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Mr. G. W. Hayden - Letter with Photo
Letter stating why he wasn't present on July 9th but that he will be more than happy to visit Louisa after his vacation.
Easter Clough or Cluff seeks information on her children
Easter Cluff was an enslaved woman sold by Samuel Clough in the mid-1850s. This letter, written in 1866 by her last owner before emancipation is addressed from Macon, Georgia, in the hopes of learning from anyone in Louisa County about Easter's…
Louisa County Free Black Register Master Index and Complete Text
LCBB MASTER INDEX
Abram-114, 138, 194, 286, 495
Adam-166
Adeline-277
Alexander-199, 213, 295, 364
Amey-58
Anderson-5
Anderson, Newman-130
Anderson, Wm-1
Andrew-284
Angelina-176
Angness-466
Ann-164
Anna-56, 245,…
Abram-114, 138, 194, 286, 495
Adam-166
Adeline-277
Alexander-199, 213, 295, 364
Amey-58
Anderson-5
Anderson, Newman-130
Anderson, Wm-1
Andrew-284
Angelina-176
Angness-466
Ann-164
Anna-56, 245,…
Louisa County Schools 1884
William Jackson Walton served as the Superintendent of the Jackson District from 1871 until 1884 when he became one of the earliest Superintendents of Schools in Louisa County. As Superintendent, Walton kept records of how many schools were in each…
Black Teacher's Pay Receipt
This pay receipt demonstrates a short period of equality between white and African American teachers in the Jackson District of Louisa. Later, this pay receipt, for Alice Burrows, an African American teacher, would be much lower than that of a white…
John Mercer Langston
John Mercer Langston was born on December 14, 1829 to a freed slave, Lucy Langston, and a white man of “extreme old age," Ralph Quarles. At the time of Langston's birth, Virginia law specified that all children would be born into a “free or bond…
Proposed African American Schools
“Schools may have been opened sooner in this district [Louisa Courthouse District] than some others, because the County seat was located here, it was more accessible, more thickly populated and easier for a number of people to assemble for…
Laborer Contract
This document is a contract between John A. Walker and Casina Shepard. The agreement specifies that Ms. Shepard is to perform her duties as a laborer on the property of Mr. Walker. She is to be given five dollars a month for her and her son’s work.…
Building A Home (Contract)
This document is a sharecropping contract between Richard Kennon and Samuel Brown. The agreement specifies that Brown is to repair a house located on Kennon’s land. He must also cultivate the land around the house. Brown’s work must be complete…
"Binding" Contract
This document is a contract between William B. Cocke and “his former servants.†The agreement specifies that his servants are to “bind themselves to go on to work on the farm and to do and attend to all the business…faithfully and…
John Mercer Langston: Visit to Louisa
After his parent's death, Virginia law inhibited John Mercer Langston and the other children of Ralph Quarles and Lucy Langston from inheriting his father's estate. A friend, William Gooch, helped John and his brothers relocate in Ohio. As a young…
Historic Shady Grove School
The historic Shady Grove School was born out of a need to provide a facility for the education of black students in the Jackson District near Gum Spring. In the words of former State Supervisor of Negro Education(1925), W. D. Gresham,"the Shady Grove…
Voting Registration: Black
This document is a voting registration sheet that gives the names of all black ("colored") men and women who are registered to vote in the year 1946. The document states that the individuals on the document (all residents of the Louisa Courthouse…
Delinquent Land Sale
This document is a notification of an auction that is scheduled to be held at the front door of the Louisa Courthouse on the first Monday in January of 1936. The items in up for auction are tracts of land whose owners failed to pay the taxes on the…
Rosenwald Schools
Julius Rosenwald, President of Sears & Roebuck, was not only an entreprenuer, but he was also a philanthropist. Rosenwald created the Rosenwald Fund to help build schools for disadvantaged African Americans in the South during the segregation…
Race and Vital Records
This document is a letter from the Virginia State Registrar to all Local Registrars in Virginia demanding that the physicians and midwives take better care when writing ceritificates of birth and death. He explains that these certificates will become…
Instructions for Registration/Racial Integrity laws
This document is a pamphlet directing Local Registrars and "Other Agents in Adminstration of the Law" on how to register indivduals on birth certificates. This pamphlet also contains a copy of the Racial Purity Act laws (for use at the discretion of…
First Baptist Church
The picture on the left is an image of the original building for the First Baptist Church on its present location one block west of the courthouse. This is not the building that the trustees purchased in 1866. The picture on the right is an image of…
"WE LIFT AS WE CLIMB"
Early African American schools were designed to advance younger generations of African Americans. Within this community of individuals there was a belief that, as an African American became more educated and continued to exceed in society, the…
At Poindexter Store
This photograph is an image of three African American individuals outside of the Poindexter Store in Louisa County. The style of clothing of the two women in this photograph suggests that both are domestic workers (the apron and the hats). Often, if…