THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702130526
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: BY GEORGE HOLBERT TUCKER
LENGTH: 88 lines
FREE BLACKS IN NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, 1790-1860
The Darker Side of Freedom
TOMMY L. BOGGER
University Press of Virginia. 278 pp. $35.
This well-written and meticulously documented study by Norfolk State University archivist Tommy L. Bogger plainly reveals that Norfolk's pre-Civil War free black population lived a precarious existence. From its beginning in the 1680s, Norfolk increasingly numbered many African-Americans among its population, most of whom were slaves. Once the colonies had gained their independence from the Mother Country, however, many altruistic Virginians freed their slaves, feeling that human bondage was incompatible with Revolutionary philosophy.
Many of these freed blacks flocked to Norfolk, Virginia's leading seaport, to gain employment during the brief period of American commercial prosperity between 1800 and 1817, when Great Britain was at war with Napoleon. These native-born Virginia free blacks were soon joined by the arrival of many ``free persons of color'' who had fled to this country in 1793 from the slave uprisings in Santo Domingo.
As Bogger relates, the two factions soon found themselves living in an unenviable vacuum between Norfolk's white inhabitants and its resident slave population. For a time, Norfolk's free blacks, many of whom were skilled craftsmen, were tolerated, because their abilities and earnings contributed to the general economy. Although none of Norfolk's free blacks ever rose higher than the status of small tradesmen, builders or nautical employees, they soon became a source of revenue as personal property taxpayers. During this same period, Norfolk's free blacks frequently helped enslaved African-Americans to buy their freedom, and, in a few instances became slave owners themselves. By 1831, however, the earlier altruistic attitude of Norfolk's white population had changed. The Nat Turner rebellion in Southampton County and other similar slave revolts had caused even the more generous-minded among Virginians to regard free blacks and slaves with growing apprehension.
Increasingly harsh laws enacted by the Virginia Assembly and by city and county governments began seriously to curtail the freedoms of slaves and free blacks alike. As a result, Norfolk's free blacks began to lose ground. For even though they could own property, they could not vote.
Denied any voice in civic affairs and repeatedly the target of a hostile press that unfairly equated them with the more unruly element of the city's slave population, Norfolk's free blacks began to seek some way out of this anomalous position. When Liberia was founded as a haven for freed American slaves in West Africa, some emigrated there to escape. Later, when the emigration idea became less tempting, many of them either left the city and moved north or quietly assisted their slave brethren to escape by way of the Underground Railroad.
By then, many European emigrants had settled in Norfolk and had taken over the more skilled jobs that free blacks had formerly held. And this shift from gainful employment to near-poverty soon reduced many of Norfolk's free blacks to abject poverty.
To even the score, Bogger reveals, many disillusioned Norfolk free blacks secretly resorted to torching the property of the more outspoken anti-black leaders of the community. Some of the culprits were brought to justice, but most of the perpetrators of these ``fire bells in the night'' were never nabbed.
This amazing revelation, together with several other eye-opening statistical charts and supporting evidence recording the pre-Civil War activities of Norfolk's free as well as enslaved blacks, are curtain -raisers on heretofore little known aspects of the city's biracial history. Free Blacks in Norfolk, Virginia, 1790-1860: The Darker Side of Freedom is a seminal work.
Bogger is a born historian and researcher. As the director of the superb and little known African-American Archive at Norfolk State University, he has literally combed every existing Virginia record for first-hand material to give credence to his study. His in-depth account of Norfolk's free black ante-bellum population is a major contribution to African-American studies. MEMO: George Holbert Tucker is a Norfolk historian and columnist for The
Virginian-Pilot. ILLUSTRATION: Tommy L. Bogger will sign copies of ``Free Blacks in
Norfolk, Virginia, 1790-1860: The Darker Side of Freedom'' at a
reception today from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Scott Dozier Hall, Norfolk
State University.
[Illustration]
JOHN EARLE
The Virginian-Pilot