More on Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial

A bit more background about a recent article I published on a civil rights action—in 1864 Alexandria, Virginia.

Paula Whitacre 4/6/21 Paula Whitacre 4/6/21

Freedmen's Bureau in Washington: Need Help? Move.

The post-Civil War work of the Freedmen’s Bureau was curtailed from the start.

Paula Whitacre 10/1/20 Paula Whitacre 10/1/20

Harriet Jacobs, Teacher

Harriet Jacobs started a school in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1864. It wasn’t easy.

Paula Whitacre 7/14/19 Paula Whitacre 7/14/19

Contraband and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial

A presentation by Fran Bromberg about the creation, forgetting, and rededication of the cemetery on South Washington Street

Paula Whitacre 4/23/17 Paula Whitacre 4/23/17

Emancipation: A Step into the Unknown

About 500,000 left slavery during the Civil War. As Chandra Manning's new book details, they took enormous risks in their search for freedom.

Paula Whitacre 11/20/16 Paula Whitacre 11/20/16

L'Ouverture Hospital and My 4.5 Minutes of Fame

I took part in a November 19 ceremony to inaugurate a historical marker at the location of L'Ouverture Hospital in Alexandria.

Paula Whitacre 9/12/16 Paula Whitacre 9/12/16

Finding Descendants from Alexandria's Contraband and Freedmen Cemetery

Char McCargo Bah explained how she found descendants from among more than 1,750 people buried in Alexandria's Contraband and Freedmen Cemetery--who can now celebrate their ancestors, many of whom escaped slavery.

Paula Whitacre 2/15/16 Paula Whitacre 2/15/16

Cemeteries in Old Alexandria

Last night's episode of Mercy Street included a poignant scene in which the Green and Fairfax families attempted to bury Tom Fairfax. No matter one's sympathies, seeing a funeral disrupted at gunpoint was not pleasant.

Paula Whitacre 2/8/16 Paula Whitacre 2/8/16

Harriet Jacobs and Julia Wilbur: Two Other "Heroines"

With my own research in mind, I can't resist proposing Julia Wilbur and Harriet Jacobs as two other real-life heroines of Mercy Street.