Until the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery in 1865, African Americans in Virginia were either free or enslaved. Several types of records provide clues to determine an individual's free or enslaved status. The records listed below are just a starting point and are not exhaustive.
Beginning in 1793 in cities and in 1803 in counties, free African Americans were required to register themselves. The resulting lists, known as “Free Negro Registers,” often note whether an individual was born free or, if not, the name of the individual who manumitted him or her. If a register does not survive for a particular locality, a reference to the individual registering may be included in a court order or minute book, which provides a summary of actions that came before the court.
In 1801, a law was passed that required lists of African Americans who were free to be submitted annually along with lists of taxable property. These "Free Negro Lists" included name, gender, residence, and occupation of individuals.
Individuals who are listed by name on the 1850 or 1860 federal census population schedule are almost certainly free. Those who were enslaved were included on a separate schedule called a “slave schedule,” which includes only the names of the enslavers and the age, sex, and color of enslaved individuals.
If a free African American had his or her own household, it is also possible to trace him or her in personal property tax records beginning in 1782. These records list the number of free men and enslaved individuals over a certain age, such as 12 or 16, as well as information on livestock and household goods. For the most part, only those who were very poor did not pay this tax.
Individuals who gained their freedom after the Civil War may appear within a list of married couples or children on a “Register of Colored Persons… cohabiting together as Husband and Wife on 27th February 1866,” better known as a cohabitation register. Enslaved individuals could not legally marry, so these registers served to legalize marriages that occurred prior to the end of the Civil War. These registers usually included names of former enslavers, where individuals resided, and where they were born.
A similar register, called the “Register of Children of Colored Persons … whose Parents had ceased to cohabit on 27th February 1866,” contains similar information for children whose parents no longer resided in the same household.