We have observed Black History Month for over forty years in the United States. The month of February has been selected as a time for us to compensate for an education which likely neglected the contributions, trials and advances made by black Americans. Though Black History Month became official in 1976,
Tag: Virginia
Another Virginia Tragedy – Richard Woods Lynched for Miscegenation
Arthur Jordan – Lynched for the Crime of Miscegenation
“The Half Has Never Been Told” – Former-Slave, Lorenzo Ivy Gives Two Interviews Over Sixty Years Apart
William Grimes – Escaped Slave, Business Owner, Author
The Escape and Revenge of Frank Wanzer
The Confederacy and Southern Cause are, of course, huge parts of Southern history. The battles where Southern men killed and died consume nearly the full focus of the subject. While many celebrate the bravery and actions on the battlefield and homefront alike, I’d like to highlight some forgotten heroes of
Three-Fifths of All Other Persons: How the Constitution Gave the South an Advantage
The Three-Fifths Clause of the Constitution states that population determined both "representatives and direct taxes". That number was "to be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons ... and three-fifths of all other Persons." While the document stopped just short of referring to these "other persons" as slaves,
Exploring the Depths of ‘White Slavery’
In conversations about slavery in the United States, the question of “white slavery” is often raised. It is reasoned that if whites could also be slaves, then slavery wasn’t necessarily based upon race, but upon social status or some other factor. This understanding problematic as it attempts to redefine chattel slavery as it was understood in pre-Civil War America.
Maybe it’s a good idea to take a deeper look at what hereditary slavery was and whether white people were actually subject to such an institution.