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Primary
Source of the Month
Virginia Gazette (Purdie and
Dixon), May 2, 1766.
CONTENTS
"The
Master's Mercy: Slave Prosecutions and Punishments
in York County, Virginia, 1700 to 1780"
Primary
Source of the Month
Teaching
Strategy
Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources
Teaching News
Quotation of the Month
The
next
Electronic Field Trip is
The Slave Trade
February 15, 2007
2006-2007 Teaching
Resources Catalog
2006–2007 Electronic Field
Trip Scholarships
Games,
activities, and resources about life
in colonial America
|
TOP STORIES
"The
Master's Mercy: Slave Prosecutions and Punishments
in York County, Virginia, 1700 to 1780"
by Anne Willis
Eighteenth-century
Virginia slave laws encoded the contradiction
that enslaved people were both chattel
property to be bought, sold while at the
same time they were held to be persons
responsible for any criminal behavior
in which they might engage. The Virginia
slave code took away slaves' independence
while simultaneously empowering their
owners.
Learn
More
Primary
Source of the Month:
Virginia Gazette Runaway Advertisement
By
the 1760s, Virginia law contained harsh
penalties for slaves who broke the law.
Today, these laws would be considered
extremely cruel and racist. At the time,
however, Virginia lawmakers viewed such
laws as necessary. This runaway advertisement
is one of thousands that appeared in the
Virginia Gazette during the eighteenth
century.
Learn
More
Teaching
Strategy: Virginia Slave Laws
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
the colony of Virginia experienced a drastic
population shift. In 1685 there were 2,600
documented African Americans in Virginia.
By 1775, the number of slaves had increased
to 186,400, or approximately 40 percent
of the population of the colony. In this
lesson, students will examine a selection
of slave statutes, or laws, that were enacted
in Virginia to control the growing slave
population.
Learn More
Colonial
Williamsburg Teaching Resources for Your
Classroom
Colonial
Williamsburg offers a variety of quality
instructional materials dealing with 18th-century
life, including:
- Hands-On History: Slave's Bag (object
kit)
- Slavery: A Colonial Odyssey (lesson
unit)
- Caesar's Story: 1759 (book)
- Enslaved (video and online
materials)
- Stories Under African Skies
(CD)
- From Ear to Ear (CD)
Learn
More
Teaching
News
Amazing
Grace, which opens in theaters February
23, 2007, is based on the true story of
William Wilberforce, a British statesman
and reformer from the early part of the
19th century. This feature film chronicles
his extraordinary contributions to the
world, primarily his 20-year fight to
abolish the British slave trade, which
he won in 1807. Wilberforce was also instrumental
in passing legislation to abolish slavery
in the British colonies, a victory he
won just three days before his death in
1833.
Learn
More
Quotation
of the Month
"Whenever
I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel
a strong impulse to see it tried on him
personally."
—Abraham
Lincoln, speech to the
140th Indiana regiment, March 17, 1865
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Volume
5, Issue 6
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