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    Suffolk
    Suffolk
    Suffolk
    Ebook197 pages48 minutes

    Suffolk

    By Annette Montgomery

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    About this ebook

    A fascinating history of Suffolk's heroic African-American community. A must-have for African-American and Virginia history enthusiasts.


    After the Civil War, African-Americans throughout Suffolk and Nansemond County fought against injustice by demanding equality before the law, the right to vote, and equal access to schools, employment, and professions. Because of their tolerance and sense of fortitude, they were able to own land and businesses and to establish churches, schools, and social organizations that paved the way for generations to come.

    Suffolk is a result of the many contributions made by countless pioneers in education, business, religion, social organizations, and community leadership. In this volume, Suffolk native and archivist Annette Montgomery shares timeless, evocative images and passages for all to enjoy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 26, 2005
    ISBN9781439633335
    Suffolk
    Author

    Annette Montgomery

    Suffolk is a result of the many contributions made by countless pioneers in education, business, religion, social organizations, and community leadership. In this volume, Suffolk native and archivist Annette Montgomery shares timeless, evocative images and passages for all to enjoy.

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      Book preview

      Suffolk - Annette Montgomery

      Suffolk.

      INTRODUCTION

      It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is the case, then this pictorial of Suffolk is worth the thousands of words of those African Americans who lived in Suffolk after the Civil War. This book is an attempt to put the names with the faces of those persons who fought, struggled, died, and paved the way for the life that we enjoy today. There are many conveniences that we take for granted today; we need to stop and consider those pioneers who lived right here in Suffolk and were responsible for making Suffolk what it is today. Most of the photographs in this pictorial are from the late 1800s to the late 1960s.

      This book is an attempt to pictorially chronicle Suffolk’s history in eight segments. Our Roots will show some of the pioneers who paved the way in the civil rights struggles. Some of the families are easily recognizable, as they are prominent today.

      In the black community, the family stood as the main pillar. As enslaved people, blacks maintained strong family ties, and after emancipation struggled to reunite families disrupted by slavery. This was essential to their source of freedom. After the Civil War, the black family had very little material possessions, so solidarity was significant in family relations. There was an increase in two-parent households and the extended family.

      The Suffolk’s Skeetertown community, which borders the Dismal Swamp, consists of the Skeeter, Milteer, Faulk, Boone, and Reid families, who are related by blood or marriage. The Skeeter name traces back to the mid-1700s to a white family who intermarried with free blacks.¹ Other families that existed in Suffolk and Nansemond County included the Walden and Holland families from the Holland area, the Roper family, and the Benn family, who migrated from Franklin, Virginia, in the early 1900s.

      The photographs in School Days will show the early pictures of faculty, staff, and students. Note that photographs show students dressed more formally for school and appearing to be serious about their education. The inability to read and write was not only evidence of previous submissive conditions for former slaves, but also was a hindrance to their prosperity and survival as free people. During Reconstruction, the Freedman’s Bureau, missionary societies, and blacks themselves established schools in the South, laying the foundation for public education. Even though their benevolent societies provided funds for black education, it was blacks who took the initiative to purchase land, construct buildings, and raise money to hire teachers. Faced with crowded, ill-furnished, one- and two-room schools, students and teachers made do with the available materials. Their strong desire for an education made the conditions bearable.

      Public education in Suffolk began in 1871. It was then that the first school board was formed to provide an education for all students, including those in Nansemond County. There were private and free schools for whites but none for blacks. In 1890, the Reverend William W. Gaines, pastor of the African American First Baptist Church founded the Nansemond Normal and Industrial Institute .²

      The segment dealing with Worship and Praise will show photographs of Suffolk residents and how they used the church for social, civic, and religious activities. For centuries, religion has played an important role in the lives of African Americans, even though the emergence of the black church had to await the end of slavery. In services ruled by whites, slaves had no voice in church affairs; they were confined to the rear of the sanctuary or balcony, and were viewed as spectators rather than members of the congregation. White parishioners were unwilling to change their policies regarding segregation or to give former slaves significant authority within white churches. Therefore, they welcomed and encouraged blacks’ withdrawal from the predominately white congregation. Both blacks and whites agreed, for different reasons of course, to separate churches.

      Once established, black churches spread rapidly throughout the South. The Baptist church, the largest religious organization, frequently divided its congregation due to challenges in leadership. The Shoulders Hill Church was organized in 1786 between Portsmouth and Nansemond County. Even though whites owned the church, the original members included both blacks and whites. The area, Shoulders Hill, was named after the owner of the land where the church was built. In 1865, the original house of worship was sold to blacks, and the name was changed to Union Baptist Church. The Reverend Ruben Jones, a white minister who had been the original pastor of Shoulders Hill Church, organized Union Baptist in 1865. He served until Rev. Jordan Thompson, the first African American minister ordained in the county, was called to serve.³

      Another prominent religious institution was the Belleville Home. Known as a utopia for the needy, it was operated by the Church of God and Saints in Christ. Founded in 1918 by Bishop William Henry Plummer, it was a safe haven for widows, orphans, and the indigent.

      Businesses, Professions, and Labor will show some of the people and organizations in early Suffolk that were instrumental in changing the Jim Crow laws. In the early 1900s, when Jim Crow laws institutionalized segregation of blacks and

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