Data compiled from Virginia county deeds involving the manumission and emancipation of formerly enslaved individuals from 1751 to 1864. Deeds of emancipation and manumission state the name of the enslaver, the name of the enslaved individual to be
freed, the date of freedom, the date the manumission was proved or certified, and sometimes a reason why the enslaver decided to emancipate the enslaved individual. The two methods of relinquishing ownership of an individual differ only in that the enslaver directly freed their enslaved property by manumission. Deeds of emancipation could be generated after the enslaver’s death by those executing a last will and testament. This collection also includes court orders that record the date or age when enslaved persons were to be emancipated by deed as stipulated in an enslaver's will.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

An act passed by the Virginia legislature in 1806 required formerly enslaved, now free individuals to leave the Commonwealth within a year of being granted their freedom. In 1856 another act passed by the Virginia legislature allowed free persons of color who desired to remain in the Commonwealth to petition for re‐‐‐enslavement and choose an enslaver and remain in the state. These petitions include the petitioner’s name, previous owner, means of emancipation, and desired enslaver.

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.

In 1806, the General Assembly passed a law to suppress the manumissions of enslaved people by tying emancipation with deportation. The law stated that all emancipated enslaved individuals, freed after May 1, 1806, who remained in the
Commonwealth more than a year could be put on trial by the state, and if found guilty, would forfeit their right to freedom and be sold with the proceeds from the sale going to the state treasury. Individuals wishing to stay were to petition the legislature through the local county court. Beginning in 1837, formerly enslaved individuals could petition the local courts for permission to remain in the Commonwealth. Often included in the petitions are he name of the petitioner, the circumstances of free status, and a request to remain in the county often with accompanying names of citizens who can testify to the free status or who support the request of the petitioner to remain.

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

A public claim is a record remitted to the Auditor of Public Accounts by a locality or individual in order to obtain payment for services rendered to the state. The Auditor of Public Accounts is the chief auditor and accountant of the General Assembly Auditing Committee and is responsible for conducting audits on all state entities that handle state funds. The Auditor of Public Accounts is also responsible for ensuring proper payments to localities and that those payments are issued in accordance with stablished rules and procedures.
The public claims found in Virginia Untold involve pre‐1865 enslaved people and free African Americans. During the antebellum period, the General Assembly passed increasingly restrictive laws in response to white fears of crime and insurrection by enslaved individuals. Procedures were established to compensate slaveholders for the loss of their property when enslaved people ran away or were imprisoned or executed. Some condemned enslaved people were transported beyond the state's boundaries to Africa. The American Colonization Society chartered ships to transport free African Americans and condemned enslaved people to Liberia.
The records contain affidavits, bonds, correspondence, local court records, death warrants, estate files, powers of attorney, receipts, sheriff certificates, and valuations of enslaved people and free African Americans convicted for capital crimes and sentenced to be executed or transported from the United States.

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

Free African Americans were discouraged from remaining in Virginia because their presence was a contradiction of the concept of race-based slavery. Restrictive laws were passed to force free African Americans to leave the Commonwealth. This collection includes records from two agencies created by the General Assembly for the purpose of removing free African Americans to Liberia.

An act was passed 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. This data was drawn from The Board of Commissioners for the Removal of Free Persons of Color records, 1833‐1856, which includes a report of the Board of Commissioners, 1835, containing a list of free Black individuals transported to Liberia including their names, ages, and where they had lived in Virginia.

Data is also dawn from the The Colonization Board of Virginia records which was created by an act of the General Assembly passed on April 6, 1853, and appropriations were made to help 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. 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.

Virginia enacted legislation during the Civil War era to requisition free persons of color and enslaved people to work on fortifications and other works of the public defense around the Commonwealth. The records found in this collection include requisition lists filed in local courts and payroll records of the Virginia Engineering Department. Information found in these records include names of free persons of color and enslaved people, locality of origin, occupation, location of fortification, names of enslavers, and monetary value of enslaved people.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

Commonwealth causes are criminal court cases filed by the state government that consist primarily of warrants, summons, subpoenas, indictments, recognizances, and verdicts handed down by juries and other legal authorities in order to prosecute individuals who violated the penal code.

This data includes Commonwealth causes found in Virginia Untold and so involve African-Americans in the antebellum period, either free or enslaved.
Common types of cases include those against enslavers who permitted enslaved individuals to go at large without permission, as well as those involving free African Americans accused of remaining in the Commonwealth more than one year following emancipation.

In 1806, the General Assembly passed a law stating that all emancipated individuals freed after May 1, 1806, were required to leave the Commonwealth.
Those who remained in the Commonwealth more than a year could be put on trial by the state, and if found guilty, would forfeit their right to freedom and be sold with the proceeds from the sale going to the state treasury.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.