“Gregory”

Gregory’s great, great, great, grandmother “Frankie” was sold into slavery at the Manchester Slave Docks in what is now Ancarrow’s Landing on the James River in Virginia in the 1840’s.

Slavery was first brought to America in 1619 in the colony of Virginia and grew into the 1700’s to become the dominant labor system on plantations.

During the 1660s Virginia adopted laws specifically designed to denigrate blacks. These laws banned interracial marriages and sexual relations and deprived blacks of property. The text is from four of those Laws from Virginia State Law”Gregory”

60×37 ink on panel

Detail: