Robert Pleasants and Abolition with Bill Hardin

January 5, 2022

POSTPONED — Bill Hardin will discuss Robert Pleasants of Curles (Henrico County) who was a Virginia abolitionist during the Revolutionary period. Pleasants was the plaintiff in the case of Pleasants v. Pleasants (1799), a decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia that recognized a legal right to freedom for hundreds of enslaved persons retained in bondage by members of the Pleasants family. Robert Pleasants also founded a short-lived abolition society as well as corresponding with contemporary notable Virgininians such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Bill will offer some theories on how Pleasants came to abolition and what his example might mean to us today.

Next Meeting:

  • The Ten Largest Emancipations in Albemarle County with Sam Towler
    May 1, 2025 Ten years ago, Gayle Schulman did a draft index of where the emancipations of Albemarle can be located in the deed and will books of Albemarle. Building on this, Sam picked out the 10 largest emancipations of Albemarle from Gayle’s list and looked at them in detail and will present a summary.
    Read More

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