Browse Items (16 total)

Isabella Gibbons learned to read while enslaved and later educated hundreds of African Americans as a teacher in the freedmen's schools and public schools of Charlottesville.

Charlottesville

Seamstress and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, former slave Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly wrote a book detailing her life and experiences in the White House.

Dinwiddie County

For his bravery during battle in the American Civil War, Sergeant William H. Carney was the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Norfolk

Elizabeth Van Lew oversaw an effective and significant Union spy network during the Civil War.

Richmond

Appointed a captain in the Confederate army, Sally Tompkins managed a hospital in Richmond during the Civil War.

Richmond

Kate Mason Rowland is best known for her biography of her great-great-granduncle George Mason.

Richmond

Seamstress Elizabeth Keckly bought her freedom and later served as dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln at the White House.

Dinwiddie County

A teacher and principal for more than thirty years, Sarah A. Gray had a profound influence on the education of African Americans in Alexandria.

Alexandria

A Unionist during the Civil War, Caroline Bradby Cook protected, preserved, and passed on the Pamunkey heritage.

King William County

Having experienced as a slave the devastation of separated families, Lucy Goode Brooks founded the Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans.

Richmond