Virginia
Fort Monroe
Old Point Comfort
Where Freedom lives
The first enslaved Africans arrived at Old Point Comfort, where Fort Monroe is now located, in 1619. It is also one of the first places where African Africans gained freedom during the Civil War. This so called “Contraband Decision” said that escaped slaves would no longer be returned to their owners and would instead be contrabands of war.
The landing of the first Africans to the Virginia colony in 1619 at Old Point Comfort is a single moment that reverberates through 400+ years of American history. The fort also served as a key defensive site at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
Timeline of history
- 1607: English colonists arrived from London.
- 1610: Colonists attack the indigenous Kecoughtan people.
- 1619: the first enslaved Africans, taken against their will from the Kingdom of Ndongo, arrive in Virginia. This is the beginning of bondage, segregation, and prejudice.
- 1861: 3 enslaved men- Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, and James Townsend- flee to the Union Army at Fort Monroe. They were a source of forced labor for the Confederate Army and Fort Monroe’s commanding officer refused to hand them over. This decision, known as the “Contraband Decision,” plus other pressures compelled President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
- 1935: the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp 3321 opens for Black men at the Fort. More than 200,000 African American men and 80,000 Indigenous Americans served in the program.
- 2011: Fort Monroe is named a National Monument under the Antiquities Act for its historical significance in the defense of the nation and its continuing struggle for freedom.
- 2020: Black Lives Matter group organized a protest on Old Point Comfort. This is proof of the continuing struggle to dismantle systematic racism in US.
- 2021: Fort Monroe recognized as Site of Memory.
