Robert Pleasants and Abolition with Bill Hardin

January 5, 2022

POSTPONED — Bill Hardin will discuss Robert Pleasants of Curles (Henrico County) who was a Virginia abolitionist during the Revolutionary period. Pleasants was the plaintiff in the case of Pleasants v. Pleasants (1799), a decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia that recognized a legal right to freedom for hundreds of enslaved persons retained in bondage by members of the Pleasants family. Robert Pleasants also founded a short-lived abolition society as well as corresponding with contemporary notable Virgininians such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Bill will offer some theories on how Pleasants came to abolition and what his example might mean to us today.

Next Meeting:

  • The Ledger and the Chain with Joshua Rothman
    February 6, 2025 Join us on Zoom where Joshua D. Rothman will give CVHR a short presentation on The Ledger and The Chain, How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America. He will then answer questions through the meeting’s moderators. An excellent overview presentation on the domestic slave trade by Dr. Rothman, Sold South, a Brief History

Questions?

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