80 Court Square
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22802
Directions from Harry Lee's Shoe Shine Parlor to site 30:
- Continue on S Main St for 250 ft
- Court Square is on the left and the driving is one way around the Courthouse
- Make a right onto Court Square
- Make a left and then another left as you drive around Court Square
- Look for parking if desired
For African Americans in Rockingham County, the courthouse served as a physical symbol of a legal structure that was meant to keep them enslaved. Prior to the civil war, Virginia law upheld the institution of slavery and sought to make it difficult for those of African heritage to reside in the state. Even after emancipation was granted in 1863, Virginia's legal system was designed to exclude blacks from attaining the same rights and protections as those granted to the state's white citizens.
Virginia slave law underwent multiple transformations between the arrival of the first slave ship in 1919 and the onset of the 19th century. As the 1700s approached, Virginia law became increasingly more restrictive in regards to slave status, and law codes sought to eliminate black freedmen by creating a structure that made blackness synonymous with being enslaved. Laws became even tighter at the onset of the 1800s against freedmen. In 1803 the Virginia State Legislature passed a law requiring all freedmen in the state to register and acquire papers to carry with them. In 1806 a subsequent law was passed that mandated all newly freed enslaved persons leave the state within one year or risk being sold back into slavery.
Virginia slave law underwent multiple transformations between the arrival of the first slave ship in 1919 and the onset of the 19th century. As the 1700s approached, Virginia law became increasingly more restrictive in regards to slave status, and law codes sought to eliminate black freedmen by creating a structure that made blackness synonymous with being enslaved. Laws became even tighter at the onset of the 1800s against freedmen. In 1803 the Virginia State Legislature passed a law requiring all freedmen in the state to register and acquire papers to carry with them. In 1806 a subsequent law was passed that mandated all newly freed enslaved persons leave the state within one year or risk being sold back into slavery.