Race and Place: Slavery and Freedom in Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania

Letters: Personal papers from Augusta County, Virginia, reveal how the institution of slavery bound slaves and slaveholders in a complicated web of commercial and personal relationships.

Newspaper Articles: Local newspapers in Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, depict African American life through a white perspective and show how white political elites manipulated the issue of slavery and race.

Government Documents: Federal census manuscripts from 1860 provide information on the entire free black populations of Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and on slave ownership in Augusta County. The Free Black Registry of Augusta County contains information on free blacks as far back as 1800.

Slaveowners' Wills: These documents show how the death of a slaveowner often resulted in the breaking up of slave families and communities, and how a few slaveowners attempted to protect their slaves from this fate.