Race Relations
Information about race relations in Richmond, VA, during the Civil War and Reconstruction. 

Written Accounts

1866-01-11, Richmond Examiner; “James River Farmers” meet at Turkey Island to set standards and practices regarding the labor of the Freedmen
1866-01-12, Richmond Whig; editorial: “The Test of the Negro’s Fitness for Freedom.” Labor, political and racial issues abound. “[Abolition] was not the original design of the North in entering upon the war; it certainly was not the design of the South.”
1866-01-16, Richmond Examiner; negroes attacked by soldiers at 7th and Main
1866-02-01, Richmond Examiner; accordion-playing woman creates a disturbance “among the niggers” at Camp Lee – is asked to stop, pulls pistol on officer, and arrested. Implications of prostitution
1866-02-02, Richmond Examiner; trial of Maggie Mitchell, the accordion-playing, officer-threatening, gun-brandishing “bad character” from Camp Lee. She found “very guilty, but on account of having no place wherein to confine white women, she was released…
1866-02-02, The National Freedman; letter from Chimborazo describing conditions among the Freedmen and advocating for donations. 1500 people now there.
1866-02-23, Richmond Examiner; “a number of negro boys” attacked with stones by white youths on Capitol Square. Freedmen’s Bureaus stops it and arrests culprits
1866-02-24, Richmond Examiner; notice that “the negroes are preparing for some sort of celebration on the Third of April” to commemorate the anniversary of their freedom
1866-02-27, Richmond Examiner; City Point to be the “rendezvous” for 15-20,000 black troops, to be paid off prior to discharge. Paper laments the effect on the area
1866-03-01, Richmond Examiner; bizarre account of a negro woman at Chimborazo who gave birth to a litter of puppies – she to go to the poor house, thence to the Penitentiary

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