My name is Nina Earle, and I grew up in Richmond, Virginia. I am working on a history major with public history and anthropology concentrations through the honors program at Roanoke College. Preservation Virginia has been a great place to intern while I am exploring different public history career options. Through working under the Manager of Education, I have gotten the chance to explore museum education and programming for all ages.
This summer I worked on two sets of lesson plans for the Scotchtown Summer Camp. The first one was the exploration of primary sources and analysis of Patrick Henry’s Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech. The second lesson plan had the kids digging into preselected primary sources to learn about those who were enslaved at Scotchtown, and what that means for the historical records of these people.
Today we can easily find a paper trail detailing our identities, citizenships, family origins and major events in our lives. When historians examine the enslaved population laboring at Patrick Henry’s Scotchtown between 1771 and 1778, the existence of most of the fourteen recorded individuals can be found in one line of text amongst hundreds of primary sources. There are no birth certificates connecting them to their family. There are no passports or driver’s licenses proving residence or citizenship. There are no deeds to land in their name showing us where or how they lived. Within the history and system of enslavement, historians only know so much about the men, women and children who lived and labored in bondage, generally based on the records their enslavers thought important enough to make. The account books, inventories and newspaper advertisements compose the bulk of our knowledge about those Patrick Henry enslaved, but these records also leave so much to be desired. The varied personalities, identities, preferences, fears and ambitions are responsible for the diversity in our lives, and that which illustrates our humanity is lacking from the historic records of the enslaved. With so much missing from the record, the lesson needed to use primary sources as a backbone so participants could explore what is and isn’t in the historical record.
Campers seemed to understand the importance of slavery when talking about American history after our discussion. We had to explain how the enslaved individuals were disconnected from their families and why most of them only had first names. Looking at the cursive names of Lucy and Hannah seemed to connect with some of the kids. Not only could they see the one line where Hannah and Lucy are mentioned, but they could also see over fifty pages of handwritten accounting in that book. The idea of a single place for their name, and no family names, seemed to connect and mean something to the campers. There is something different about looking at handwritten documents. During our discussion about slavery, we transitioned from talking about slavery in the Americas at large to looking at it specifically at Scotchtown.
Another part of the program had the campers using the primary source that we provided to fill in a timeline that I created of those enslaved individuals at Scotchtown. This includes all 14 individuals, spanning from when Patrick Henry first bought Scotchtown until his death and the inventory of his assets. The timeline also had missing points where I gave campers just the dates, and they needed to find who they were looking for in the sources. These missing points included things like, when Patrick Henry was given Hannah and Lucy in 1772 to cover a debt by John Hix, or when Pedro ran away in 1788. By looking at both of these sources we can make inferences about the individuals. The sources are proof that they existed but not an explanation of how they lived.
The last missing point of the timeline had campers looking through the inventory of Patrick Henry’s estate after his death. The goal when looking through the inventory was to see who we could find that we knew was at Scotchtown with the Henrys, and still enslaved to the Henrys at Patrick Henry’s death. This explores how much unknown there is about these individuals and how the few documents tell a story of them.
While looking through the inventory, the kids would find names that they recognized and get so excited. Ben, who Patrick Henry owned when he came to Scotchtown in 1771, could not have been a lad or boy between the ages of 12 and 16 over 30 years later, but the campers would be so sure that they found him in the source. They were so happy and confident that between the two times, they did not miss him only to be told that it could not be the same individual. It was interesting to watch the campers understand that time passed between the different points. The timeline failed on its own, to express a change in time, but the explanation of age and dates brought a strong understanding. It can be a common mistake for people to think that figures in history do not age over time. When people die they become ageless in history.
The program, overall, was a success, and everyone seemed invested in knowing more about the people enslaved at Scotchtown. I overestimated what the kids already knew and I should not have done that, especially with how disrupted schools have been since COVID. But they were excited to look through all the different sources in their search for answers. Their strong desire to search for answers was a powerful testament to their interest in history. Not every question about those enslaved individuals at Scotchtown has an answer, but they still learn that there are some answers to be found.