Document Bank of Virginia
Search using this query type:

Search only these record types:


Advanced Search (Items only)

Browse Items (68 total)

The Crime of Being Married.jpg
The Racial Integrity Act was introduced in 1924 in the General Assembly as Senate Bill No. 219, then as House Bill No. 311. When the act was passed, it prohibited interracial marriage and defined a white person as someone "who has no trace whatsoever…

PerkerJenny_LegPetition_1813-1.jpg
After the American Revolution, some Virginians freed some of their enslaved laborers, and by 1800 the population of free Black men and women had increased to nearly 20,000, primarily in urban areas like Richmond and Petersburg. Many white Virginians…

Phillis_Commonwealth-Cause_1824_7594199_0003_0009_p3.jpg
Commonwealth causes are criminal cases filed by a county's prosecuting attorney (commonwealth's attorney) against individuals who violate Virginia law. Prior to the abolition of slavery in Virginia in 1865, criminal offenders and victims included…

Narrative of Nat Turners Revolt_1831.2.jpg
Nat Turner was born enslaved in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1800. He became a preacher and self-proclaimed prophet who believed that he had been called to lead a rebellion against slavery. On August 21, 1831, Turner began a slave revolt that…

WilliamAlbright_record_1835_1082993_0006_0013_p1.jpg
Virginia's economy was based on slavery until the Civil War and emancipation. Farmers and planters relied on enslaved laborers to work their land. Many businesses, including railroads, coal mines, tobacco factories, and saltworks, also exploited…

slavemarket.jpg
In December 1833, a group of about sixty Black and white men met in Philadelphia and organized the American Anti-Slavery Society to seek the immediate emancipation of enslaved people. The Society viewed slavery as a violation of the principle of…

Armstrong Jerry M 24 Free Negro Register.jpg
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…

72dpi.jpg
In 1801, following Gabriel's failed slave rebellion, the Virginia General Assembly decreed that county commissioners of the revenue were to return a complete list of all free Black men and women in their districts on an annual basis. The list was to…

Hunt_UnionBurialGroundSociety_20_0596 006.jpg
Beginning in the 18th century, cemeteries in Richmond were racially segregated. Deceased residents of African descent were interred in the Burial Ground for Negroes (also known as the African Burial Ground) alongside the city’s Shockoe Creek. The…

JohnBrown.jpg
In October 1859, abolitionist John Brown and a small group of white and Black men slipped across the border between Maryland and Virginia (now West Virginia) with a plan to occupy the federal arsenal, armory, and rifle factory at Harper's Ferry.…
Output Formats

atom, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2