Freedmen's Colonists

The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony was the only colony established during the Civil War to assistance people recently freed from the bonds of slavery. Established in 1863, the colony saw thousands of formerly enslaved people come to Roanoke Island seeking new opportunities, reuniting with loved ones, and enjoying some rights and privileges that had been denied to them during slavery. Learn about the people who helped lead to the Freedmen's Colony, worked on behalf of it, and the formerly enslaved who began to call Roanoke Island home during the Civil War.