African American Resources for Virginia: Difference between revisions

Not all blacks were slaves in Virginia before the Civil War. Virginia had the largest free black population in the United States.<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 9.</ref> Many black families had been free there since the 1600s. For each eight slaves in the state, there was one free person of color.<ref>''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 10.</ref> Some of the largest families had the surnames Cumbo, Driggers, and Goins. Many free people of color descended from black slave men who had children by white indentured servant women.<ref name="drig">The previous school of thought had the colors and genders swapped - it was believed that they descended from illegitimate offspring of white slave masters and black slave women. A 1662 law stated that the offspring of such relations would take the legal status of the mother. See Paul Heinegg, ''Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware,'' http://freeafricanamericans.com/, accessed 25 May 2012; and ''The Free Negro in Virginia,'' 19.</ref> Others were manumitted.<br>