About
The Geneology of Slavery project began in 2019 to better understand the historical role of enslavement at Roanoke College. By 2021, the first round of broad research had revealed that approximately 50% of the college’s Board of Trustees from the mid-19th century as well as faculty and institutional leaders enslaved human beings. At that point, student and faculty researchers had primarily drawn information from Federal Census records, college financial records, and published secondary sources focused on regional history.
In 2022, the project expanded and the research team went through every relevant source in the Roanoke County archives to identify all named enslaved people. The research team logged over 4,000 research hours reading through thousands of pages of 19th century records. To date, we have identified the names of more than 4,000 enslaved people who lived in Roanoke County and more than 100 names of individuals listed in 'Free Black registries'. The research broadly expands what we know about the history of Roanoke College, because it more firmly roots the history of the institution within a broader regional context. We now have a clear sense of how the college directly grew and benefited from a larger political economy of enslavement.
The research team has included the following members:
Sydney Pennix, Ashtyn Porter, Ivey Kline, Chele Eaves, Casey McGirt, Reece Owen, Jayde Mooney, Jasmine McFadden, Seanice Bowser, Charlotte Angleberger, Amari Yerby, Annalisa Green, Jennie Costa, Hannah Schetselaar, Jack Miller, Dr. Jesse Bucher, and Dr. Whitney Leeson.
Funding for the research was provided by:
Council of Independent Colleges, NetVUE Grant for Reframing the Institutional Saga, the Mellon Foundation, the George B. Lambert Foundation, and the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation.
Some members of the research team participated in a short documentary about the research produced by Lacey Leonard in 2022: