Background
The Virginia Colony began in 1607 with the Jamestown settlement. The first Africans were brought to Jamestown in 1619, although whether the Africans were indentured servants or slaves is still debated. Tobacco became the cash crop, and eventually turned the settlement into a profitable economic venture. According to Jack Trammell, "By 1700, there were 52 businesses or factories (in Richmond) producing tobacco plugs alone." (3) The success of tobacco increased the need for inexpensive labor and Virginia became dependent on slave labor. Tobacco provided a source of wealth for Virginia, but eventually wore out the soil. Many Virginians chose to migrate to the Deep South. As the Deep South boomed with the cotton industry, so did its need for slave labor. Richmond has always been a portage, and was well situated geographically to trade slaves. Richmond had railroads and the James River, both leading to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. There were also some canals, roads, and a port located at Rocketts Landing. Some of the first businesses in the City of Richmond were slave dealers and auction houses. During the Revolutionary War, the slave trade moved north of the James River to the area of Rocketts Landing and Shockoe Bottom. The area was called the Wall Street district, where slaves were auctioned off on blocks as families were torn apart. Trammell also states, "By 1860, nearly 250 years after the first African arrived in Jamestown (1619) more than half a million African Americans had been bought and sold in Richmond's slave markets and auction houses, part of nearly one million slaves eventually sold and moved south and west from the region."(4) Trammell also claims in some years, the booming slave trade grossed Richmond nearly "$500 million in 2011 dollars."(5) Richmond was burned in 1865 prior to the Civil War surrender at Appomattox. The fire damaged part of the Wall Street district, and the rest would be razed a few years later. Rebuilding and eventually highways (Interstate 95) and parking lots would consume most of the area.
History of Richmond's Slave Trade
An area in Richmond was known as Wall Street of the Confederacy. The streets from 14 th to 18 th was the Wall Street district, because it contained at least sixty-nine slave dealers and auction houses(6) The stretch of 15 th Street between Broad Street and Franklin Street has been called Lumpkin's Alley and was the heart of Richmond's slave trade district. When one thinks of Wall Street in New York, an image of a bustling floor crowded with people trading commodities and massive amounts of money being exchanged comes to mind. One also thinks of Wall Street as the economic center of the world, which is precisely why the same words were used to describe this section of the city. Moeser wrote, "Richmond was one of the world's wealthiest cities in the mid-1800's, thanks to its income from trading slaves to other southern states."(7)
In Virginia, the years of tobacco farming had tired out the soil. There was a migration of farmers to the Deep South, where cotton became king. In 1800, cotton made up only 7% of all U.S. exports, but by 1860, cotton made up 60 % of all U.S. exports. Virginia supplied the labor. In 1808, the importation of slaves was banned in the United States, and Virginia had a surplus of slaves. Richmond's portage system that had been used to import slaves was used to gather, to sell slaves that were already in the United States, and to move them to the south and west. As cotton production in the U.S. increased, so did the slave trade in Richmond. Nearly one million slaves were sold to the south or moved west from Richmond.(8) "An auction house owed by Hector Davis has reported more than $1.7 million in sales in total sales in 1858, more than $68 million in 2011 dollars."(9) Richmond from 1680-1780, was "the principal port of entry for Africans and eventually became the largest supplier of human cargo for the Deep South."(10)
The slave trade industry was so lucrative that any threat to the industry was quickly handled. Such was the case when Eyre Crowe, an Englishman, captured a memory of Richmond's slave trade in a famous drawing. In 1853, Crowe traveled to Richmond. He saw some advertisements and ventured to the Wall Street district to observe a slave auction. He went into several auction houses before beginning to make a sketch in the third house. People were suspicious of him fearing he was an abolitionist. Dealers and buyers threatened him. Eventually he left and slipped into the crowd to escape. Crowe's drawings were published in the London Illustrated News and have become iconic art of the slave trade. One is called, "In the Richmond Slave Market" and another is "Slaves Waiting for Sale in Richmond, Virginia 1861." These images are relevant to American History, but even more so to Richmond's history. Even though these images conjure up scars from the past, the story needs to be told.
Memory of Richmond Slave Trade
Henry Box Brown's story belongs to memory not history because the story is so tangible to children. When they see the box at the museum, they imagine mailing themselves and being cramped up in it for twenty-seven hours. The story of Henry Box Brown is well known throughout Richmond. The Virginia Historical Society has a replica box and tells the story and there is a statue of the box along the Canal Walk. There is also a picture book written for children titled, Henry's Freedom Box, and my students love to read it once they have seen the box at the Historical Society.
Henry Box Brown
Henry was born a slave not far from Richmond in Louisa County. He was sent to work in a tobacco factory in Richmond at the age of 15. His wife lived on a plantation beside Henry's and they knew each other for twelve years. Henry Box Brown describes the moment in his narrative when he learned his family was sold:
…like an avalanche, had come rolling over my head! And what was it? "Your wife and smiling babes are gone; in prison they are locked, and to-morrow's sun will see them far away from you, on their way to the distant South!" Pardon the utterance of my feelings here, reader, for surely a man may feel, when all he prizes on earth is, at one fell stroke, swept from his reach!(11)
So Henry sends an acquaintance to the slave jail to deliver a message. The next day, Henry stands on the side of the road where a group of three hundred and fifty slaves pass. They are shuffling along in coffles.
Pretty soon five wagonloads of little children passed, and looking at the foremost one, what should I see but a little child, pointing its tiny hand towards me, exclaiming, "There's my father, I knew he would come and bid me good-bye."(12)
Then Henry is able to grasp his wife, Nancy's hand and walk with her for a little bit. He wants to say good-bye, but he was unable to get the words to come out of his mouth. He turned away silently. According to Brown he had a vision and was told to get a box. Henry being a religious man listened. He went to the train depot and determined the measurements of the largest box used on the railroad cars. Then he had a carpenter construct a box with those same dimensions. The box was three feet by two feet. Henry took it to a friend who said he would help him, and Henry said that HE wanted to be put in the box. Henry had a friend in Philadelphia who would receive the box. Despite the box saying, "this side up with care." Henry started out right side up, but when he was transferred to a steamboat he was upside down. He remained on his head for about an hour and a half. He thought he would die when two men righted the box to make a seat for themselves. The men thought the box contained mail, and Henry thought the box did contain male, M-A-L-E. In Washington, D.C., the box was tossed from the wagon. With no room on the train, the box was going to have to remain. The workers decided it must travel with the rest of the mail. Henry was once again placed on his head. Soon he was turned upright to make room for more cargo. Henry arrived in Philadelphia at 3 a.m., but stayed in the depot until 6 a.m. when a person came to claim the box. After a short wagon ride, Henry arrived at the house. There were a number of people there, afraid to open the box, not sure what they would find. So they knocked on the box and asked if he was all right. He replied, "All right!"(13)
Henry Box Brown is relevant to the slave trail since there is a replica box located along the canal walk, and because his family was sold through Richmond. The story of Henry's family being sold is one shared by so many slave families, and the story of Henry mailing himself is a legend of slavery. Both stories need to be told.
The History of Lumpkin Jail
I consider this to be history and not memory. The Lumpkin Jail was demolished, and all that remains is the archaeological footprint and documentation of its past. The Lumpkin Jail is distant or abstract in contrast to the experiential vividness of Henry Brown's box. The Lumpkin Jail was a half-acre complex known as "Devil's Half Acre." It contained a residence and office, a boarding house for people interested in buying or selling slaves, a bar room, and a kitchen. Slave jails or pens imprisoned disobedient slaves and housed slaves prior to their sale. Lumpkin's Jail has been described as a large two or three story building (the information differs) surrounded by a fence that rose 10-12 feet capped off with iron spikes. Robert Lumpkin, the proprietor was known as the "Bully" because he was notoriously mean. He was married to one of his slaves named Mary. His slave trading business collapsed in 1865 with the fall of Richmond. He died a year later in 1866, leaving his property to Mary.(14)
In 1867, Dr. Nathaniel Colver, a theology professor from Chicago, came to Richmond. He held strong antislavery sentiments and was looking for a location to house a school. He was met with suspicion and skepticism. After seeking a location, he wound up leasing the former Lumpkin Jail from Mary Lumpkin and opened a religious school in 1867. Four of the buildings on the complex were used as a school for freedmen. The renewal of the former jail as a school led to a renewed nickname as well. The property was dubbed, "God's Half Acre" to reflect the positive activity that was occurring on the property. Dr. Colver became ill within a year and died in 1870. The school operated at the jail site for three years.(15) Then it moved to the United States Hotel Building at 19 th and Main. The school would move one more time, and would evolve into Virginia Union University, Richmond's only historically black university.
In 1873, Mary sold several Wall Street lots to Andrew Jackson Mary Lucy Ford. The Lumpkin Jail was likely destroyed in 1876. In 1892, John Chamblin and James H. Scott bought the property and established Richmond Iron Works with another colleague. The company manufactured engines and supplies for the electric railroad. The property would be sold again and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which created a depot on the site in 1909. By the mid 1900's the site was partially turned into a parking lot, and in the late 1950's the Richmond Petersburg Turnpike, which would become Interstate 95 was constructed in the area. A portion of the Lumpkin Jail site was buried beneath the elevated road and the remaining portion would be paved over with a parking lot.(16) The location would remain concealed for decades.
Recently, the foundation of the Lumpkin Jail has been discovered. Tracing the properties that Robert Lumpkin owned and using property deeds and a city map from 1835, the exact location of the Lumpkin Jail was determined. Matthew R. Laird and his team from the James River Archaeology, Inc conducted preliminary digs from April 3 through April 12, 2006. A second excavation took place in 2008. After four months of digging some 8-15 feet below the surface, the foundation of the infamous jail was discovered in December of 2008. The plot was 80 feet by 160 feet and the structure, a two story brick building, was buried beneath a university parking lot and Interstate 95. The location was soggy, which fortunately kept the oxygen out and helped to preserve the building. Thousands of artifacts and evidence of daily life were preserved. Glassware, shoes, toothbrushes, ceramics and fabric were recovered from the site. So far, two archaeological digs have been conducted and more are likely to occur in the future.
Memory of Lumpkin Jail
The story of Anthony Burns is quite famous. The fact that part of the story took place in Lumpkin's Jail is a little less known. I consider his story to be a memory for several reasons. There are narratives, or written versions of an oral tale which connect his story to one's emotions. When he escaped, he was an ordinary slave, but his saga in Boston turned him into an unforgettable legend. Another reason is that moving up north, but returning to the south is a profound element of African American memory.
Anthony Burns
Anthony Burns was a slave to Charles Suttle of Alexandria, Virginia. Anthony Burns had the "freedom" to hire himself out, and he also supervised other slaves hired out who belonged to Suttle. The hiring out of slaves was a common practice in urban areas in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Burns also joined a church where he learned to read and write. In 1854, he decided he wanted more freedom. So one day when he was working in Richmond, he got on a boat and went to Boston. Burns had freedom for a short time, but was considered a fugitive. The Fugitive Slave Act required that all runaway slaves who were captured had to be returned to their masters. Anthony was caught after he wrote a letter to his brother that ended up in his master's hands. Suttle traveled to Boston to claim his property. Anthony Burns was arrested and held at the courthouse. Faneuil Hall in Boston was the site of a meeting of about 200 white abolitionists, who met to discuss the Burns situation. They decided to go to the courthouse where Burns was being held. The crowd of supporters grew to several thousand whites and blacks. An altercation ensued, but the crowd was unable to free Burns, so he was returned to Richmond on June 2, 1854, but not before one U.S. marshal was killed and 13 people were arrested. About 50,000 Bostonians watched Burns as he was paraded in shackles to board the ship.
When Burns arrived in Richmond, he was brought to Lumpkin's Jail. He spent four months at Lumpkin's Jail in 1854. While in jail, he told others about freedom up north, and he also secretly sent some letters to Boston. Burns faced harsh treatment while in Lumpkin's Jail. He was scarred from the shackles and lived in filthy conditions. He was sold to a North Carolina planter for $905 and later to Northern abolitionists, who led him to freedom.
Today, there are brown historical location signs directing visitors to the site. The Lumpkin Jail is located in a parking lot owned by Virginia Commonwealth University. There are stone slabs that resemble auction blocks and educational signs with pictures describing the history of the Lumpkin Jail. To the left of the Lumpkin Jail Historical Site sits a modest, old wooden building atop a trailer. The building is the Winfree Cottage, the only remaining structure that belonged to a slave. Train tracks and the Main Street Station are visible from the Lumpkin Jail Site. The site of the Lumpkin Jail marked by cobblestones and auction blocks with the Winfree Cottage in the background are shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1
The Winfree Cottage
As the story of the Winfree Cottage emerged, so did an untold history of Richmond. It epitomizes the conflicting claims of memory and history in the city. The Taylor & Parrish Construction Company was about to demolish the abandoned building located at 209 Commerce Street, on the South side of the city. Fortunately, Bill Thomas, a member of the Manchester Civic Association, and Brent Hosier recognized the value of the old, worn structure and contacted the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods (A.C.O.R.N.) With little time to work, Brent Hosier brought the original deed of the little cottage to the A.C.O.R.N. office on a Friday afternoon. The construction company gave the historic structure to the City of Richmond. The Winfree Cottage was loaded onto a flatbed trailer and was spared the demolition that began on the following Monday.(17)
The wooden, clapboard building moved to a location behind the Exxon gas station located at 1621 E. Broad Street in Shockoe Bottom, which was the former site of Silas Omohundro's slave jail.(18) The Winfree Cottage survived flood-waters from Hurricane Gaston in 2004, and was relocated close to the Lumpkin Jail site for better security. It seems ironic that the only surviving building of a freed slave is being moved about on a trailer from the site of one slave jail to another. However, it exemplifies how extensive the slave trade was in Shockoe Bottom. Figure 2 shows the Winfree Cottage sitting atop the trailer adjacent to the Lumpkin Jail site.
Fig. 2
The story of rescuing the historic building seems spectacular, but it was just the beginning. Further research would reveal a history that needed to be told. David Winfree, who lived in Manchester, an area south of the city of Richmond, bought the cottage for his former slave, Emily Winfree, in 1866 for $800. David Winfree is believed to have fathered several, or possibly, all of Emily's six children. He also gave her 100 acres of property in Chesterfield County.(19)
The Winfree Cottage was 24 feet by 12 feet and consisted of two rooms with a two-sided fireplace. Emily often lived with her family in one room and made ends meet by renting out the other room.(20) The history of Emily Winfree's family lineage revealed that she was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, a black burial ground. Mount Olivet sat right next to Maury Cemetery, which was the white cemetery. However, Mount Olivet later became a part of Maury Cemetery. Emily's story not only represents her own, but also the untold stories of many more blacks, who grew up in Richmond during slavery. "We were wondering how many other houses like this went by the wayside… how many other stories were lost because they were deemed unimportant," stated Jennie Knapp, Acorn's Executive Director.(21) The city of Richmond is still trying to decide the role the Winfree Cottage will play in the creation of the Richmond slave trail. Despite the concern and the recognition of the importance of the cottage in 2002, one cannot help but notice that it still sits atop a trailer in 2013, seemingly forgotten.
The Tobacco Industry
Many have memories of smoking. The tobacco industry has a history, and it is rooted in the city of Richmond. The Virginia Company of London established the Virginia colony in 1608. The colony was started as an economic venture. The English were hoping to find gold and silver or at least new trade routes and sources for new raw materials. However, it would be tobacco that would become the cash crop leading to the success of the Virginia Colony. The tobacco industry took off in Richmond in the 1800's. Tobacco processing factories expanded and according to Marie Tyler-McGraw, "by the 1840's Richmond became the largest tobacco market in the world with fifty factories."(22)
In Shockoe Bottom, old tobacco warehouses are being revitalized mostly into loft apartments and restaurants. The old Lucky Strike power plant is currently occupied by Odell Architects, but was built in 1910 to power the adjacent Lucky Strike tobacco factory. The outside of the building is designed to have the appearance of a loading dock.
The original steam chimney and coal silo are still there. Upon entering the building one cannot help but notice a large, arched concrete table that was original to the building. It held the turbines that generated electricity. Tags of graffiti have been saved and are evidence of the period of time when the building was abandoned. The original floor and iron girders constructed with rivets were purposefully preserved. The area where the firewall once existed can be seen, even thought he wall itself is invisible. The original doorway is visible, the one that had a string that would burn and automatically shut in the event of a fire. The skylight that provided the light has been saved, although the glass has been replaced. The silo still holds coal and the words Lucky Strike remain on the chimney. A newer addition is the sculpture of "Connecticut," a Native American in need of a new home once the Triple A Richmond Braves left town. Connecticut derived his name from the Native American word Quinnehtukqut, which means, "beside the long tidal river." The sculpture was designed to be a tribal tribute intended for the Potomac River, but instead he resides in Richmond. To my knowledge, Native Americans are not remembered in Richmond, but I feel the sculpture's current location is an unintended fitting tribute. Connecticut sits up on the roof overlooking the James River and the Manchester docks where slaves were brought before they were marched across to Shockoe Valley in the middle of the night, so the practice would not be seen. Connecticut also has a view of the canal, the railroads, the river, and the roads that provided the means for Richmond to become a city steeped in trade.
The Odell Building is a terrific example of how the history and memories of Richmond can be preserved while renewing an old building so it will serve a purpose in a more modern world.
The richness of Richmond's untold history can no longer be ignored. What I hope to accomplish through the teaching of this unit is ignite a spark within my students that compels them to seek out what is invisible in their city. Maybe they will be so inspired and will be more conscientious about renewing buildings in an effort to make the past more visible.
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