Colonization records include documents from two government agencies that raised money and support for the removal of formerly enslaved people to Liberia. As early as 1691, the Virginia General Assembly began passing laws that forced free Black Virginians to leave the Commonwealth. Fears around insurrection and the desire to control the Black population gave rise to institutions dedicated to removing free people of color from Virginia.

The General Assembly passed an act in 1833 "making appropriations for the removal of free persons of color" to the western coast of Africa and established a board of commissioners charged with carrying out the provisions of the act. “The Board of Commissioners for the Removal of Free Persons of Color records, 1833-1856,” contain correspondence, lists, minutes, oaths, and resolutions. Included are lists of free Black individuals who emigrated to Liberia (including the name of the ship), lists of free Black individuals willing to emigrate, and resolutions to send money to the American Colonization Society and to those who transported the free Black people to Liberia. Also included is a report of the Board of Commissioners, 1835, containing a list of free Black people transported to Liberia and including their names, ages, and where they had lived in Virginia.

The General Assembly passed an act on April 6, 1853 to create the Colonization Board of Virginia, (chap. 55, p. 58). This act also created appropriations to fund the voluntary transportation and removal of free Black individuals to Liberia or elsewhere in West Africa through the efforts of the Virginia branch of the American Colonization Society. Statutory members of the board included the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Auditor of Public Accounts, the Second Auditor of Public Accounts, and four other competent members appointed by the Governor. An annual tax was levied on free Black men between the ages of 21 to 55 to help finance the operations of the board. The Colonization Board was authorized to reimburse the agents of the Virginia Colonization Society for transportation costs only after receiving satisfactory proof that the formerly enslaved individuals had been transported out of the state. The Virginia Colonization Society arranged for the actual passage of free Black individuals, and at each meeting the Board received affidavits for particular free people who had already been transported, along with evidence that the individuals were free or born of free parents, that they were residents of Virginia and that they had already been transported to Africa or that they had embarked to another state for transportation. The Board was required to keep a journal of its proceedings, showing all actions taken and monies disbursed, and was also required to submit a biennial report to the General Assembly showing the name, age, sex, and locality of each person removed. The board held its last meeting on August 14, 1858, after the preceding session of the General Assembly failed to extend its existence. The Virginia Board of Colonization journal of proceedings includes lists of the names and ages of free Black individuals transported from the commonwealth to Africa, as well as the county, city, or borough from which they were transported, and in some instances also includes the name of the ship and names of former enslavers.

Data in this collection is drawn directly from the original historical records and may contain terminology which is now deemed offensive.

This shapefile contains information on the winning bidders in the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase 1 auction for Virginia. This data was released as of Dec 2020

This collection contains petitions of free Black individuals choosing to be re-enslaved. An act passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 1806 required formerly enslaved people to leave the commonwealth within twelve months of being granted their freedom. Individuals were forced to leave behind family, friends, and community that remained enslaved. In addition, many emancipated people did not have the financial means or social support to move to a free state. One option to preserve family and relationships was to return to slavery. In 1856, the Virginia legislature passed an act allowing free Black individuals who desired to remain in the commonwealth to petition for re-­enslavement. Only a small number of free Black Virginians petitioned the courts to re-enslave themselves to an enslaver of choice, and an even smaller percentage succeeded. Many petitioners chose enslavers they knew well or who owned a spouse or family member. These petitions include the petitioner’s name, previous enslaver, means of emancipation, and new desired enslaver.

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.

2013-2021 Virginia Means of Transportation to Work by Travel Time to Work for Workplace Geography - County (ACS 5-Year). Contains estimates and margins of error.

U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B08534
Data accessed from: Census Bureau's API for American Community Survey (https://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets.html)

The United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS):
-What is the American Community Survey? (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about.html)
-Geography & ACS (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/geography-acs.html)
-Technical Documentation (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation.html)

Supporting documentation on code lists, subject definitions, data accuracy, and statistical testing can be found on the American Community Survey website in the Technical Documentation section. (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/code-lists.html)

Sample size and data quality measures (including coverage rates, allocation rates, and response rates) can be found on the American Community Survey website in the Methodology section. (https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample_size_and_data_quality/)

Although the American Community Survey (ACS) produces population, demographic and housing unit estimates, it is the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program that produces and disseminates the official estimates of the population for the nation, states, counties, cities, and towns and estimates of housing units for states and counties.

Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted roughly as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see ACS Technical Documentation https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation.html). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables.

This dataset contains Health and Physical Activity metrics displayed in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Environment Atlas website, including physical activity among high schoolers and prevalence of recreation & fitness facilities.

Data was last updated on the USDA website in September 2020.

Any data elements with numerical values reflect figures at the locality-level unless otherwise specified with an asterisk (*). See column descriptions for details. For more information on all metrics in this dataset, see the Food Environment Atlas Heath and Physical Activity documentation.

This dataset contains State Food Insecurity metrics displayed in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Environment Atlas website, including the U.S. Household Food Security Scale. The U.S. Household Food Security Scale is designed to register even occasional or episodic occurrences of food insecurity. Some households may be classified as food insecure or as having very low food security based on a single episode during the year. An estimated 11.8 percent of American households were food insecure at least some time during the year in 2017, meaning they lacked access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. That is down from 12.3 percent in 2016. The prevalence of very low food security also declined, to 4.5 percent from 4.9 percent in 2016. A more complete picture of the temporal patterns of food insecurity in U.S. households sheds light on the nature and seriousness of the food access problems households face and can aid in the design and management of programs to improve food security.

Data was last updated on the USDA website in September 2020.

Any data elements with numerical values reflect figures at the locality-level unless otherwise specified with an asterisk (*). See column descriptions for details. For more information on all metrics in this dataset, see the Food Environment Atlas State Food Insecurity documentation.

2013-2021 Virginia Population by Means of Transportation to Work by Number of Vehicles Available by Census Tract. Contains estimates and margins of error.

U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B08141
Data accessed from: Census Bureau's API for American Community Survey (https://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets.html)

The United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS):
-What is the American Community Survey? (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about.html)
-Geography & ACS (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/geography-acs.html)
-Technical Documentation (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation.html)

Supporting documentation on code lists, subject definitions, data accuracy, and statistical testing can be found on the American Community Survey website in the Technical Documentation section. (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/code-lists.html)

Sample size and data quality measures (including coverage rates, allocation rates, and response rates) can be found on the American Community Survey website in the Methodology section. (https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample_size_and_data_quality/)

Although the American Community Survey (ACS) produces population, demographic and housing unit estimates, it is the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program that produces and disseminates the official estimates of the population for the nation, states, counties, cities, and towns and estimates of housing units for states and counties.

Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted roughly as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see ACS Technical Documentation https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation.html). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables.

Fiduciary records consist primarily of estate administrator settlements, estate inventories, dower allotments, estate divisions, estate sales, and guardian accounts involving enslaved people. Under the laws of chattel slavery, enslaved people were documented in these records along with other personal property. These records include the names of estate owners, value of personal property owned (including enslaved people), and names of recipients of property. Some fiduciary records include additional information regarding enslaved people such as age, family relationships, physical and mental condition, if they were sold to someone else, and if they self-emancipated (had run away from their enslaver).

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.

2019 Virginia Census Tracts geospatial data

U.S. Census Bureau; TIGER/Line Shapefiles 2019
Data accessed from: https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.2019.html

TIGER/Line Shapefiles do not include demographic data, but they do contain geographic entity codes (GEOIDs) that can be linked to the Census Bureau’s demographic data.

The Geographic Areas Reference Manual (GARM) describes in great detail the basic geographic entities the Census Bureau uses (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geographic-areas-reference-manual.html).

TIGER Data Products Guide (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/tiger-data-products-guide.html)

This dataset measures the total number of households in each Virginia locality and also breaks that total number down between owner & tenant (or renter) occupied households.