CHS logo

RESOURCES

collection of materials available to help.

Freedom's Fortress

ACADEMIA

INTERACTIVE CONTRABAND CAMP MAP, by Abigail Cooper, UPENN, 2014
https://repository.upenn.edu/hist_digital/1/

AFRICAN AMERICAN CENSUS RECORDS 1850, 1860, 1870, Compiled by Joan Charles
African American Census Records 1850, 1860, 1870 Scan 2023-05-30_15-51-31.pdf

BOOKS

NEVER FORGET OUR PEOPLE WERE ALWAYS FREE, by Ben Jealous
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/never-forget-our-people-were-always-free-benjamin-todd-jealous?variant=40262289424418

TROUBLED REFUGE: Struggling For Freedom In The Civil War, by Chandra Manning,
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/107197/troubled-refuge-by-chandra-manning/

EMBATTLED FREEDOM: Journeys through the Civil Wars Slave Refugees Camps, by sAmy Murrell Taylor
https://uncpress.org/book/9781469643625/embattled-freedom/

SEEKING FREEDOM: The Untold Story of Fort Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America, by Selene Castrovilla
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/678971/seeking-freedom-by-selene-castrovilla-illustrated-by-eb-lewis/

FIRST DAYS AMONGST THE CONTRABANDS, by Elizabeth Hyde Botume
https://library.missouri.edu/confederate/items/show/1708

DIARY OF A CONTRABAND, by William B. Gould IV, Stanford University Press
https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=4824

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER: A Noisy, Fearless Life, by Elizabeth Leonard, UNC Press
https://uncpress.org/book/9781469668048/benjamin-franklin-butler/

FREEDOM'S FIRST GENERATION: Black Hampton, Virginia, 1861-1890, by Robert Engs
https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823223640/freedoms-first-generation/

SLEEPING WITH THE ANCESTORS: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery, by Joseph McGill Jr.
https://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Ancestors-Followed-Footprints-Slavery-ebook/dp/B0BH4M1MNP

ENFRANCHISEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP, by Edward Lillie Pierce, 1896, Boston
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/w6c3vgAACAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtpdujkcX-AhUnFlkFHbBiABcQ7_IDegQIGxAC

LOTTIE'S COURAGE: A Contraband Slave's Story, by Phyllis Hall Haslip
http://www.whitemane.com/lotties-courage-a-contraband-slaves-story

FILMS, PODCASTS & DOCUMENTARIES

DINNER AND A MOVEMENT, a film by Mike Mines, Official Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3FtMOlf0vc

BEYOND THE MOAT, Podcast, Fort Monroe   
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortmonroe

INTERVIEWS, Dr. William Wiggins and other Podcasts
https://youtube.com/watch?v=mYbfKSlCxvI&feature=share
https://www.facebook.com/400YAAHC/videos/freedrom-forward-juneteenth-live-broadcast/762791588057403/
https://www.facebook.com/CasemateMuseum/posts/
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/24/753962646/marking-400-years-since-arrival-of-enslaved-africans https://www.npr.org/2019/08/23/753642877/it-was-400-years-ago-that-the-first-enslaved-africans-arrive-in-north-america https://www.dailypress.com/2020/02/23/listening-tour-for-african-landing-memorial-at-fort-monroe-kicks-off-from-washington-dc-to-
hampton-roads/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/13/us-slavery-400-years-virginia-point-comfort https://open.spotify.com/episode/4HSmY0iP9CAsqybbgOWPwi Fort Monroe 400 Years of History Podcast
https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/when-black-history-is-your-own/

SEARCHING FOR SLABTOWN: The History and Archaeology of Hampton’s Grand Contraband Camp, Hampton History Museum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olKvlcROzkE

BEN BUTLER, A play by Richard Strand
https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=5519

IN THE TRUE BLUE/S WAKE: Slavery and Freedom among the Families of Smithfield Plantation
https://fb.watch/ndJsZ2awZA/

NEWSPAPER &  MAGAZINE ARTICLES

THE CONTRABANDS AT FORT MONROE, Atlantic Magazine, November 1861
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1861/11/the-contrabands-at-fortress-monroe/628956/

THE STORY OF A CONTRABAND, Atlantic Magazine, June 1875
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/archives/1875/06/35-212/131954929.pdf

WILLIAM ROSCOE DAVIS SPEECH at the Cooper Institute
https://www.nytimes.com/1862/01/16/archives/the-story-of-a-contraband-interesting-lecture-by-an-escaped-slave.html

ANCIENT DNA REVEALS THE LIVING DESCENDANTS OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE THROUGH 23andMe, Nature Magazine, by Ewen Callaway
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02478-9

ARTIFACT SPOTLIGHT: Butler Medal (Army of the James Medal), by Dawn Chitty
https://afroamcivilwar.org/artifact-spotlight-butler-medal-army-of-the-james-medal/

GRAND CONTRABAND CAMP LISTED AMONG THE STATE'S MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC SITES, by Josh Janney, The Virginian-Pilot
https://www.yahoo.com/news/grand-contraband-camp-hampton-listed-144200223.html

IS THIS FREEDOM? GOVERNMENT EXPLOITATION OF CONTRABAND LABORERS IN VIRGINIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, AND WASHINGTON DC DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR by Kristin Leigh Bouldin
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1629&context=etd

BETWEEN BONDAGE AND FREEDOM: LIFE IN CIVIL WAR REFUGEE CAMPS, by Lawrence Goodman, research by historian Abigail Cooper
https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2020/february/civil-war-refugee.html

THE-SELF EMANCIPATOR: "CONTRABANDS" RECALLED, Kate Masur on a crucial term, by Steven T. Corneliussen
https://open.substack.com/pub/selfemancipator/p/contrabands-recalled?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

MUSEUMS, CEMETERIES, MEMORIALS, and OTHER WEBSITES

ILLUMINATING SHADOWS PROJECT: Shining a light on those whose stories have been neglected in the shadows of history.
https://illuminatingshadows.org/

GRANTS: With passage of the African American Burial Grounds Preservation Act in 2023, money and grants have become easier to get.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3667/text

LAST ROAD TO FREEDOM
https://lastroadtofreedom.org/the-digital-road-ahead/registers/

FORT MONROE VISITOR AND EDUCATION CENTER
https://fortmonroe.org/place_to_visit/visitor-education-center/

NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY PROJECT
https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/contraband-camps/

CONTRABAND AND FREEDMEN CEMETERY MEMORIAL
https://www.alexandriava.gov/FreedmenMemorial

LIVING CONTRABAND, National Park Service
https://www.nps.gov/articles/living-contraband-former-slaves-in-the-nation-s-capital-during-the-civil-war.htm#:~:text=This%20term%20meant%20that%20once,and%20would%20not%20be%20returned

BORN IN SLAVERY: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938 
https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/

THE WPA AND THE SLAVE NARRATIVE COLLECTION
https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/articles-and-essays/introduction-to-the-wpa-slave-narratives/wpa-and-the-slave-narrative-collection/

HAMPTON HISTORY MUSEUM
https://hampton.gov/91/History-of-City

NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
https://savingplaces.org/stories/the-forgotten-the-contraband-of-america-and-the-road-to-freedom

WASHINGTON, D.C.'s "CONTRABAND" CAMPS, White House Historical Association
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/washington-d-c-s-contraband-camps

VIRGINIA: Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery and Memorial
https://www.nps.gov/places/virginia-contrabands-and-freedmen-cemetery-and-memorial.htm

THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL FOR PEACE & JUSTICE 
https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/memorial

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & CULTURE
https://nmaahc.si.edu/visit/plan-your-visit

INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM
https://iaamuseum.org/

WHEN BLACK HISTORY IS YOUR OWN
https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/when-black-history-is-your-own/

CONTRABAND CAMPS ON THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-64TYU76zM

CONTRABAND CAMPS, by Dr. Daud Watts, AA Scholar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkKtLpi5cmE

THE ROOTS: Black Roots of Memorial Day
https://www.theroot.com/the-black-roots-of-memorial-day-1790875788

CHURCHES

HISTORIC BLACK CHURCH RISES FROM THE YORKTOWN CONTRABAND CAMP
https://www.dailypress.com/history/dp-nws-black-churches-shiloh-20130429-story.html

THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH, Hampton, Virginia
https://www.thirdbaptisthampton.org/

THIRD-FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, Founded 1863, Hampton, Virginia
https://thefbch.org/who-is-fbch/


crew loaded 200 pounds of ammunition and 20 cords of firewood onto the Planter. At some point family members hid aboard another steamer docked at the North Atlantic wharf.

On the evening of May 12, Planter was docked as usual at the wharf below General Ripley's headquarters. Her three white officers disembarked to spend the night ashore, leaving Smalls and the crew on board, "as was their custom." (Afterward, the three Confederate officers were court-martialed and two convicted, but the verdicts were later overturned.) About 3 a.m. May 13, Smalls and seven of the eight slave crewmen made their previously planned escape to the Union blockade ships. Smalls put on the captain's uniform and wore a straw hat similar to the captain's. He sailed the Planter past what was then called Southern Wharf, and stopped at another wharf to pick up his wife and children, and the families of other crewmen.

Smalls guided the ship past the five Confederate harbor forts without incident, as he gave the correct signals at checkpoints. The Planter had been commanded by a Captain Relay, and Smalls copied Relay's manners and straw hat on deck to fool Confederate onlookers from shore and the forts. The Planter sailed past Fort Sumter at about 4:30 a.m. The alarm was only raised by the time they were out of gun range. Smalls headed straight for the Union Navy fleet, replacing the rebel flags with a white bed sheet his wife had brought aboard. The Planter had been seen by the USS Onward, which was about to fire until a crewman spotted the white flag. In the dark, the sheet was hard to see, but the sunrise came just in time