Proud, free and black: Petersburg - visiting the Virginia location of the largest number of 19th century free slaves - Advertising Supplement: Virginia

American Visions, June-July, 1994 by Henry Chase

When former basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made a 1993 movie about Virginia's civil rights activist Vernon Johns, james Earl Jones played the lead--and Petersburg was the site of the filming. This continued a rich tradition, for the city was home to the largest community of free blacks in the nation during the days of slavery. It was here, too, that the earliest African-American church in the country found its permanent home. It was here that Virginia established the first state-supported black college in the nation. Petersburg was also the first city to declare Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a holiday. Today, the cityscape is still punctuated with remnants of its rich African-American past. If this heritage has an appeal, you may wish to visit these places:

Pocahontas Island

Fully half of the residents of antebellum Petersburg were black. A third of these African Americans were free men, women and children, most of whom lived on Pocahontas Island, which clung to the north bank of the Appomattox River. Though little is visible today to recall this free black community, visitors may wish to view Jarratt House, the oldest remaining home on Pocahontas. Built on Logan Street in the first decade of the 19th century by Richard Jarratt, an African-American businessman, the house remained in the Jarratt family until 1991.

First Baptist Church, 236 Harrison Street, (804) 732-2841

The earliest African-American church in the country traces its origins to a group of worshipers that congregated in Lunenburg, Va., in 1756 during the course of the Great Awakening, the religious revival that swept Colonial America. The congregation remained scattered until 1774, when they united as the First African Baptist Church and built a meeting house on the estate of Colonel William Byrd. After its meeting house burned down in 1820, the church moved to Petersburg, where it built a house of worship on Harrison Street, opened one of the earliest local black schools in America, and was pastored exclusively by African Americans until 1832. That year, wrote the great African-American historian Carter G. Woodson, as a consequence of Nat Turner's Rebellion of 1831, "Virginia passed a law to silence Negro preachers, making it impossible for them to function except ... in the presence of certain discreet white men." The present church building dates back to 1870, and visitors are welcome to tour it by appointment.

Gillfield Baptist Church, Perry and Gill streets, (804) 732-3565

In 1803, 15 years after a racially mixed group of worshipers first gathered together, the Sandy Beach Baptist Church was formally organized on Pocahontas Island. In 1818, the congregation purchased Gill's Field in Petersburg, thereafter assuming the name Gillfield Baptist Church. The church building standing today on that site was constructed in 1878. Inside it, visitors will find a heritage center that includes memorabilia dating back 175 years, the oldest handwritten record book for a black church in America, and other artifacts of note.

Joseph Jenkins Roberts Memorial, South Sycamore and Wythe streets

Joseph Jenkins Roberts was born in Norfolk in 1809. Six years later, his family moved to Petersburg, where Roberts' father ran a river transport business between the two cities. In 1829, Roberts and his mother, brothers and sisters emigrated to the colony of Liberia, which was run by the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color. There, Roberts served as sheriff, chief justice, lieutenant governor and governor of the colony. When Liberia proclaimed its independence in 1848, he became its first president, serving until 1856 and then again from 1871 until 1876, the year of his death.

Petersburg National Battlefield Park and Museum, Route 36, (804) 732-3531. Admission: $3 per automobile; $1 for bikers or walkers; free for seniors and children under 16

Visitors to the Petersburg National Battlefield Park will gain a deeper understanding of the drama of the Civil War, particularly as regards black Union troops and the famous Battle of the Crater. To break the Confederate defense of the besieged city, the men of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, many of whom were miners in civilian life, secretly dug a lengthy tunnel under the Rebel breastworks, which were then thunderously blown up.

The nine United States Colored Troops (USCT) regiments that composed the 4th Division of Burnside's 9th Corps were scheduled to exploit the resulting gap in the Confederate line. At the last moment, however, the Union high command, fearful of political repercussions if the black troops suffered severely in the vanguard of the attack, changed the order of battle and sent the (white) 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions into the line first. Ironically, strong Confederate resistance and the Union forces' difficulty negotiating the crater caused by the explosion caught the last-into-battle 4th Division trapped in the crater, where they suffered unmercifully.

The Petersburg National Battlefield Park has site markers commemorating the USCT forces, and the museum's various displays acknowledge the contribution of the Union's African-American troops. Be sure to look for the USCT Monument at Confederate Battery 9, which commemorates the capture of the battery by Hinks' USCT division on June 15, 1864. In the summer months, there are guided tours of the battlefield and living-history reenactments of a Union siege encampment and a Confederate artillery battery--complete with cannon and mortar firing. Representatives of the USCT take part in the re-enactments.