Bringing together artifacts and rich stories from across the Commonwealth, “Un/Bound: Free Black Virginians, 1619-1865” at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) will tell the stories of free Black Virginians from the arrival of the first captive Africans in 1619 to the abolition of slavery in 1865. “Un/Bound” is one of the first museum exhibitions to cover the subject in depth. The exhibition opens June 14 and will be on display alongside VMHC’s multiyear commemorative exhibitions and displays related to America’s 250th anniversary.
VMHC created “Un/Bound” in collaboration with subject matter experts and five institutions of higher education—Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, William & Mary, Longwood University and Richard Bland College – bringing together resources and knowledge to tell a compelling story of Virginia.
“Un/Bound” features more than 200 years of stories ranging from the people, like Emanuel Driggus, who purchased their freedom and built their fortunes in the late 1600s, prior to codified Virginia laws defining the terms of racial slavery, to Joseph Jenkins Roberts, who was born in Virginia and relocated to Africa with his family in March 1829 to pursue opportunities not afforded to them in Virginia. Roberts became the first president of the new nation of Liberia, a place of refuge for many Black Americans seeking to escape discrimination and find opportunities to spread their faith and improve the quality of life for future generations.
Descendants Enrich the Exhibition with Stories and Artifacts
Descendants of the people featured in “Un/Bound” keep that tradition alive today, and their participation has helped shape the exhibition. Among the many contributors are Evelyn Madden, who loaned items associated with her family history, and Ruddy Roye, a Jamaican-born photographer whose portraits of contemporary descendants will be included in the exhibition. These portraits include Karen Hughes White and Angela Davidson, sisters who head the Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County and loaned Hezekiah Gaskins’ account book that is featured in the exhibition; Brian Palmer, a Peabody Award-winning photojournalist and driving force behind the Friends of East End Cemetery; and Torrey Smith, a former NFL player, head of the nonprofit LEVEL82 Fund dedicated to community investment and collaboration and a descendant of one of the more than 500 people freed by Robert Carter III.
“Un/Bound offers a comprehensive treatment of the rich, complicated history of a group of people we don’t collectively know much about,” said Elizabeth Klaczynski, VMHC’s associate curator of exhibitions who curated “Un/Bound.” “People like Benjamin Short, a free Black man who, in 1820, signed a $200 bond with his name instead of an X — a remarkable feat for someone who was born enslaved and most likely did not know how to read or write before gaining his freedom.”
Artifacts and objects, including state records and testimonials, accompany the stories told in the exhibition. Matthew Ashby’s manumission petition illustrates how a free Black man of modest means convinced the Governor’s Council to permit him to emancipate his wife and children. A student list from the Bray School in Williamsburg and a set of glass marbles highlight aspects of the lives Ashby’s family members led after achieving their freedom. A needlepoint Sarah Jackson created while attending school in Maryland in 1860 shows how Black students had to travel outside of Virginia to receive an education, a financial impossibility for most free Black families.
Learn from Two Centuries of Culpeper’s Madden Family
The exhibition follows more than two centuries of the Madden family’s history in Culpeper County. The family matriarch, Sarah Madden — who was born free but indentured at a young age — became a successful seamstress and laundress following the termination of her term of indenture in 1789. Her son Willis Madden was a prosperous farmer and broke barriers as the owner of Madden’s Tavern before the Civil War. Many members of the family have been prominent preachers and schoolteachers throughout the 20th century, during the Jim Crow era and beyond. Their story is remembered in large part due to a family history published by T.O. Madden in 1992 and through the Maddensville Historic Site, a memorial dedicated to United States Colored Troops who served and died in the Civil War. Their trunk, a teaching contract and a school register are on view in the exhibition to help tell this story.
Collaborators Illuminate History with Expertise and Insight
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication of the same name. It features essays by Melvin Ely, Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Stephen Rockenbach, Sabrina Watson and Evanda Watts-Martinez. The foreword to the publication was written by three former members of the Virginia Board of Education: former Virginia Secretary of Education, James W. Dyke Jr.; President Emeritus of William & Mary, Tim Sullivan; and former interim president of Norfolk State University, Alvin J. Schexnider. They highlight the importance of telling the stories of free Black Virginians by stating:
“For decades, scholars like those featured in this publication made great strides in educating readers about enslaved Black Virginians. The centrality of slavery to Virginia’s history is obvious, but it is not the whole story … ‘Un/Bound’—both the book and the exhibition—fills a critical gap in the public’s understanding of these courageous and captivating people.”
A traveling version of the exhibition will tour the state starting in October and continuing through 2028. The exhibition is available to libraries, community centers, schools and other public venues.
