As we commemorate Juneteenth on Thursday, marking the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans in Texas were notified of their emancipation, it is essential to remember that the path to freedom was neither swift nor easy. For many Black Virginians, especially those in the Shenandoah Valley, the law was often an instrument of hope and hardship. Where would you go if you had been freed but were told you had to leave your home, family, and community?
Today, the Rockingham County Circuit Court’s Historic Archives preserve fragments of that struggle, including freedom suits, emancipation deeds, registers of freed persons, property and marriage records, and appeals to the General Assembly. These documents offer a rare window into the African American experience in the Valley and the difficult choices made in pursuing liberty.
One such document that caught our attention is the 1829 petition of Lucy Spangler, a free woman of color in Harrisonburg. Lucy had been emancipated by the will of her former enslaver, David Laird. However, under Virginia law, specifically the 1806 Act, any enslaved person freed after May of that year was required to leave the commonwealth within twelve months or face re-enslavement. This restriction drastically reduced manumissions across Virginia and aimed to prevent the growth of free Black communities within the state.
Rather than abandon her home and husband, Jacob Spangler, a free Black blacksmith, Lucy petitioned the Virginia General Assembly for permission to remain in the state with him. In her petition, she respectfully described her situation: “She is about the age of thirty-three years, was emancipated by the will of David Laird deceased … she is the wife of a certain Jacob Spangler, a free Negrow … [who] is making a comfortable living.” She emphasized her good character, her health, and her lack of children, implicitly addressing common fears among white lawmakers about population growth among free Black residents.
Lucy appealed to the legislature’s sense of fairness: “It would be an extremely hard case were she now compelled to leave the state and all her friends.” Her concluding words, submitted with “X her mark,” reveal her agency and dignity in navigating an unforgiving legal system.
Yet Lucy’s act of self-advocacy was met with forceful opposition. In a counter-petition, James Laird, son of her former enslaver, denounced her character, calling her “a woman of infamous character” and alleging, without evidence, that she had “more than once attempted to poison the white members of his father’s family.” Laird and his supporters urged the General Assembly to “rigidly enforce” the law in her case, framing Lucy’s continued presence in the community as a threat to public welfare.
The intensity of the opposition, amplified by fear, rumor, and entrenched racial prejudice, had real consequences. Some individuals who had initially signed Lucy’s petition withdrew their names. Ultimately, the General Assembly denied Lucy Spangler’s request. Her fate beyond the petition is unclear, but her case is a sobering example of how community resistance and institutional bias frequently obstructed even the limited legal paths to freedom.
Lucy’s story is not unique. In 1846, a man named Harry, identified as a free person of color, was prosecuted in Rockingham County under the same 1806 statute. His crime: remaining in Virginia more than twelve months after emancipation. Like Lucy, Harry’s decision to stay in the place he knew as home became grounds for punishment, a quiet but clear act of resistance against forced exile.
These cases, preserved in Rockingham’s court records and digitized as part of the Library of Virginia’s Virginia Untold project, remind us that ending slavery was not a singular moment but a long, contested process. Black individuals, both enslaved and free, carved out paths to freedom within a legal system designed to contain them. Their stories are painful, powerful, and deeply human, revealing our community’s past’s complex legacies of race, law, and liberty.
The Rockingham County Circuit Court is proud to steward these archival materials and is committed to making them accessible to the public. This Juneteenth, we invite the community to explore these histories through the Historic Archives and learn more about the individuals who lived them.
By engaging with these primary sources, we acknowledge the hardships endured by those who came before us and deepen our connection to the lived experiences that shaped the African American story in our community.
Although the paper trail ends here, we do not know what happened to Lucy, Jacob, or Harry after these cases. Their stories remain unfinished but not forgotten.
Learn more at rockinghamcountyva.gov/genealogy.
