Separate and Unequal

Separate and Unequal. . , Until the end of the Civil War in 1865, many enslaved women, men and children lived and worked in two buildings that stood diagonally behind the mansion. They had no choice in when or where they worked nor in what they did each day. This large workforce, essential to maintaining the Hampton-Preston estate, also served as physical proof of their owner's extreme wealth., [Captions:] , The northeast slave dwelling, shown here in 1890, contained the estate's main kitchen on its first floor. Its twin to the west housed an office and possibly a laundry. Enslaved households lived in small, second-story rooms in both of the 18-by-40-foot buildings., In 1895, the College for Women [1890-1915], an educational institution for upper middle-class white women, began to remove some buildings associated with the estate's history of slavery. A growing population at the school led to the replacement of the northwest slave dwelling with Preston Hall, a new dormitory/classroom building. Ten years later in 1905, the remaining slave dwelling was torn down for the construction of McClintock Hall, which housed more dormitory rooms and a dining hall.