Mar 16, 2017 Orange County Review
Before I get too deep into the weeds, let me thank Maher Washington in Orange for discovering a fascinating bit of history! A couple of weeks ago, Maher and I were both in the courthouse in hot pursuit of some elusive piece of evidence. I was on a path of frustration when Maher brightened my day with his findings. He had discovered what he believes is the first legally recorded marriage for a Black couple in Orange County.
It is important to recognize a couple of points at the outset. Black Codes that governed the world of slaves, slaveholders and free Blacks varied by region and state, but we will be focusing on Virginia.
To complicate matters further, those codes would change repeatedly, usually becoming more restrictive with time. When examining which rules applied to people of color, free or enslaved, there is consistently more data available regarding those that were enslaved. To be as accurate as possible, one must synchronize the period in question with the applicable laws of the day.
How did the legal rites of marriage apply to people of color prior to 1865 and the 13th Amendment? The short answer is that for those enslaved, no rites applied. Though some slaveholders encouraged marriage between slaves, they were not always motivated by the religious sanctity of wedlock.
There were owners who supported the idea of family, perhaps for the purest of reasons, while others merely believed that having a family would discourage runaways. As difficult as it is to think about today, there was also the economic factor requiring enslaved women to produce babies. Having a “husband” was a better solution than a random number of fathers.
Even if a marriage between two slaves was encouraged and allowed, it was neither legal nor bound by ethics, religion or the family construct.
Depending on the era and the region, free Blacks—simply defined as people of color who were not held in bondage by another—had rights similar to whites, including the right to enter into a legally recognized marriage. By the 18th century, free people of color were denied many of the civil and legal rights they had once held. Nonetheless, to the best of my current research, the legality of their marriage vows remained.
No doubt, readers are pondering, “How did Blacks achieve freedom prior to the Constitutional amendment?” Let’s run through the mechanisms quickly. People of color could have:
• Arrived in the colonies as a free person; perhaps indentured, but not enslaved
• Been born free: the child of a free mother, despite skin color would take the legal status of the mother
• Manumitted: a slaveholder could exercise a legal action to free someone he/she owned
• Purchased freedom: an enslaved person in some cases could “buy themselves,” though they were not required to legally manumit themselves. A free person of color could purchase a family member with the intent to free them. I wonder if they were required to then legally manumit them?
• Run away: to escape or flee from enslavement to a refuge that guaranteed freedom
It is important to remember that after about 1809, slaves manumitted in Virginia were required to leave the state. Free people of color living in Orange County after that date were either excepted from that law or were free people prior to the enactment of the law.
Until next week, be well.