Out of Virginia

Item sets: The Sphex Club Papers; Jones Memorial Library Manuscripts Collection

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Identifier: JML.SphexClub_Stinnett_20251106
Title: Out of Virginia
Description: Text of a lecture delivered to the Sphex Club on November 6, 2025. Joseph Stinnett’s paper explores the little-known history of Black emigration from Lynchburg, Virginia, to Liberia between 1829 and 1865 through the American Colonization Society. Focusing on Washington Copeland, an enslaved carpenter who became a leading advocate for Liberian emigration, the talk examines the complex motivations behind colonization: white racism and coercion on one hand, and Black aspirations for citizenship, dignity, and self-determination on the other. Stinnett argues that many Black Virginians viewed Liberia as the only place where they could achieve full political rights denied them in the United States. The paper also critiques the Lost Cause mythology that obscured these histories after the Civil War. Through letters, records, and personal stories, Stinnett restores the humanity, agency, suffering, and determination of Lynchburg’s emigrants and their descendants.
Date: 6 November 2025
Creator: Stinnett, Joseph P.
Subject: Emmigration -- Liberia
topic: Liberia, American Colonization Society, Washington Copeland, Lynchburg, Virginia, Black emigration, colonization, slavery, emancipation, Liberia migration, Americo-Liberians, Lost Cause, Civil War, racism, freedom, Samuel Miller, Monrovia, Reconstruction, Black history
Location: Lynchburg, Virginia
Digital Format: pdf
Language: English
Publisher: Sphex Club (Lynchburg, Va.)
Repository: George M. Jones Library Association
Rights: Stinnett, Joseph P.; George M. Jones Library Association
Rights Holder: George M. Jones Library Association