African Americans in Virginia

Last updated
Black Virginians
Total population
1,607,581 [1]
Languages
Southern American English, African American English, African-American Vernacular English, African languages
Religion
Historically Black Protestant [2] , Hoodoo, African traditional religions

African Americans are the largest racial minority in Virginia. According to the 2010 Census, more than 1.5 million, or one in five Virginians is "Black or African American". African Americans were enslaved in the state. [3] As of the 2020 U.S. Census, African Americans were 18.6% of the state's population. [4]

Contents

History

The first twenty African slaves from Angola landed in Virginia in 1619 on a Portuguese slave ship. [5] Lynchings, racial segregation and white supremacy were prevalent in Virginia. [6] The first African slaves arrived in the British colony Jamestown, Virginia and were then bought by English colonists. [7]

Great Dismal Swamp maroons were people who fled to swamps in Virginia to escape slavery, circa 1700s until 1860s. [8]

Education

The Laurel Grove Colored School and Church was a congregation founded by former enslaved African Americans in the 1880s in Franconia, Virginia. [9] The school was active in the education of Black students from the early 1880s until 1932. The school building is now a living museum of a 1920s African American one room school; the site contains a cemetery; and the church operates as the Laurel Grove Baptist Church. [10]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Black Population by State".
  2. ↑ "Religious Landscape Study".
  3. ↑ Claibourn, Michele P. "Blacks in Virginia: Demographic Trends in Historical Context" (PDF). Weldon Cooper Center. University of Virginia. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  4. ↑ VIRGINIA: 2020 Census
  5. ↑ Virginia is the birthplace of American slavery and segregation — and it still can't escape that legacy
  6. ↑ Virginia is the birthplace of American slavery and segregation — and it still can't escape that legacy
  7. ↑ First Enslaved Africans Arrive in Jamestown Colony
  8. ↑ Petit Marronage in the Great Dismal Swamp
  9. ↑ Gardner, Amy (December 27, 2007). "In Franconia, a House Divided". The Washington Post . Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Laurel Grove Colored School and Church Historical Marker". Historical Marker Database (HMDB). Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  11. ↑ Mather, Frank Lincoln (1915). "Amiger, William Thomas". Who's Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent. Vol. 1. pp. 6–7.
  12. ↑ Aitkenhead, Decca (October 4, 2013). "Chris Brown: 'It was the biggest wake-up call'". The Guardian . Brown was born in 1989 in a small Virginia town called Tappahannock
  13. ↑ Wells, Jeremy (December 7, 2020). "Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)". Encyclopedia Virginia.
  14. ↑ "Trey Songz comes 'back home' for mural unveiling, block party". NBC12 Newsroom. 2020-10-22.
  15. ↑ Belcher, Walt (August 17, 2001). "Wanda Sykes' Star is Rising". The Tampa Tribune. p. 3.
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