge remained active in Conservative Party and Democratic Party politics and served as the superintendent of public schools for Botetourt County from 1886 until 1917. He died in 1918 at his home in Fincastle.
Fri, 19 Jul 2013 15:21:49 EST]]> /Bagby_George_William_1828-1883 Mon, 08 Jul 2013 10:44:51 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bagby_George_William_1828-1883 George William Bagby was a licensed physician, editor, journalist, essayist, and humorist. He is best remembered as the editor who, on the advent of the American Civil War (1861–1865), turned the Southern Literary Messenger from a respected literary journal into a propagandistic tool that endorsed secession and the Confederate cause. After the war, Bagby attempted but failed to make a living as a humorist. As assistant to the secretary of the commonwealth—which, by law, also made him state librarian—Bagby wrote his most well-regarded essay, "The Old Virginia Gentleman" (1877). Many of his essays reflect his personal conflicts with Virginia and the South: at times he is objective, even critical; at others he is sentimental and celebrates the "old days" of a better (pre-Civil War) Virginia.
Mon, 08 Jul 2013 10:44:51 EST]]> /Ambler_James_M_1848-1881 Mon, 08 Jul 2013 10:22:24 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Ambler_James_M_1848-1881 James M. Ambler was a Confederate cavalryman during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and, after the war, a United States Navy surgeon. Ambler graduated from medical school in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1870 and joined the Navy, serving on various ships and at the Norfolk Naval Hospital. In 1878, he reluctantly volunteered for service with an Arctic expedition aboard the Jeannette, a ship commanded by George W. De Long. The ship became imprisoned by ice late in 1879, and Ambler did well to keep the crew not only alive but relatively healthy. Still adrift in June 1881, the Jeannette struck ice, which crushed its wooden hull. While a few of the crew's thirty-three men survived, many froze to death, drowned, or starved, including Ambler, who died with De Long sometime around October 30, 1881.
Mon, 08 Jul 2013 10:22:24 EST]]> /Alfriend_Edward_M_1837-1901 Mon, 08 Jul 2013 09:54:46 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Alfriend_Edward_M_1837-1901 Edward M. Alfriend was a Richmond playwright and businessman. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he served in the 44th Virginia Infantry Regiment, fought in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, but was court-martialed and cashiered from the Confederate army in 1865 for being absent without leave and disobeying orders. Following the war, he earned some distinction in his father's insurance company and in 1871 was a delegate to the National Insurance Convention. Alfriend is best known as the author of at least fourteen plays. His work, some of which was produced in New York, was dismissed by reviewers but popular with the public. He died unexpectedly of kidney failure in 1901.
Mon, 08 Jul 2013 09:54:46 EST]]> /_The_Southern_Problem_and_its_Solution_1893 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 09:16:21 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_The_Southern_Problem_and_its_Solution_1893
Fri, 14 Jun 2013 09:16:21 EST]]> /Cooke_Philip_St_George_1809-1895 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:53:47 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cooke_Philip_St_George_1809-1895 Philip St. George Cooke was a Virginia-born Union general during the American Civil War (1861–1865). A West Point graduate and a lawyer, Cooke served on frontier duty and fought in both the Black Hawk War (1832) and the Mexican War (1846–1848). In addition, he helped to protect settlers on the Oregon Trail, fought Apache in New Mexico Territory, helped subdue Sioux in Nebraska Territory, helped restore order in Bloody Kansas, and led an expedition against Mormons in the Utah Territory. When the Civil War began, Cooke was one of the Regular Army's top cavalrymen and he chose to stay with the Union, writing, "I owe Virginia little; my country much." It was a decision that caused a long estrangement from his son, John Rogers Cooke (1833–1891), and a rift with his son-in-law, the future Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart. During the war, he led a controversial cavalry charge at Gaines's Mill (1862) and eventually left the Army of the Potomac, claiming its commanders were inept. Following the war, his involvement in a massacre by Lakota Sioux further tarnished his reputation. He wrote two memoirs and a cavalry manual and in the 1880s reconciled with his son. Cooke died in Detroit, Michigan, in 1895.
Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:53:47 EST]]> /Civil_War_Widows Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:27:09 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Civil_War_Widows Civil War widows in Virginia are defined as women married to Confederate soldiers who died during the American Civil War (1861–1865). The numbers of these women are difficult to determine—historians estimate between 4,000 and 6,000—but their characteristics are clearer. They were relatively young and their marriages had been relatively brief; if they had children, they were still too young to be of help in supporting the family. About half of all widows remarried during or after the conflict, with the youngest ones the most likely to do so; however, because of the war's toll on young men, they were substantially more likely to marry men who were much older or younger than themselves. Few of these women worked, but beginning in 1888, some were eligible for a state pension that provided the minimal support of $30 per year.
Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:27:09 EST]]> /Letter_from_Henry_S_Randall_to_James_Parton_June_1_1868 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:36:34 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Henry_S_Randall_to_James_Parton_June_1_1868
Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:36:34 EST]]> /_Life_Among_the_Lowly_No_3_by_Israel_Jefferson_December_25_1873 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:23:17 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Life_Among_the_Lowly_No_3_by_Israel_Jefferson_December_25_1873
Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:23:17 EST]]> /Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_Randolph_to_the_Pike_County_Republican_ca_1874 Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:58:34 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_Randolph_to_the_Pike_County_Republican_ca_1874
Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:58:34 EST]]> /Civil_War_Pensions Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:10:16 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Civil_War_Pensions In the immediate postwar years, Virginia tried to provide aid to its soldiers who had suffered significant disabilities during the American Civil War (1861–1865), especially those who had lost limbs. Over time the state shifted its artificial-limbs program to a commutation payment. By 1888 the state had begun to create a pension system that would allot annual payments not only to severely disabled veterans, but also to widows—women whose husbands had died during the conflict. Over the next three decades the state legislature liberalized the requirement for this program to the point that it became an old age pension system for Confederate veterans. Relative to the federal pension program and the other former Confederate states that gave pensions, the amount of Virginia's pensions was much smaller.
Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:10:16 EST]]> /Colored_Shiloh_Baptist_Association Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:05:19 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Colored_Shiloh_Baptist_Association The Colored Shiloh Baptist Association was a union of individual black congregations in central Virginia formed on August 11, 1865, just after the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865). A similar association had been formed in Norfolk the year before, but the Richmond-based Colored Shiloh Baptist Association was soon larger and more influential, with both groups helping to provide blacks the opportunity to worship on their own terms.
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:05:19 EST]]> /Museum_of_the_Confederacy Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:19:39 EST http://staging.encyclopediavirginia.org/Museum_of_the_Confederacy The Museum of the Confederacy opened in the former Confederate capital of Richmond in 1896 as the Confederate Museum. One of Richmond's oldest museums, it is the only institution in Virginia that began as a Confederate shrine and transformed itself into a modern history museum. The museum was a preservation effort on two levels: it rescued from destruction the former Confederate executive mansion and displayed in the mansion's rooms the artifacts—"relics" as they were called in the 1890s—of Confederate soldiers and civilians from the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the postwar Lost Cause era.