Bills of sale are written agreements which convey title of property, such as, in this case, an enslaved person, from seller/trafficker to buyer/enslaver. Bills of sale record the name of the seller, the names of enslaved persons being sold and their price, and the name of the buyer. Given that they involved a property transaction, bills of sale were commonly recorded and filed with deeds in the local court.

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.

Beginning in 1778, enslavers who brought enslaved individuals into Virginia were required to register the enslaved individuals with the county court and sign an oath agreeing not to bring enslaved individuals into the Commonwealth with the intent of selling them. Certificates of importation, sometimes entitled certificates of nonimportation, contain information whereby an enslaver swears that (s)he has not trafficked the enslaved individual directly from Africa and that (s)he has not brought the enslaved individual into Virginia with the purpose of selling the enslaved individual. The enslaved individual is sometimes named, but not always, and occasionally information is given as to age, birthdate, and the state the individuals are moving from.

Date on this spreadsheet is drawn directly from historical documents and may contain language that is now considered offensive.

Free African Americans were discouraged from remaining in Virginia because their presence was a contradiction of the concept of race-based slavery. Restrictive laws were passed to force free African Americans to leave the Commonwealth. This collection includes records from two agencies created by the General Assembly for the purpose of removing free African Americans to Liberia.

An act was passed in 1833 "making appropriations for the removal of free persons of color" to the western coast of Africa and established a board of commissioners charged with carrying out the provisions of the act. This data was drawn from The Board of Commissioners for the Removal of Free Persons of Color records, 1833‐1856, which includes a report of the Board of Commissioners, 1835, containing a list of free Black individuals transported to Liberia including their names, ages, and where they had lived in Virginia.

Data is also dawn from the The Colonization Board of Virginia records which was created by an act of the General Assembly passed on April 6, 1853, and appropriations were made to help fund the voluntary transportation and removal of free
Black individuals to Liberia or elsewhere in West Africa through the efforts of the Virginia branch of the American Colonization Society. The Virginia Board of Colonization journal of proceedings includes lists of the names and ages of free Black individuals transported from the Commonwealth to Africa, as well as the county, city, or borough from which they were transported, and in some instances also includes the name
of the ship and names of former enslavers.

Data in this collection is drawn directly from the original historical records and may contain terminology which is now deemed offensive.

Commonwealth causes are criminal court cases filed by the state government that consist primarily of warrants, summons, subpoenas, indictments, recognizances, and verdicts handed down by juries and other legal authorities in order to prosecute individuals who violated the penal code.

This data includes Commonwealth causes found in Virginia Untold and so involve African-Americans in the antebellum period, either free or enslaved.
Common types of cases include those against enslavers who permitted enslaved individuals to go at large without permission, as well as those involving free African Americans accused of remaining in the Commonwealth more than one year following emancipation.

In 1806, the General Assembly passed a law stating that all emancipated individuals freed after May 1, 1806, were required to leave the Commonwealth.
Those who remained in the Commonwealth more than a year could be put on trial by the state, and if found guilty, would forfeit their right to freedom and be sold with the proceeds from the sale going to the state treasury.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

Virginia Coroners' Inquisitions Records , 1766-1866 for enslaved individuals or free persons of color who died by a sudden, violent, unnatural or suspicious manner, or died without medical attendance.
Information found in the inquisition include the name of the coroner, the names of the jurors, the name and age of the deceased if known, gender and race of the deceased, and when, how, and by what means the deceased came to his or her death. If the
deceased was African American, the inquest would identify the deceased as an enslaved African American or free African American if known. If the deceased was an enslaved African American, the inquest would include, if known, the name of the enslaver and the enslaver’s residence. Information found in the depositions will include the name of the deponent and his or her account of the circumstances that led to the death of the deceased. Unlike many other legal proceedings in Antebellum Virginia, enslaved African
Americans were permitted to provide depositions for Coroners’ Inquisitions.

Data in this collection is drawn directly from the original historical records and may contain terminology which is now deemed offensive.

Data compiled from Virginia county deeds involving the manumission and emancipation of formerly enslaved individuals from 1751 to 1864. Deeds of emancipation and manumission state the name of the enslaver, the name of the enslaved individual to be
freed, the date of freedom, the date the manumission was proved or certified, and sometimes a reason why the enslaver decided to emancipate the enslaved individual. The two methods of relinquishing ownership of an individual differ only in that the enslaver directly freed their enslaved property by manumission. Deeds of emancipation could be generated after the enslaver’s death by those executing a last will and testament. This collection also includes court orders that record the date or age when enslaved persons were to be emancipated by deed as stipulated in an enslaver's will.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

Acts passed by the Virginia Legislature in 1793 and 1803 required every “free negro” or “mulatto” to be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the county clerk. This collection contains records involved in the registration process. The registration language and process varied across localities, thus the information and type of records may differ. Registration records found in this collection include numbered certificates that recorded the free person’s name, sometimes age, a brief physical description, and the circumstances of the person’s freedom or emancipation. If born free, a reference is sometimes made to the parents. If emancipated, the emancipating enslaver, place, and date may be mentioned. There are affidavits that were given by individuals affirming a free person’s status, as well as written descriptions of free persons. In addition, there are registrations that are loose papers matching information found in the bound volumes of registered “free negroes” kept in the court house.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

Free "Negro" Tax Records include "free negro" tax lists and "free negro" delinquent tax lists. An act passed in 1801 by the Virginia Legislature required commissioners of the revenue annually to return a complete list of all free African Americans within their districts, with their names, sex, place of abode, and trades, and a copy of the list to be fixed at the courthouse door. "Free negro" delinquent tax lists records names of free African Americans returned delinquent and sometimes why returned, such as "no property," "removed," or "not found.”

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands was a federal agency created by the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, passed on March 3, 1865. Also known as the "Freedmen's Bureau," this agency was responsible for aiding refugees of the Civil War, especially the formerly enslaved, in the areas of education, employment, and health care. Meant to last for only one year after the war, the Bureau was operational from June 1865 to
December 1868. Contracts usually specify the dates of the expected employment, the occupation of the employee, expected wages and housing arrangements, and any rent that is to be paid to the employer.
Though the federal government generated these records, a few localities retained possession of these records in their courthouses after the dissolution of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

Freedom suits are law suits initiated by enslaved individuals seeking to gain their freedom. Predominant documents found in freedom suits include petitions, records of suits, depositions, affidavits, a n d wills. They record the enslaved individual's arguments for freedom, acquisition of the enslaved individuals by enslavers, ancestry, and relationships between the enslaved person and their enslaver. Enslaved people sued for emancipation in freedom suits based on the following: they were descendant(s) of a free female ancestor, occasionally a Native American; failure of enslaver(s) to abide by
the 1778 slave nonimportation act; or claimed to have been freed by enslaver(s) by deed of emancipation or last will and testament.

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.