Slavery

Slavery. African Americans in Montgomery County. , Slavery is one of the defining stories of America, impacting political, economic, and cultural life. Enslaved men and women, denied the basic right of freedom, made important contributions in Montgomery County., Almost from its earliest days, Montgomery County was home to enslaved people, many of whom worked the county's farmland. The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, constructed in 1854 with slave labor, expanded access to agricultural markets increasing the reliance on stave labor. As a result, 2,219 men, women and children were enslaved in Montgomery County in 1860, an expansion of 51 percent over 1850., Enslaved people were bought and sold at auction or transferred through inheritance within extended while slave-owning families. In 1860, 18.5 percent of white Montgomery County households owned at least one enslaved person. Twenty-three individuals, including members of the Kent, Preston, Staples, Montague, Wade, and other families, together held more than one-third of all the slaves in the county.,

“They sold the boys … and they never seen 'em anymore.” –Recalled the great-granddaughter of former slave Mary Brown (born c. 1819) whose sons were sold to slave traders after the death of her owner.

, Slave auctions were regularly held on the Town Square in Christiansburg, probably near the county courthouse. Enslaved men and women were kept in jail, at the rear of the courthouse, prior to the auction, then forced to stand on a stump allowing bidders to view them. Slave traders also passed through the county regularly, especially after 1850. Enslaved people were bought and sold, many times without regard for separating families.,

“Dey kept de slaves in de jail, an' dey would bring 'em ou' one at a time to be sold.” – Recalled Eunice Brown, who with her mother Mary and sisters were owned by Floyd and Catherine Smith on a plantation near Childress. After Emancipation, the Brown family remained on the plantation for a time, working for their board and clothing until they were able to find housing and employment elsewhere.

, Captions (left to right) , . Woman with children in front of her home near Childress in 1904 is thought to be former slave Jane Day Robertson, 1904. , . Lewis Miler made this drawing of a slave auction being held in Christiansburg. , . Men view former slave cabins on Latimer Plantation.