DOCSLIB.ORG

Walking Tour: Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Walking Tour: Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS C ar rs 3 Henry Martin H d il a at the University of Virginia l R o R d y b 1 g u R According to oral history, Henry Martin was born UVA Walking Tour d N e b R n n m a co at Monticello on July 4, 1826—the day Jefferson ew L Enslaved African Americans at the University N n o s died. He was sold to the Carr family at i r d a B U Jefferson’s estate sale in 1827 and until 1847 9 ni M 2 ve t rsit The University of Virginia utilized the labor of enslaved R y A remained enslaved at a property in Albemarle / ve n t u e S Alderman LIbrary / R County. In 1847, the Carrs hired out Mr. Martin t African Americans from the earliest days of its t 25 e 0B u UVA Chapel to Mrs. Dabney Carr, who ran a boarding m m construction in 1817 until the end of the American E house just north of the University. Until the Civil War. Most of the university’s first enslaved general emancipation in 1865, Martin hauled coal, delivered wood, 3 and worked as a domestic laborer at her boarding house. In freedom, o laborers were rented from local slave-owners and P he took a job with the University as janitor and bell ringer, which he worked alongside whites and free blacks in all the wrote about in a letter to College Topics, a student publication that 4 Hotel A T tasks associated with constructing the Academical asked to report on his life story. Martin routinely awoke at 4 a.m. to 5 Village. When the first students arrived in March 1825, tend to his responsibilities. It was Martin who rang the bell to spread Mew Rotunda s A the alarm when the first wisps of smoke were spotted in the Rotunda lley Pavilion I 2 enslaved African Americans worked in the pavilions, r d 6 a fire of 1895. “I was as true to that bell as to my God,” Martin said in o 1 R 7 k hotels, and the Rotunda; maintained classrooms, a 1914 interview. And by his retirement in 1909, Martin had become c Pavilion III i g Pavilion II m a UVA icon, The student newspaper commented, “He was known u r laboratories, and the library; and served the daily needs o C c personally to more alumni than any living man.” M of the students and faculty, especially in providing Pavilion IV o Pavilion V n cooking and cleaning services. This self-guided tour The Lawn Downtown Mall T > is an introduction to some of the significant people, 4 Anatomical Theater i Pavilion VI 9 places, and events that shaped the early history | ` 1 8 e g of African Americans at the University of Virginia. g Hotel E n Following a complaint from Pavilion X resident a R k t and professor of medicine Robley Dunglison s For further information see slavery.virginia.edu . Pavilion VIII a E that his front room was an “unacceptable n M l c Guf Pavilion IX venue” for dissecting cadavers, Jefferson ad ey D i Ro rive ick designed a new building in 1824 (featuring orm Key cC a tiered amphitheater for observing dissections) M Pavilion X k e a v i r that stood for a period of time in front of where D l 10 l Site open to the public a t Alderman Library is today. A student dissection Hotel F i p s lab was added later. Nineteenth century medical faculty and students o H Exterior viewing only, building not open to the public a commonly stole the corpses of recently buried African Americans from Historic location only nearby cemeteries for use in their classrooms. By the late 1840s, the W ` University was competing for cadavers with two other medical Historic marker W 1 schools in the state. Professional grave robbers known as “Resurrec - P Parking tionists” were hired in Richmond, Alexandria, and Norfolk. These men primarily targeted African American burial sites to meet the University’s demand Cabell Hall A Front cover: Sally Cottrell Cole was an enslaved maid and seamstress for 25 or more cadavers per session. An enslaved man named Lewis who labored for Professor Thomas Hewitt Key in Pavilion VI (site 9) was hired by the University from carpenter George Spooner specifically between 1824 –1827. Professor Key arranged for her manumission to clean up after the cadaver experiments. Because of these duties, V upon his departure from the University in 1827. Cole remained in the University community referred to him as “Anatomical Lewis.” 50' 100' 500 feet Charlottesville until her death in 1873. During his time at UVA, Lewis lived in several locations including U Back Cover: Henry Martin behind Pavilion VII. It is unknown whether Lewis left by death or by sale, but by 1860, Lewis no longer appears in University records. ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS 1 The Rotunda 5 Hotel A 7 The Mews 9 Pavilion VI and Garden at the University of Virginia and Bricks on the Lawn | | Hotels intersperse the East and West Ranges. The building now known as the Mews was Pavilion V and VI were places where William One of the most overlooked legacies of These buildings were rented to Hotelkeepers, built around 1830. It is one of the few surviving and Isabella Gibbons, who were both enslaved enslaved labor are the bricks that cover the each of whom owned many people who original outbuildings. Built as a detached at UVA, lived and labored. Owned by different r This self-guided tour introduces Academical Village. Enslaved laborers dug were expected to prepare meals and provide kitchen, it also provided accommodations for faculty, they were able to maintain family the clay, helped fire the bricks, hauled them cleaning for the students. On a daily basis, some of the professor’s enslaved laborers. connections and become literate despite the some of the people, places, and to grounds, and laid them to build this the enslaved would bring fresh water to the These kitchen quarters were modeled after constraints of slavery. Mr. Gibbons was owned u stories related to early African university. The brick making began in the students and tend their fires. They regularly plantation kitchens, which were usually by Professor Henry Howard and later worked summer of 1817, and the enslaved laborers cleaned the rooms and public spaces of the detached and situated near the main house. for Professor William H. McGuffey in Pavilion American life at the University of working on this task were a diverse group Academical Village. In addition, in the basements and gardens, These buildings and the enslaved cooks and domestics were integral IX. Mrs. Gibbons was a domestic servant in the household of Professor of mostly men, but included at least one they prepared the meals that were served to students in the Hotels. to the formal functions of the University’s community, providing Francis Smith in Pavilions V and VI. Although their marriage had no o Virginia. Between 1817 and 1865 woman and several children. An enslaved This work required an extensive labor force. In 1830, the Conways meals and domestic service to the professors and their families. legal standing, William and Isabella Gibbons preserved their union and the University relied on the labor man named Charles was responsible for who operated Hotel A owned twelve people who may have lived in The building has since been enlarged and was renamed “The Mews” raised their children while living in slavery. Legal restrictions and the T of enslaved African Americans, digging the clay and manning the kiln with the basement and in outbuildings in the gardens. At any time, the when Professor Pratt moved here in 1923. strong opposition of white society severely limited access to education the help of six enslaved boys rented out popu lation of enslaved people living and working in the Academical for Virginia’s slaves. William Gibbons learned to read by carefully whose presence was undeniably from John H. Cocke in 1823. Enslaved Village was between 90 to 150 in the decades before emancipation. observing and listening to the white students around him. His daughter central to the building and laborers named Dick, Lewis, Nelson and In the course of carrying out their responsibilities, free and enslaved East Lawn Basement Rooms Bella recalled that she could not have learned to read and write, Sandy were also assigned to the brickyard, African Americans interacted with white students in the hotel dining 8 “unless my mother taught me secretly.” g functioning of the University of and worked long hours by the kiln. Enslaved halls, student dormitory rooms, and throughout the Academical Village laborers also carved out the terrace levels on the lawn, creating the on a regular basis. On occasion, these daily interactions could and did Virginia. This walking tour is The basement rooms served many different unique landscape that you see today. Many of the enslaved laborers turn violent. Faculty records document that students resulted to physical purposes over the decades. Some were 10 The Crackerbox an initiative of the President’s violence upon the bodies of free and enslaved laborers for a variety of n were highly skilled at construction, carpentry, stone cutting, living quarters for enslaved African and blacksmithing, who were forced to work alongside free black ‘offences,’ including insolence, impertinent language, or a perceived Commission on Slavery and the Americans owned by professors. Pavilion i and white laborers, contributed to some of the more intricate lack of attention to duties.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia Walking Tour
    ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS C arrs 3 Henry Martin H il ad at the University of Virginia l R Ro | 1 d Rugby UVA Walking Tour According to oral history, Henry Martin was born Rd N comb at Monticello on July 4, 1826—the day Jefferson n ew Lane Enslaved African Americans at the University N died. He was sold to the Carr family at on Jefferson’s estate sale in 1827 and until 1847 Un adis ive M t29B rsity The University of Virginia utilized the labor of enslaved Av remained enslaved at a property in Albemarle R enu Alderman LIbrary e / African Americans from the earliest days of its County. In 1847, the Carrs hired out Mr. Martin Rt 250B et St / UVA Chapel to Mrs. Dabney Carr, who ran a boarding m m construction in 1817 until the end of the American E house just north of the University. Until the Civil War. Most of the University’s first enslaved general emancipation in 1865, Martin hauled coal, delivered wood, 3 laborers were rented from local slave-owners and and worked as a domestic laborer at her boarding house. In freedom, P he took a job with the University as janitor and bell ringer, which he worked alongside whites and free blacks in all the wrote about in a letter to College Topics, a student publication that 4 Hotel A tasks associated with constructing the Academical asked to report on his life story. Martin routinely awoke at 4 a.m. to 5 tend to his responsibilities. It was Martin who rang the bell to spread M Rotunda Village.
    [Show full text]
  • Uvalibrary #Annualreport #2018
    THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY 2018 ANNUAL REPORT ANNUAL 2018 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY #UVALibrary #AnnualReport #2018 University of Virginia Library PO Box 400109 Charlottesville, VA 22904 www.library.virginia.edu The Library is the foundation on which the University of Virginia built a transformative educational community. We partner in learning and collaborate in discovery by creating inclusive and sustainable collections, services, spaces, and infrastructure. UVA LIBRARY ANNUAL REPORT FY18 TABLE OF CONTENTS 04 FROM THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN 06 REIMAGINING ALDERMAN 10 IVY STACKS 12 THE STANLEY & LUCIE WEINSTEIN COLLECTION 14 APERIO 16 ARCHIVING THE EVENTS OF AUGUST 11 & 12, 2017 18 RETHINKING THE “BIG DEAL” 20 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA IN 100 OBJECTS 22 MAKING NOISE IN THE MUSIC LIBRARY 24 THE OLIPHANT ARCHIVE 26 SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ARCHIVAL CONTEXT 28 INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & ACCESSIBILITY 30 3D CULTURAL HERITAGE INFORMATICS 32 THE SNEAK REVIEWS DVD COLLECTION 34 COURSE ENRICHMENT GRANTS 36 STAFF, STATISTICS, & SUPPORT Rendering of a proposed study courtyard in the renovated Alderman Library. (HBRA Architects with Clark Nexsen) 2 3 A MESSAGE OF GRATITUDE FROM THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN The University of Virginia Library has seen a lot of change over the last year. During 2018, we completed the hiring of a new Senior Leadership team, which now includes Brenda Gunn, Associate University Librarian (AUL) for Special Collections and Preservation; Dennis Clark, AUL for Research, Learning, and Spaces; Carmelita Pickett, AUL for Scholarly Resources and Content Strategy; Robin Mitchell, Executive Director for Advancement; Stan Gunn, Executive Director for Information Technology; Donna Tolson, Associate Dean for Administration; and Carla Lee, Deputy University Librarian.
    [Show full text]
  • Slaves at the University of Virginia
    Gayle M. Schulman, an avocational local historian, conducted this research during the early months of 2003 and presented it to the African American Genealogy Group of Charlottesville/ Albemarle in May of that year. Her interest in this topic grew from her research on Isabella Gibbons (a teacher who spent part of her life as a slave on the grounds of the University of Virginia) and the community in which she lived. This essay is an overview of the information collected from vital statistics, census data, church records, University of Virginia Archives, and faculty manuscripts. A more extensive research project on the same topic is currently being conducted by Catherine Neale, a student at the University of Virginia. [2005] Slaves at the University of Virginia Gayle M. Schulman1 There is no sign of the vegetable garden, hen house, well, or the outbuildings once on the land. The rear of the three-storied house, glimpsed through the trees, is partially masked by boxwoods. On the lower level of the garden one passes an English Gothic pinnacle to find steps up to a gate through a serpentine wall into an upper garden; there one can see the home’s second story door with a handsome transom window like half of a daisy, or perhaps a fine piece of oriental embroidery. Tucked beneath the steep stairways to this grand back entry is a solid door leading into the cellar. The oldest part of this cellar is divided by a central chimney that is flanked by two rooms on one side and a larger room, the original kitchen, on 2 the other.
    [Show full text]
  • Download a PDF Version of the Guide to African American Manuscripts
    Guide to African American Manuscripts In the Collection of the Virginia Historical Society A [Abner, C?], letter, 1859. 1 p. Mss2Ab722a1. Written at Charleston, S.C., to E. Kingsland, this letter of 18 November 1859 describes a visit to the slave pens in Richmond. The traveler had stopped there on the way to Charleston from Washington, D.C. He describes in particular the treatment of young African American girls at the slave pen. Accomack County, commissioner of revenue, personal property tax book, ca. 1840. 42 pp. Mss4AC2753a1. Contains a list of residents’ taxable property, including slaves by age groups, horses, cattle, clocks, watches, carriages, buggies, and gigs. Free African Americans are listed separately, and notes about age and occupation sometimes accompany the names. Adams family papers, 1698–1792. 222 items. Mss1Ad198a. Microfilm reels C001 and C321. Primarily the papers of Thomas Adams (1730–1788), merchant of Richmond, Va., and London, Eng. Section 15 contains a letter dated 14 January 1768 from John Mercer to his son James. The writer wanted to send several slaves to James but was delayed because of poor weather conditions. Adams family papers, 1792–1862. 41 items. Mss1Ad198b. Concerns Adams and related Withers family members of the Petersburg area. Section 4 includes an account dated 23 February 1860 of John Thomas, a free African American, with Ursila Ruffin for boarding and nursing services in 1859. Also, contains an 1801 inventory and appraisal of the estate of Baldwin Pearce, including a listing of 14 male and female slaves. Albemarle Parish, Sussex County, register, 1721–1787. 1 vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Cleckley ACSA Diversity Achievement
    SELECTED DIVERSITY WORK 2016 - 2019 improving diversity in academic, com- munity, and professional contexts award winning leader for diversity, equity, and inclusionary projects dedicated to the emergence of equality and inclusion in the design eld “Professor Cleckley is one of the strongest voices for inclusion, diversity and equity at the School of Architecture and University... [He is] the co-chair of our Inclusion + Equity committee and has taken a leadership role in cultivating a diverse community at the School of Architecture. Under his leadership, the committee has dened a set of clear goals stating that the project of the committee and School is not simply about including people of varied backgrounds, identities and experiences, but rather of committing ourselves to the sustained, critical rethinking of our institutional Elgin Cleckley, Assoc. AIA, policies, practices, structures, and culture. As part of this process, Professor Cleckley has been leading a racial equity assessment at the NOMA School of Architecture with the Racial Equity Institute [REI], committed himself to curricular programming and research that looks at the complicated and dicult racial past of the university Assistant Professor of Architecture and and the many historical sites in its vicinity, and is in the process of Design Thinking developing pipeline programming to strengthen our racial diversity with appointment in the School of Nursing within the student body at the School. “ and Curry School of Education Dean Ila Berman University of Virginia University of Virginia, School of Architecture School of Architecture Edward E. Elson Professor ELGIN CLECKLEY RECEIVES ARMSTEAD ROBINSON BLACK STAFF AND FACULTY AWARD UVa School of Architecture is proud to announce that Assistant Professor Elgin Cleckley was recently recognized as the recipient of the Robinson Recognition Award for Faculty.
    [Show full text]
  • UVA-Slavery Walking Tour Map 2020
    Uni vers ity A ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS ven Alderman LIbrary UVA Chapel ue 3 Henry Martin / Rt 2 at the University of Virginia 50B | 1 3 UVA Walking Tour According to oral history, Henry Martin was n C Enslaved African Americans at the University born at Monticello on July 4, 1826—the day Jefferson died. He was sold to the Carr family r 4 Hotel A at Jefferson’s estate sale in 1827 and until The University of Virginia utilized the labor of enslaved 5 1847 remained enslaved at a property in Mew Rotunda s Al African Americans from the earliest days of its Albemarle County. In 1847, Mr. Martin was ley Pavilion I 2 d 6 u a rented to Mrs. Dabney Carr, who ran a o R 1 construction in 1817 until the end of the American 7 k boarding house just north of the university. c Pavilion III i Pavilion II m r Civil War. Most of the University’s first enslaved Until the general emancipation in 1865, Martin hauled coal, delivered o C c wood, and worked as a domestic laborer at her boarding house. M o laborers were rented from local slave-owners and P In freedom, he took a job with the University as janitor and bell ringer, Pavilion IV worked alongside whites and free blacks in all the Pavilion V which he mentioned in an 1890 letter to College Topics , a student The Lawn T Downtown Mall tasks associated with constructing the Academical publication that was planning to report on his life story.
    [Show full text]
  • Slavery at the University of Virginia
    On February 24, 1838, two students severely !e Gibbonses Carr’s Hill dining hall and later as bell ringer During the Civil War, the lives and duties of Acknowledgements beat Professor Bonnycastle’s ten-year-old and janitor. In the later job, he was responsible slaves changed. Some worked in the hospital Slavery at the William and Isabella Gibbons were able to !is brochure is made possible by a gift from slave Fielding. Bonnycastle unsuccessfully for cleaning the lecture rooms, library, and assisting doctors with patients. Others maintain family connections and become the U.Va. IDEA Fund and the Margaret Hulvey attempted to stop the assault. Following this chapel. In freedom after the Civil War, he continued their domestic duties to the families University of literate despite the constraints of slavery. Mr. Wright Trust. incident, Bonnycastle sought punishment of Gibbons was owned by Professor Henry rang the Rotunda bell every hour from 4 that owned them. A few were leased to work for Virginia the students from the Faculty Committee. Howard and later worked for Professor a.m. to 10 p.m. for thirty more years. Martin the Confederate Army. With the help of their Student Authors: Multiple pages of testimony were taken William H. McGuffey, author of the famous made a strong impression on generations slaves, the Minor family was able to hide their from the students involved, witnesses, McGuffey readers. Mrs. Gibbons was a of students and was remembered as a man silver and other valuables from the approaching Nicole Sune Bailey Aaron J. Ojalvo and Bonnycastle himself.
    [Show full text]
  • Report of the President's Commission on Slavery and the University
    President’s Commission on Slavery and the University Report to President Teresa A. Sullivan 2018 © 2018 The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Convention. D | PRESIDENT’S COMMISSION ON SLAVERY AND THE UNIVERSITY • REPORT TO PRESIDENT SULLIVAN President’s Commission on Slavery and the University Report to President Teresa A. Sullivan 2018 President’s Commission on Slavery and the University Marcus L. Martin Kirt von Daacke PCSU Co-Chair PCSU Co-Chair Vice President and Chief Officer for Assistant Dean and Professor of History Diversity & Equity Professor of Emergency Medicine Meghan S. Faulkner PCSU Staff Assistant to the Vice President and Chief Officer for Diversity & Equity for Programs and Projects Derrick P. Alridge Gary W. Gallagher Professor, Curry School of Education, John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the University of Virginia American Civil War, Corcoran Department y of Histor Andrea Douglas Director, John L. Nau III Center for Civil War Executive Director, Jefferson School African History, University of Virginia American Heritage Center Patrice P. Grimes Ishraga Eltahir Associate Professor, Curry School of Education University of Virginia College of Arts & Sciences Associate Dean in the Office of African-American (2011) Affairs, University of Virginia Tierney Temple Fairchild Walter F. Heinecke (2013–2015) Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (1996) and University and Community Action for Racial Equity Darden School of Business (1994) Associate Professor of Educational Research, Executive Director, Resilience Education Statistics, & Evaluation, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia Dorrie Fontaine Dean, School of Nursing, University of Virginia Mary Hughes University Landscape Architect, University of Virginia Benjamin P.
    [Show full text]