by Nancy Branner Stewart

        When I saw the many stunning portraits of African Americans by Hugh Morrison, Jr., in the Shenandoah County Historical Society notebooks, my mind began to generate questions about why I had been taught nothing concerning their presence in the history of the County.  Born in Shenandoah County and a graduate of New Market High School, I wanted to know the history of African Americans in this place.  I had to lift that veil of silence that has covered everything about African Americans in slavery and in Shenandoah County.

Perhaps you will be as surprised as I was to find that your family name is included.  The names present in the early county years appear here.

This is a work in progress, so you will find new material added regularly. 

      ●  Overview of the research about African Americans in Shenandoah County.

      ●  Articles, stories and advertisements collected from area newspapers.

      ●  Letters and personal recollections and other anticdotal references.

      ●  Lists , by year or decade, identifying African Americans who lived in Shenandoah           County from its 1772 beginning through 1900.

      ●  Photographs taken by Hugh Morrison, Jr. of many blacks who lived in Shenandoah County, Virginia between 1898 to 1950.  These photos, most unidentified, are part of the collection owned by the Shenandoah County Historical Society and available for viewing in the Shenandoah County Library in Edinburg, Virginia.  Individual copies may be purchased from the SCHS.  (This is only a sampling of photographs in the collection)

•  Future essays and material to be added.

      ●  A few notes about researcher, Nancy Branner Stewart, Board Member, Shenandoah County Historical Society.