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For Viewpoints, 3/15/09 Date published: 3/15/2009
MARIA LOUISE MOORE was born of mixed-race parents in Fredericksburg in 1800. Her father was Scotsman Edwin Moore of Edinburgh, and her mother was a free black woman born in Toronto (then called York). During her childhood, Maria most likely received part of her education Education for blacks, free and slave, had been legal in Virginia during the period of the American Revolution, and was even encouraged in some cases as with the pre-Revolutionary-era school for slave children co-sponsored by Fielding Lewis. The school, which operated near Kenmore from 1765 to 1770, aimed to teach slave children to read so they might better participate in church services. In 1820, Maria married Adolphe Richards, a native of Guadeloupe. He was of noble ancestry, with Latin and Negro blood, had been educated in London, and was fluent in English and French. He had come to Fredericksburg in search of a more favorable climate for his health. He chose to open and operate a wood-turning, glazing, and painting shop. Maria and Adolphe had 14 children, and Maria was determined that nothing would stand in the way of their education. However, education for all blacks was made illegal in Virginia during the decades leading up to the Civil War, as fears of slave uprisings and abolitionist literature heightened. A rebellion in 1831 in Southampton County, led by escaped slave Nat Turner, gave Virginia lawmakers more ammunition to restrict the freedom of blacks. In the Fredericksburg area, where from the 1700s until the Civil War there were almost as many blacks as whites in the overall population, these fears were intensified. As a result, the early 1800s saw a number of restrictive laws passed by the General Assembly that severely limited the mobility of all blacks, including those few who had "free black" status. Free blacks were required to carry their freedom papers with them at all times and had to present them to any white person who asked, or the consequences could be dire.
Date published: 3/15/2009
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