A new exhibition at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture explores the lives and legacies of free Black Virginians from 1619 to the end of slavery in 1865.

“Un/Bound: Free Black Virginians, 1619–1865” opens June 14 and will run alongside the museum’s multiyear exhibitions tied to America’s 250th anniversary. It is one of the first exhibitions of its kind to focus exclusively on the stories of free Black individuals in Virginia before emancipation.

The exhibition was developed in partnership with scholars and five Virginia colleges and universities — Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, William & Mary, Longwood University and Richard Bland College. It includes documents, artifacts and photographs that illustrate the lived experiences, accomplishments and challenges faced by free Black Virginians.

Among those featured is Emanuel Driggus, who purchased his freedom and built wealth in the late 1600s, prior to the legal codification of racial slavery. Another is Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a Virginia-born man who emigrated with his family to Liberia in 1829 and later became the new nation’s first president.

Contemporary descendants of those profiled in the exhibition also contributed to its development. Evelyn Madden loaned items tied to her family’s history, and Jamaican-born  photographer Ruddy Roye created portraits of several descendants, including Karen Hughes White and Angela Davidson of the Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County; photojournalist and historian Brian Palmer; and former NFL player Torrey Smith, a descendant of one of more than 500 people freed by Robert Carter III.

“‘Un/Bound’ offers a comprehensive treatment of the rich, complicated history of a group of people we don’t collectively know much about,” said Elizabeth Klaczynski, the museum’s associate curator of exhibitions.

“People like Benjamin Short, a free Black man who, in 1820, signed a $200 bond with his name instead of an X — a remarkable feat for someone who was born enslaved and most likely did not know how to read or write before gaining his freedom.”

Artifacts on display include state records, letters and family heirlooms. A petition from Matthew Ashby, a free Black man, details his appeal to the Governor’s Council to emancipate his wife and children.

A sampler stitched by Sarah Jackson while attending school in Maryland in 1860 reflects how many free Black students had to leave Virginia to access an education.

The exhibition also highlights the Madden family’s history in Culpeper County, where matriarch Sarah Madden became a successful seamstress and laundress after completing her indenture in 1789. Her son, Willis Madden, operated Madden’s Tavern and owned farmland before the Civil War.

Items from the family’s past, including a teaching contract and school register, are on display.

A companion publication, also titled “Un/Bound,” features essays by Melvin Ely, Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Stephen Rockenbach, Sabrina Watson and Evanda Watts-Martinez.

A foreword written by former Virginia education officials James W. Dyke Jr., Tim Sullivan and Alvin J. Schexnider states:

“For decades, scholars like those featured in this publication made great strides in educating readers about enslaved Black Virginians. The centrality of slavery to Virginia’s history is obvious, but it is not the whole story … ‘Un/Bound’—both the book and the exhibition—fills a critical gap in the public’s understanding of these courageous and captivating people.”

A traveling version of the exhibition will begin touring Virginia in October.