Laurel Ridge and Belle Grove Plantation focus on slavery and its legacy in daylong conference

The 200-year-old newspaper piece is jarring in the callous way it dehumanizes the men, women and children it is advertising – “Sixty Slaves for Sale.” The date of the sale is Oct. 26, 1824, and the ad, which ran in the Daily National Intelligencer, informed prospective buyers that Isaac Hite Jr. “shall proceed to sell sixty SLAVES, of various ages, in families” at Belle Grove. The information comes below a paragraph stating that horses and cattle, as well as “plantation implements” would be sold the previous day.

That newspaper clipping is the impetus for a one-day conference, “Sixty Saves for Sale: Reckoning with Enslavement in the Shenandoah Valley,” being held 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, in the Corron Community Development Center at Laurel Ridge’s Middletown Campus.

The newspaper ad was found by a colleague at Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park while doing online research, said Belle Grove Executive Director Kristen Laise, who added that Belle Grove is a legislated partner in the park.

“It really was enlightening,” she said. “We hadn’t come across a document like this before. We knew Isaac Hite was an enslaver, but to see in black and white terms the sale of human beings was shocking. Some of the terms of the sale are curious. It said that enslaved people are to be sold in families. That’s not unique to these ads. But what does that mean? We know how we would define it today, but at that time, a child even as young as 8 was not considered a child anymore, especially an enslaved child.”

Researchers would like to be able to trace where those enslaved at Belle Grove ended up, said Laise, who reached out to Sociology Professor Larry Friedenberg about collaborating with Laurel Ridge on a project related to the 200th anniversary of the slave auction.

“When Kristen reached out, I was really interested in collaborating in any way we could to support their effort because I think it’s important for us to share the stories of the past, not just the history as written by those with power, but to hear the full stories and to learn how those stories shape our perceptions of today,” he said. “The idea of the conference will give us some insight into what was happening at the time, and also bring together people in the community who are reckoning with this past in ways that bring to life those stories.”

Laise added, “Belle Grove is trying to write people back into the history books. We are also hoping some allied community groups that are addressing the ramifications of this history in America will attend the conference.”

Groups who sign up to host an information table or display will receive two complimentary registrations.

Author, historian and Arizona State University History Professor Calvin Schermerhorn, a 2022 Fulbright Senior Scholar, will open the conference with a discussion on “Enslavement at Belle Grove: Historical Accounting and Accountability.” Then, archeologist and oral historian Rebecca Davis, who is with James Madison’s Montpelier, will present “Descendant’s Design: The Process of Memorialization to the Enslaved Workers at James Madison’s Presidential Plantation.”

Following lunch, there will be a panel discussion and presentation on how historical research and genealogy can lead to institutional and individual empowerment, reconciliation or healing. National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Anthropology, Africana Studies and American Studies Michael Blakey, who is the founding director of the Institute for Historical Biology at the College of William and Mary, will moderate. Panelists will be historical researcher Jane Ailes, who most recently worked on the Virginia Emigrants to Liberia website; genealogist Lisa Johnson, administrator of the African American Descendants of Warren County, Virginia Facebook page; and Shelley Murphy, Descendant Project researcher for the University of Virginia’s Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Laurel Ridge Art Professor Monica James is working with members of the art club to collaborate with attendees on a mural. The Shenandoah County Historical Society’s John H. Adamson Memorial Fund and Crescent Cities Charities are sponsors of the conference.

Conference registration is $20 per person, and includes a catered lunch, as well as coffee and pastries in the morning.

To register for the conference or for more information, visit laurelridge.edu/sixty. For questions, call 540-869-2028.