1865

Emancipation comes to Stagville, Hardscrabble, and other enslaved labor camps throughout the South

Emancipation marked a pivotal moment for the thousands of enslaved people at Stagville, offering the promise of freedom after generations of forced labor.

While freedom brought the opportunity for self-determination, the challenges were immense.  Newly freed individuals faced systemic racism, economic hardship, and limited access to resources.  Yet, they persevered, building communities, establishing institutions, and forging their own paths.

"Once the Civil War ended, the plantation itself was in such a mess, and slaves were leaving. They're done. They want no part of it anymore," said Beverly Scarlett, cofounder of Indigenous Memories. 

Yet, even in leaving, their lives often stayed inextricably linked to the land that had once held them captive.

"As a child, I couldn't figure out how so many of my relatives ended up with property facing St. Mary's Road,” Scarlett said. “Those are my relatives. So if the war is over and whites are abandoning their property. Of course, we squat on it, but we're right there at the plantation." 

This pattern of settling on or near former plantation land was a common phenomenon. For many, it represented not just a practical necessity but also a reclamation of a space that had been theirs through forced labor.

The influence of Stagville’s descendants is evident throughout nearby Durham County's history, said Charles Johnson, associate professor of history and chair of the Department of History at North Carolina Central University in Durham.

“We are still learning the names of the different families that were at Stagville – the family names that were there,” he said. “We know that there were Ameys, that there were bells, that there were Goodloes, that there were Dayes being born and raised in Durham. I went to school with Justices.”

Some of the earliest settlers for the Durham Hayti community came off the Stagville plantation. Likewise, enslaved people built the crucial railroad that fueled post-war economic growth in Durham.

Johnson points to various descendants of people enslaved at Stagville who became significant in the history of Durham and the country. These include:

• Larry Suitt: Hospital administrator at the first black hospital in Durham – Lincoln Hospital – and later at Durham County General, now known as Duke Regional Hospital.

• Inez Cleopatra Suitt: Invited to work on the Manhattan Project and worked with Duke University’s Dr Kempner to develop the RICE diet. 

• Charles Clinton Amey: Helped to establish North Carolina Central University.

• Clinton Mills: Becomes one of the first Tuskegee Airmen.

“It is that part of black Durham's history that we're still telling, and that really needs to be more fully told,” Johnson said. “It is making the connections.”