Browse Items (195 total)
Jerry Armstrong, Registration of Free Status, 1840
Before the end of slavery, free Black Virginians found their liberty in constant jeopardy because they were not considered citizens. After Gabriel's attempted slave rebellion in 1800, the General Assembly passed an act in 1801 requiring county…
John Mitchell Jr. Obituary Announcement, Richmond, 1929
John Mitchell Jr., was the determined and pioneering force behind the success of the Richmond Planet newspaper. Mitchell was born into slavery at Laburnum near Richmond on July 11, 1863. He was the son of John Mitchell and Rebecca Mitchell, who were…
Jozsef Estéfan, Immigration Request, 1916
Early in the 20th century, thousands of European immigrants worked in the coalfields of southwestern Virginia. After the Civil War, rail companies had expanded westward as entrepreneurs and industrialists opened coal seams in the region. Beginning in…
Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, 1775
John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore, was the last royal governor of Virginia. Assuming office in September 1771, he won support during what became known as Lord Dunmore’s War in 1774. Ostensibly to protect white settlers in the Ohio Valley region,…
Mosque (Altria) Theater, Program Cover, Richmond, 1927
In 1918, Clinton L. Williams, the leader of the local chapter of the ACCA Shriners fraternal organization, conceived an elaborate new “temple” to house the activities and growing needs of the chapter. The Shriners, as they are known, have had a…
Virginia Ferry Company, Travel Brochure, circa 1955
Waterways provided the people of the Eastern Shore and Hampton Roads regions with access to food, supplies, and transport long before English colonists arrived in 1607. As English settlements displaced and removed Indigenous people from the land near…
2d Lt. Alice C. Thompson, L-201903, Photograph, 1944
During World War II, the United States Army established a unit that enabled women to fill non-combat roles. Prior to the creation of this unit women mostly served as nurses supporting combat troops. In May 1941, Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers of…
A Corn Field on a Farm, Photograph, n.d.
From the time the earliest English settlers arrived in 1607 to today, corn has been a staple crop in Virginia. Farmers across the state grew vegetables like corn to eat and to feed their farm animals. As America's population increased, the demand for…
A Petition on Behalf of an Enslaved Person Accused of Treason, 1781
By 1775 more than half a million Black Americans, most of them enslaved, were living in the thirteen colonies. Thousands participated in the American Revolution. They gave their loyalty to the side which offered the best path to freedom from…
A Planter’s Address to His Fellow Citizens, Broadside, 1790's
In February 1790, the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, led by Benjamin Franklin, submitted a plea to Congress to debate the issue of slavery and abolish the slave trade. Congress considered the petition and formed a committee for further…