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Educational and Religious Practices at ArlingtonThe Struggle for Freedom and Emancipation |
The enslaved community included several large, extended families, who worked domestically or as field laborers. While the field laborers had limited contact with the Custises and Lees, the enslaved people who worked in the house interacted with the family on a daily basis. The enslaved field people planted and harvested crops, raised truck gardens, and tended the livestock. The enslaved domestic workers cared for the Lee children and worked as cooks, maids, and valets."
Domestic working enslaved people, included Mr. George Clark, Mr. Ephraim Derricks, and Mrs. Selina Gray, who occupied the two brick and stucco quarters immediately behind the plantation house. Among the most well-known enslaved persons were Mr. George Clark, the celebrated cook from Mount Vernon; Mr. Charles Syphax, the head of the dining room; and Mrs. Eleanor Harris, the housekeeper for Mary Fitzhugh Custis.
Educational and Religious Practices at Arlington
Molly Custis established the tradition of educating the enslaved population 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 enslaved persons in his will. Religious education for the enslaved community at Arlington also originated with her.
Molly and the succeeding generations of women in the family conducted Sunday school and Bible studies for the enslaved people. Some of the enslaved people accompanied the family to services at the plantation chapel, and others attended daily prayers at the plantation house. Although the family encouraged the practice of the Episcopal faith, many enslaved people preferred the Baptist Church.
The Struggle for Freedom and Emancipation
The family experimented with various methods of freeing individual enslaved persons. In the 1820s, the Custises were active members of the American Colonization Society, an organization that supported the colonization of free African Americans in Africa, particularly in Liberia. Colonization was unpopular with many enslaved African Americans. Of the enslaved African Americans at Arlington, only Mr. 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 enslaved persons, 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 enslaved people in his will. Many 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 freedom seekers emancipation. The enslaved people at Arlington believed they were promised their freedom immediately upon Custis' death.
Robert E. Lee, who managed the estate after Custis' death, hired out some of the enslaved people to raise money to settle his father-in-law's debts. However, this caused resentment amongst Arlington’s enslaved population. In 1862, freedom was granted to the enslaved people of Arlington when Lee executed a deed of manumission. Some of the freedom seekers settled in Freedman's Village, a community for formerly enslaved people established at Arlington in 1863. The village remained in operation through the end of the 19th century.
In the 1920s, the memories of former enslaved people were vital to the restoration of Arlington House. Mr. James Parks, Mrs. Emma Gray Syphax, Mrs. Annice Gray Baker, Mrs. Ada Gray Thompson, and Mrs. 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 came from the plantation house, which they generously donated to Arlington House.