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Educating Arlington SlavesFreeing Arlington Slaves |
The enslaved community included several large, extended families. Slaves were domestic workers and field laborers. While the field slaves had limited contact with the Custises and Lees, the house slaves interacted with the family on a daily basis. Field slaves planted and harvested crops, raised truck gardens, and tended the livestock. House slaves cared for the Lee children and worked as cooks, maids, and valets. Some of the domestic slaves, including George Clark, Ephriam Derricks, and Selina Gray, occupied the two brick and stucco quarters immediately behind the mansion. Among the most well-known slaves were George Clark, the celebrated cook from Mount Vernon; Charles Syphax, the head of the dining room; and Eleanor Harris, the nurse who was "much respected by all."
Educating Arlington Slaves
Molly Custis established the tradition of educating the slaves at Arlington. When no teacher was found for the school at Arlington, Mrs. Custis assumed the responsibility. She conducted rudimentary lessons for the enslaved people three times each week. Molly convinced her husband to provide for the emancipation of his slaves in his will. Religious education for the slaves also originated with her. She and the succeeding generations of women in the family conducted Sunday school and Bible studies for the slaves. Some of the enslaved people accompanied the family to services at the plantation chapel, and others attended daily prayers at the mansion. Although the family encouraged the practice of the Episcopal faith, many of their slaves preferred the Baptist Church.
Freeing Arlington Slaves
The family experimented with various methods of freeing individual slaves. In the 1820s, the Custises were active members of the American Colonization Society, an organization that supported the colonization of free blacks in Africa, particularly in Liberia. Colonization was unpopular with the African-American slaves. Of the Arlington slaves, only William Burke and his family chose to move to Liberia. Mr. Custis lost interest in the Society, but his wife and daughter continued to support it for many years. Individual slaves, mostly women and children, received their freedom. Over the years, a number of enslaved people ran away from the Arlington plantation.
Inspired by his wife, Custis provided for the emancipation of his slaves in his will. Slaves were to be freed after financial obligations had been met. Custis set a deadline of five years from the time of his death for the slaves' emancipation. The slaves believed they had been promised their freedom immediately upon Custis' death. Robert E. Lee, who managed the estate after Custis' death, hired out some of the slaves to raise money to settle his father-in-law's debts. This caused resentment among the slaves. In 1862, freedom came to the enslaved people of Arlington when Lee executed a deed of manumission. Some of the slaves settled in Freedman's Village, a community for former slaves established at Arlington in 1863. The village remained in operation through the end of the 19th century.
In the 1920s, the memories of former slaves proved vital to the restoration of Arlington House. Jim Parks, Emma Gray Syphax, Annice Gray Baker, Ada Gray Thompson, and Sarah Gray Wilson were still alive when the War Department began the restoration. Their memories of the house and plantation provided important historical and architectural details. They owned a number of original furnishings that had come from the mansion, which they generously donated to Arlington House..