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ALBEMARLE, Virginia in the 1850s: 1 through 4 of 4

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  1. Student Withdraws After Beating Slave Girl
    date May 3, 1856map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In May 1856, students and faculty at the University of Virginia were consumed by the news that the faculty board forced a student to withdraw after beating a slave child. The removal of a student from the Academical Village over a slave whipping was difficult for many to believe since whipping was a common disciplinary action for misbehaving servants. Confusion mixed with curiosity lingered...

  2. Sons of Temperance: Young Southern Men and the Temperance Movement
    date 1856map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Education

    Temperance reforms in the nineteenth century were not widely known for their success in the South. In fact, Delaware was the only slaveholding state to enact prohibition laws in the 1850s. However, temperance reform victories can be seen on a smaller, yet equally effective, scale throughout the southern United States, especially among young men. The Southern temperance movement was driven by...

  3. This Sin Polluted Earth
    date January 3, 1857map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    On January 3, 1857 cries of pain echoed throughout the plantation. The crack of the whip onto bare skin had an unmistakable sound. All those who witnessed the brutal whipping cringed with each crack. The slave's back was already covered with old scars; some several years old and some only days old. Mary Boyden became used to seeing her father discipline unruly slaves, but this time...

  4. A University of Virginia Student Responds to John Brown's Raid
    date November 3, 1859map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence

    E.M. Healy, a student at the University of Virginia in the years surrounding 1859, wrote a letter to his brother in Urbanna, Virginia on November 3. He was eager to explain to his family an event that had occurred a short distance from where he was in Albemarle County, Virginia. On the morning of October 16, 1959, John Brown, a radical abolitionist, and 17 white men and five African Americans...