Browse Items (13 total)

The granddaughter of an illegally enslaved Indian woman, Rachel Findlay successfully sued for her freedom and ensured the freedom of many of her descendants.

Wythe County

Determined that her freedom was worth any hardship, Ona Judge escaped slavery and defied George Washington's attempts to retrieve her.

Fairfax County

Mary Willing Byrd preserved her children's property during the American Revolution and eloquently defended herself against charges of loyalism.

Charles City County

Martha Washington was her husband's confidant and established the public role of First Lady after his election as president.

Fairfax County

Jean Miller Skipwith, Lady Skipwith, assembled one of the largest libraries owned by a Virginia woman early in the nineteenth century.

Mecklenburg County

At the time of the American Revolution, Hannah Lee Corbin believed that female property owners were unfairly taxed because they could not vote.

Westmoreland County

Gowan Pamphlet was born enslaved, but persevered to become a well-known preacher, gain his freedom, and establish a Baptist church in Williamsburg that continues as an active congregation today.

Williamsburg

Setting a charitable example, Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell fostered the fledgling Methodist Church in southwestern Virginia as a devoted adherent and through material and compassionate support of the church.

Saltville

Concerned about the plight of orphaned girls, Elizabeth Ambler Brent Carrington helped establish the Female Humane Association of the City of Richmond at a time when women rarely played a role in public affairs.

Richmond

Edith Turner, chief of the Nottoway, successfully navigated nineteenth-century Nottoway and Anglo-American societies while she strove to keep the tribe’s children on the reservation.

Southampton County