Civil War Survivor - Episode 9

In a slight departure, we examine the maternal branch of my family. My mother's ancestors, the Hamlins of Sussex County, freed their enslaved people. Four members of the Hamlins freed 17 people ranging in age from six months to 57 years in 1782 and 1788. This was no coincidence. For 24 years, from 1782 to 1806, the state of Virginia made it relatively easy to free enslaved people. To put this into context, I interviewed two experts: Tom Costa is a history professor at the University of Virginia-Wise and Eva Sheppard Wolf is a history professor at San Francisco State University and the author of "Race and Liberty in the New Nation: Emancipation in Virginia from the Revolution to Nat Turner's Rebellion." Wolf masterfully explains the contradictions and ironies in the slave system.