Deed of Manumission for Lucy Goode Brooks and three children
African Americans, slavery, emancipation, family
Enslaved Richmond residents Lucy Goode Brooks and her husband Albert Royal Brooks were permitted to live together as a family. Beginning late in the 1850s, Albert Brooks paid the owner of Lucy Brooks in installments to purchase the freedom of his wife and three of their seven children. In October 1862 their freedom was secured through a deed of manumission, which was recorded in these words, "I do hereby declare the said servants and the future increase of the females forever manumitted and free."
Richmond City Hustings Court Deed Book 78A:393-394, Library of Virginia.
October 21, 1862
Library of Virginia
CC BY-SA
JPG
Bound manuscript
08_0208_003 and 004 Lucy Brooks, Brooks manumission_1862_Transcription_08_0208_003.pdf
Richmond, Virginia
Parade Celebrating the 81st Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation
African Americans, emancipation, celebrations
Sections of the 3166th Quartermaster Service Company, Color Guard and 3167th Quartermaster Service Company of Camp Hill, march down Jefferson Avenue, in Newport News, during a parade marking the 81st Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Shipyard workers' floats, Camp Hill Quartermaster Service Companies, and the Camp Hill Band also participated in the parade.
U.S. Army Signal Corps
U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph Collection, Library of Virginia, Prints and Photographs
December 31, 1944
Library of Virginia
CC BY-SA
JPG
Photograph
SC-23-035 Newport News 1944
Newport News, Virginia
Emancipation Day Celebration in Richmond
African Americans, emancipation, celebrations
In 1905 African Americans in Richmond celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the end of slavery.
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (LC-DIG-det-4a12513 )
Detroit Publishing Co.
1905
Courtesy of Library of Congress
CC BY-SA
JPG
Dry plate negative
Richmond 1905 parade_LC 4a12513a
Richmond, Virginia
"The Emancipation Celebration. Line of March—Opinion of our Citizens"
African Americans, emancipation, celebrations
A few days before holding an Emancipation Proclamation celebration in October 1890, Richmond residents debated what should be the proper date for commemorating the abolition of slavery.
<em>Richmond Planet</em>, October 11, 1890
<em>Richmond Planet</em>
October 11, 1890
Library of Virginia
CC BY-SA
JPG
Newspaper
Emancipation Celebration_Richmond Planet_10-11-1890.jpg, Richmond Planet_10-11-1890_transcription.pdf
Richmond, Virginia
"Celebration" and "Grand Celebration in Norfolk"
African Americans, emancipation, celebrations
On January 1, 1866, the third anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Hampton and Norfolk celebrated their freedom with parades, speakers, a reading of the proclamation, and a feast. The <em>True Southerner</em>, a radical newspaper established in 1865 by former United States Army officer David B. White, published accounts of the celebrations.
David B. White
Hampton <em>True Southerner</em>, January 4, 1866
<em>True Southerner</em>
January 1, 1866
Library of Virginia
CC BY-SA
JPG
Newspaper
True Southerner_01-04-1866a, True Southerner_01-04-1866b
Hampton and Norfolk, Virginia
Notice! The coloured people of the city of Richmond would most respectfully inform the public, that they do not intend to celebrate the failure of the Southern
African Americans, emancipation, celebrations
Newspapers reported that about 20,000 African Americans turned out on April 3, 1866, to celebrate their emancipation in a parade from the fairgrounds to Capitol Square. Although many white Richmonders had expressed anger at the celebration, African Americans attempted to calm their fears by issuing this notice of their intent to celebrate their freedom and not the city's fall.
C. Harris, J. Cocks, J. Edmunds, F.J. Smith, N. Williams
Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia
April 2, 1866
Courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society
JPG
Broadside
Broadside 1866-13_VHS
Richmond, Virginia
President Lincoln Riding through Richmond, April 4th, 1865
African Americans, emancipation, Abraham Lincoln
African Americans cheered as Abraham Lincoln toured the city of Richmond a day after it had been liberated by the United States Army in April 1865.
Joseph Becker
Paul Fleury Mottelay, ed., <em>The Soldier in our Civil War a Pictorial History of the Conflict, 1861–1865,Illustrating the Valor of the Soldier as Displayed on the Battle-Field</em> (1886)
New York: G. W. Carleton & Company
April 1865
Library of Virginia
Work is Public Domain; image from Library of Virginia
JPG
Engraving
15_0068_004B.jpg
Richmond, Virginia
Freedom to Slaves!
African Americans, slavery, emancipation
Brigadier General Robert Huston Milroy (1816–1890), commanding the United States Army units then posted in Winchester, pronounced the Emancipation Proclamation in effect, thereby freeing all enslaved Virginians in Winchester and Frederick County.
Robert Huston Milroy
Library of Virginia, Prints and Photographs
January 5, 1863
Library of Virginia
CC BY-SA
JPG
Broadside
06_1442_03 Freedom
Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia
Emancipation
African Americans, slavery, emancipation, race relations
Thomas Nast drew these scenes as illustrations for <em>Harper's Weekly</em> on January 24, 1863, three weeks after Abraham Lincoln signed his Emancipation Proclamation. This later lithograph was a slightly altered depiction with a portrait of Lincoln in the bottom center. Nast reissued the lithograph in 1865 to celebrate the end of the Civil War. The central scene shows a comfortable domestic view, anticipating a happy future for free people. On the left, slavery-era scenes depict escaping slaves pursued through a swamp, a family torn apart on the auction block, and punishments of a woman being whipped and a man being branded. Juxtaposed on the right depicting postemancipation scenes, a couple sits outside a cabin, the man playing a banjo; children happily leave home for school; and African Americans are paid wages. Yet, a small scene shows African Americans field-workers deferentially removing their hats for a white man on a horse, who tips his hat to them. Even in a world of freedmen, African Americans were relegated to agricultural work and a lower position than that of white people.
Thomas Nast
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs (LC-DIG-pga-03898)
Philadelphia: S. Bott
ca. 1865
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
CC BY-SA
jpg
Lithograph
Nast Emancipation LOC 03898u
United States
Thirteenth Amendment
African Americans, slavery
The Thirteenth Amendment formally abolished slavery in the United States.
1865
Library of Virginia
CC BY-SA
http://www.virginiamemory.com/online_classroom/shaping_the_constitution/doc/thirteenth
PDF
transcription
13th Amendment_Transcription.pdf
Virginia