- Portsmouth, Virginia has been a vital part of Hampton Roads Harbor for more than 200 years.

The first streets were laid out by Colonel William Crawford in 1752.

By 1776, the Gosport shipyard was bustling with activity and Portsmouth.

Now a thriving town of some 200 houses had become the economic and cultural center of lower tide water.

The land surrounding Portsmouth and south of the James River to the west included the counties of Norfolk Nasman, Isle of White, Southampton, Surrey, and Sussex.

The early colonists came primarily from the British Isles and Africa.

Some were free and some were not.

In the 17th century, most who were not free were European indentured servants who voluntarily bound themselves to planters to pay their passage across the Atlantic.

Within a few years, they were able to work off their indenture claim land and enjoy the full rights of citizenship.

Other workers were brought by force.

The first blacks arrived in 1619 and were treated at first to very much like indentured servants.

After a few years work, some were set free and some were even given land.

However, by the middle of the 17th century, local planters were beginning to hold blacks as slaves.

At the end of the century, African slaves had largely replaced white laborers on lower Tidewater farms.

- By the eve of the American Revolution, the population of Portsmouth and the adjacent counties was just about evenly divided, half white, half black.

That proportion has remained fairly constant throughout the 200 years since the revolution.

It was the two cultures existing side by side and rubbing against each other.

That created the rich heritage of the area known as Lower Tidewater, Virginia.

The history of this region is indeed reflective of the interaction between the two races.

It is somewhat of an understatement to say that the relations between the two groups has not always been cordial.

How could they be when one held the other in bondage when one group suppressed, exploited, segregated, and discriminated against the other?

Equality in numbers was the only equality.

The traditional telling of the history of this area has generally dwelled on the accomplishments of the white community.

Little has been said of the other half of the population, their hopes, their culture.

The 1770s were years of heightened political awareness here in water.

Revolutionary rhetoric sparked by the growing controversy between the colonist and her English king divided neighbor from neighbor Scottish merchants who were among the most prosperous of Portsmouth's citizens tended to be loyal to the king with most of the other whites lining up on the side of the Patriots.

Accounts of the fighting at Lexington and Concord in the Battle of Bunker Hill were read in the Virginia Gazette and cries for liberty, freedom, and justice were heard at dinner tables and public speeches.

This talk of freedom was not lost on slaves.

While most whites looked on the British as tyrants and oppressors, many slaves saw the British as potential friends and began trying to join their master's enemy.

In the summer of 1775, British crew members started inviting slaves aboard their ships mills.

George was one of those who accepted the British invitation.

He was an African born slave who had lived in Portsmouth five years that autumn, the British officially welcomed blacks.

Lord Dunmore, the Scottish born royal governor of Virginia fled from Williamsburg aboard the royal William and sailed for gospel shipyard near Portsmouth.

Local Patriots greatly outnumbered his tiny force of 300 loyalists and seamen.

So Dunmore devised a scheme to turn the slaves against their masters and swell his ranks.

At one stroke on November 7th, 1775, he issued a proclamation which called on all able-bodied servants and slaves to leave their masters and join him in putting down the rebellion.

His bait, of course, was freedom.

Come fight with me and I'll set you free.

Dun Moore's action infuriated local whites who increased their vigilance by stepping up slave patrols and securing small boats.

The prime means of escape to the British lines as some of the slaves were captured and jailed and suffered, but few of the fugitives were apprehended.

Like mills George, many made their way successfully to the British lines.

Most of the 800 or so slaves who joined Lord Dunmore were from the lower Tidewater area.

The British governor quickly armed some 300 of the black men who reached his camp, their British red coats sport of a sash across the chest, which bore the words liberty to slaves.

These proud new recruits fighting with British regulars as Lord Dun Moore's Ethiopian regiment were victorious at the battle of Kim's landing.

The next taste of war came few weeks later with the Battle of Great Bridge located on the southern branch of the Elizabeth River.

About 10 miles southwest of Norfolk, the bridge provided the only land approach to the city.

Now, the British occupied a fort on the North Bank.

While the Patriots were dug in behind barricades on the South Bank, the two sides had been sniping at each other for weeks.

But on the morning of December 9th, 1775, the British made an all out effort to secure the bridge.

They commenced heavy rifle and cannon fire while a regiment of foot soldiers attacked across the bridge.

William Flora, a free black native of Portsmouth, fought with the Patriots on that cool December morning, he distinguished himself by being the last sentinel to take cover.

As the British attacked under a shower of musket balls, flora returned fire eight times when the fighting was over, the Patriots had beaten back The British attack.

Mark no longer able to defend.

Portsmouth and Norfolk Dunmore evacuated.

This forces to the safety of the HMS Foy and other ships anchored in the Elizabeth River.

British regulars, local loyalists and Ethiopian Corps crowded aboard the ships in the cold, cramped quarters below decks.

The air was stale and food and fresh water in short supply the unsanitary conditions spelled disaster.

Smallpox spread throughout the vessels and took many to the only freedom they would ever know.

Mills George was one of the fortunate few who sailed to New York with the British.

He survived the war and gained his freedom.

In England, William Flora has an honor roll of blacks who fought as patriots in the cause of freedom.

In 1783, the Virginia legislature decided those loyal blacks who served meritoriously in the army during the war should be rewarded.

In addition to land claims and pensions awarded to free blacks, slave veterans were given their freedom.

Most of the land was in Ohio territory, and like many whites, they sold their claims and used the money to purchase property in lower Tidewater.

William Flora bought two lots in Portsmouth where he built and successfully operated a live staple for more than 30 years.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.

For a time after the war, revolutionary rhetoric still rang in memory and it seemed as if white leaders might loosen the bonds of slavery.

The North took the words of the Declaration of Independence more seriously than the south.

Slavery was gradually abolished in the north.

Abolition societies were organized in Virginia, but failed to achieve their goal.

In 1782, Virginia did pass a law allowing slave masters to free their slaves.

There were 222 slaves freed under this law.

In South Hampton County alone, white masters freed their slaves.

For many reasons, deeds of emancipation are preserved in the files of county courthouses.

Here's one.

Freedom is the natural right of all mankind.

Here's another.

No law, moral, or divine have given me just right of property in the persons of any of my fellow creatures and desires to fulfill the injunction of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I do hereby set free from bondage the following slaves.

He then lists the names of 12 slaves.

Quakers in South Hampton, Naman and Isle of White counties also freed many slaves and blacks also freed themselves.

Many painstakingly saved money to purchase their own freedom and the freedom of loved ones.

Many whites were alarmed by the rapid increase in the number of free blacks for there was no place in a slave society for a large, free black population.

In 1806, the General Assembly passed a law requiring newly freed blacks to leave Virginia, but there was no place for them to go.

Neighboring states had closed their borders to black immigrants.

White Virginians talked of deporting free blacks.

Even Thomas Jefferson, the great spokesman for equality and liberty was not convinced that blacks were created equal or that they could become citizens.

Many whites saw deportation or colonization, as they called it, the only practical solution to the race problem.

Colonization societies were established in many cities, including Portsmouth, and churches raised money to support the cause, but the deportation movement failed.

Slave owners feared it might undermine slavery, and being deported was never a popular idea among free blacks.

For blacks, the early years of the 19th century were a time of disappointment and despair, a time of revolts and desperate escapes.

Some slaves philosophically accepted their fate, but many fought the system.

They resisted their masters in many small ways on a daily basis by sabotaging property, setting fires, abusing the animals, and working as slowly and inefficiently as possible.

Running away was another form of resistance.

The frequency of running away is demonstrated by the number of advertisements found in newspapers and posted in public view.

Some of the fugitives fled to towns like Portsmouth to lose themselves and the hustle and bustle of city life.

Others prefer to avoid any type of contact with whites and accepted the hard sanctuary of the great dismal swamp.

The swamp stretched from the outskirts of Portsmouth and Suffolk to Albemarle sound.

In North Carolina, it harbored poisonous snakes and swarms of mosquitoes.

But once fugitives reached the swamps asylum, it was easy to allude pursuers.

There were dry spots in the middle of the swamp where the runaways built crude huts and fashioned a Spartan existence.

The number of slaves hiding in the swamp was estimated at various times, upwards of 2000.

But not all slaves in the great dismal were runaways for slaves were sent into the dismal swamp to work.

They barrel the brown juniper water from Lake Drummond for use on sea voyages.

They gathered pitch used for ceiling and caulking boat holes, and they made shakes, shingles, wood shingles used to cover the roofs of buildings.

Moses Grande was a shake.

Splitter hired out by his owner.

Grande worked many years in the dismal swamp.

After a time he rented boats from his owner and started the freight business, hauling shingles and other products out of the swamp.

He had to give his own a half of everything he made, but even so, he made a modest profit and he decided to buy his freedom.

Grande's owner agreed to a price of $600.

Grande worked and saved, and finally made the last payment.

But instead of getting his freedom, he got sold to another owner.

Disappointed, but Undaunted Grande made the same deal with the second owner.

After years of extra work and saving his earnings, it was cheated out of his freedom.

A second time, Grande nearly gave up on the idea of ever getting his freedom, but the urge was strong.

He arranged to borrow the money from Captain Minner, a white man with whom he had done business.

The captain also witnessed the exchange of the money, and Grande finally had his freedom.

After paying off the loan, Grande worked to buy his wife's freedom and then his children's freedom.

Grande's story illustrates the frustration of trying to work within the system.

Some slaves could not do it and found other outlets for their anger.

Nat Turner was born the property of Benjamin Turner who owned a small farm in rural South Hampton County.

The story goes that Nats proud freeborn African mother tried to kill her son rather than see him grow up a slave Turner learned to read with amazing ease and became a self-taught minister and a leader among his people.

He even baptized a white man when he was in his early twenties.

He was put under an overseer.

He disliked.

He ran away, hiding and praying in the woods.

For a month.

A spirit appeared to him and told him to return.

Turner began to believe that he had been called to become a Moses for his people.

One day, the sky turned a very odd color.

Turner took this as a sign from God that the time had come to strike a blow for black freedom.

On Sunday, August 21st, 1831, he gathered his few trusted friends behind this swamp at Cabin Pond.

They spent the afternoon and evening eating, drinking, and making plans.

By about two o'clock in the morning of the 22nd, they were ready and set out to do their grizzly work.

They used axes, knives, and swords so as not to arouse the countryside with gunfire.

By sunrise, they had killed or severely wounded.

12 whites now doubled in number.

Turner split his followers into two groups.

He led one here to the Catherine Whitehead house where they killed seven people, including a daughter.

Margaret, the only person Turner admitted killing himself.

Upon leaving the Whitehead house with additional recruits, Nat again divided his followers.

The two groups headed north, one stopping at the Richard Porter home where Porter and his family had already fled.

Continuing North, they arrived at the home of Nathaniel Francis.

Francis was lucky to be away and his wife was hidden by her own slaves and escaped injury.

However, the farms overseer Henry Doyle and his two young nephews were not so fortunate.

At its height, the rebel band included as many as 70 mostly slaves, a few free blacks, and at least two whites.

The massacre went on all day.

By evening, about 60 whites had been killed, recovering from the initial shock.

Local whites rallied and were able to scatter the rebel band before the militia arrived in force.

After his closest lieutenants had been either captured or killed, Turner managed to escape and hide out for six weeks.

Meanwhile, the militia rounded up.

Anybody suspected of being involved in the rebellion and exacted vengeance angered by the brutal killings, they spared a few about 200 blacks.

Most of them innocent victims were either shot or hanged.

The countryside was in a state of high anxiety until Turner was captured.

On the 30th of October, he was tried, found guilty, and on the 11th of November, 1831, he was hanged.

The South Hampton County Slave revolt caused a wave of repression across the South.

Virginia passed the law banning black preachers and blacks in several rural areas were terrorized by vigilantes.

Many free blacks, despairing of secure lives in Virginia boarded schooner and sailed for Liberia.

More than 300 from South Hampton County alone left on one day.

Instead of rebelling or leaving, some slaves turned to the church.

They found solace and Christianity's promise of redemption in the hereafter.

The more Democratic Baptist and Methodists were most successful in attracting the new converts.

These denominations had no rigid hierarchy and blacks could aspire to.

Leadership positions within the church could even be preachers.

Also, the Methodist and Baptist promised more than salvation.

In 1784, the Virginia Methodist General Conference took a strong stand against slavery.

This brought many Portsmouth blacks into the church, even though the Methodist later backpedaled on their anti-slavery principles.

Baptists also condemned slavery in the 1780s and the equalitarian spirit that pervaded local Baptist churches was another powerful appeal to Tidewater blacks.

This brief interlude of interracial cooperation is apparent in the organization of the First Baptist Church in Portsmouth.

Court Street Baptist, founded in 1789 had blacks among its early members, and Joshua Bishop, a black preacher of unusual talent, served as the church's only minister during the mid 1790s.

In 1798, he represented the church at the regional Portsmouth Baptist Association, but bishop's career in Virginia was cut short as white Baptist withdrew from an ideal of Christian brotherhood that was perhaps unrealistic in a slave society.

Most slaves and free blacks worshiped in white churches generally in pews at the back or in galleries.

Above the sanctuary, the church blocks a social as well as a religious center for their otherwise drab, monotonous lives.

They exchanged gossip and had opportunities to organize among themselves to elect minor officials.

All of course, under the watchful eye of the church discipline board, the board routinely condemned such practices as shooting marbles, dancing and fiddle playing, and came down hard on drinking and gambling.

Blacks began more and more often to hold their own separate service, either after the white service or in the basement.

After 1800, this fueled black's desire to have their own church.

This dream came true for the black members of monumental Methodist.

When in 1843, the white congregation moved to a new church building.

Now, by law, the congregation had to have a white minister, but still they ran the internal affairs of their own church and raised money for missionary work.

When fire swept through the building in 1856, money raised throughout Portsmouth enabled them to erect a new brick building.

In only two years, the area Methodist conference was held at the new building in 1858 and in the official dedication ceremony, the building was turned over to the black congregation - As in the rest of the south.

During that time, most of lower tide warders black people lived and worked in rural areas.

A fortunate few owned and farmed their own land.

Members of the Skeeter and Milkier families have farmed independently in old Manson County since well before the Civil War.

Vincent Skeeter can trace his free issue.

Ancestors back five generations in this small hilltop cemetery.

More than one fourth of Virginia's free black land owners lived in the six counties of this region, but for more than 200 years, most of the land in these counties was worked by slaves.

Some slaves lived on large plantations like chip oaks.

Here, blacks hold corn, sowed oats and peas raised large herds of cattle, sheep, and hogs.

But even on the wealthy plantations of lower tide water, little reward was given for the slave's.

Work ruins or foundations of slave quarters are seldom found by archeologists.

Most slaves apparently lived in outbuildings, built to serve other purposes, but most slaves worked on farm smaller than chip oaks.

Machines have replaced the great numbers of men, women, and children, who once toiled in these fields.

The shells of farmhouses and outbuildings that are no longer needed.

Remind us of a time when slaves lived and worked this land.

The work performed by slaves and free blacks was integral to the economy of lower Tidewater.

Their role as agricultural laborers in the fields of Surrey Sussex Isle of White and other counties has long been recognized, but less has been said of their other skills.

Blacks built much of what was beautiful and what was ordinary.

Slave carpenters made these pews.

A Sussex County father made these simple toys for his children.

Black women spun cotton into thread, then wove it by hand.

Sometimes their patterns resurrected.

Traditional African motifs, black men and women staffed the hotels, boarding houses, taverns and homes of Portsmouth.

Black Labor also built many of those homes, including laying the bricks in this old town Portsmouth house.

From the earliest times blacks have worked on the water, sailors worked out of the Portsmouth Harbor on merchant ships or United States naval vessels, and many made a living as oystermen and fishermen.

Francis Marrow is a fourth generation oystermen.

- In the 1790s, six ferry boats rode by two slaves, each operated across the Elizabeth River between Portsmouth and Norfolk.

At the beginning of the 19th century, slaves and free blacks were represented in most of the trades involved in the ship building and the shipping industries.

They were plentiful on the docks and in the shipyards as common laborers, but some became skilled craftsmen.

They were pilots, riggers, blacksmiths, caers, coopers, and stone cutters.

The employment of slaves as stone cutters at the US Navy Yard caused a major controversy in the 1830s.

When chief engineer or army Baldwin was building the yard's first dry dock, he decided that not only were the skills of his black stone cutters equal or superior to their white counterparts, but he could have those skills for a lot less money.

So he dismissed his white stone cutters to no one's surprise.

The newly unemployed white stone cutters protested took their complaint all the way to the Navy Department, the Congress, and even the president.

But despite the pressure, Baldwin stood firm on his decision to finish the job with his black stone cutters.

The dry dog they built has stood the test of time.

It was a dry dog, one that the Merrimack was converted to an ironclad, and the dry dock is still in daily use.

But despite such small victories, living as someone else's property was clearly and not acceptable, the determination of many slaves to remove their shackles and the numerous ships leaving local wars made Portsmouth an active station on the Underground Railroad.

In the 1850s, officials attempted to prevent slave escapes, but their best efforts were usually in vain Portsmouth area.

Slaves proved very resourceful in making the right contacts and hiding aboard ships traveling north.

The increase in underground railroad activity was reflected in the number of fugitive slave notices appearing in local newspapers.

In 1854, the editor of the Norfolk Argus announced that Tidewater slave owners had lost $75,000 in property during the past year property, the editor said that had vanished into empty space, but running away was not a solution.

It really only increased the pain and sadness, and despite the successes, the Underground Railroad was at best a piecemeal effort in dealing with the vast problems affecting blacks across the south.

A more drastic solution was not far away a solution which would turn the society upside down, affecting whites as well as blacks in the most fundamental of ways.

The angry clouds, which presaged, the saddest war this nation has ever fought were looming dangerously on the horizon.

This program was made possible with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Portsmouth Public Library.