What are Fugitive Data Portraits?
Primary source narratives tell the stories of some of Virginia’s earliest freedom seekers in their own words. Data visualizations illuminate trends in the collective and constant attempts to escape slavery in the Commonwealth. Fugitive Data Portraits brings them both together, along with a rich catalog of archival material, to create a digital record of the lives of these brave men, women, and children.
What are Fugitive Data Portraits?
Primary source narratives tell the stories of some of Virginia’s earliest freedom seekers in their own words. Data visualizations illuminate trends in the collective and constant attempts to escape slavery in the Commonwealth. Fugitive Data Portraits brings them both together, along with a rich catalog of archival material, to create a digital record of the lives of these brave men, women, and children.
Self-Emancipation in Virginia
Explore a collection of primary sources and archives that document the history of individual and collective flights to freedom from the legally first enslaved person in the colonies to the flood gates opening during the Civil War.
Self-Emancipation in Virginia
Explore a collection of primary sources and archives that document the history of individual and collective flights to freedom from the legally first enslaved person in the colonies to the flood gates opening during the Civil War.
Notes on a Criminal Conspiracy
Read the stories of the brave souls who escaped slavery in Virginia through the Philadelphia Underground Railroad Station. William Still, chairman of Philadelphia’s Anti-Slavery Society Vigilance Committee, recorded these accounts from 1853-1861 and published them in 1872.
Notes on a Criminal Conspiracy
Read the stories of the brave souls who escaped slavery in Virginia through the Philadelphia Underground Railroad Station. William Still, chairman of Philadelphia’s Anti-Slavery Society Vigilance Committee, recorded these accounts from 1853-1861 and published them in 1872.
Contraband of War
Through county records, get a glimpse of the identities of some of Virginia’s earliest freedom fighters who fled the plantation during the Civil War. Enslavers would file the names of "escaped" property with their county's Commissioner of Revenue in accordance with state legislation that imposed taxes partially based on the amount of enslaved labor belonging to individuals.
Contraband of War
Through county records, get a glimpse of the identities of some of Virginia’s earliest freedom fighters who fled the plantation during the Civil War. Enslavers would file the names of "escaped" property with their county's Commissioner of Revenue in accordance with state legislation that imposed taxes partially based on the amount of enslaved labor belonging to individuals.
References
Browse the archival collections, books, narratives, people, and primary source materials that made this project possible.
References
Browse the archival collections, books, narratives, people, and primary source materials that made this project possible.
Methodology
Learn more about the process of creating Fugitive Data Portraits through archival research, data collection, and coding.
Methodology
Learn more about the process of creating Fugitive Data Portraits through archival research, data collection, and coding.