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Fredericksburg, Virginia — Nothing new to longtime residents, but Fredericksburg is steeped in history. Many residents may not realize that black entrepreneurs and businesses have been lining up in the city since the 1700s.
This February, the Fredericksburg Area Museum will host a walking tour to teach history buffs more about the city’s black business and entrepreneurial history. Tours are hosted by Dr. Galia Sims, curator of the museum’s African-American history and special projects.
While immersing himself in the history of Fredericksburg, Sims decided to focus on what makes the city unique.
“What I discovered is that Fredericksburg has documented the history of black business and black entrepreneurship since the 18th century, and I think that’s really special,” Sims said. told Patch.
The tour’s first stop will focus on John Debatiste. He was a black man who ran Falmouth Ferry and French his Johns Wharf in his late 1700s. Despite his success as a free black man and business owner, many of Devatist’s families left the Fredericksburg area after the American Revolution.
“After the war, the family thrived in local businesses, but a series of draconian laws severely restricted the rights of free black people,” reads a Caroline Street historic sign. “John’s descendants have moved.”
Sims said this is not an uncommon sight.
James Wilkens was a free black barber who lived in Fredericksburg. In 1838, he petitioned the Virginia Legislature to build a school for black children in Fredericksburg. The petition was signed by several other free blacks living in the area, including descendants of John Debatiste.
Lawmakers rejected their demands. The Wilkens later moved to Washington, DC, and the Debatist family moved to the Midwest. Sims believes he may have moved to escape Virginia’s restrictive laws.
The tour also includes stops regarding black hotels, bars, boarding houses, and communities.
The tour ends with the story of former slave Henry Dean, who developed the Liberty Town district.
“Dean and his wife amassed 19 houses and two stables, which is a huge fortune for a former slave,” Sims said.
Today, only a handful of Dean’s 19 buildings are still standing.
Ruth Corder Fitzgerald was a historian who studied the black history of Fredericksburg. She noted that many of her historical sites at Black in Fredericksburg are gone. “So much of Fredericksburg’s black history needs to be portrayed with imagination,” wrote Fitzgerald.
Historic sites themselves don’t always exist, so Sims is trying to find other ways to bring history to life. Her work uses photography, first-hand accounts, and the work of other historians to present a more complete picture of history, she says.
“It’s a combination of letting our imaginations run wild, focusing on individual stories, accumulating as many images and objects as possible, and acknowledging sites that are still there,” Sims said.
More information about walking tours and other offerings at the Fredericksburg Area Museum is available online.
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