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Lumpkin's Jail, also known as "the Devil's half acre", was a slave breeding farm,^[1] as well as a holding facility, or slave jail, located in Richmond, Virginia, just three blocks from the state capitol building. More than five dozen firms traded in enslaved human beings within blocks of Richmond's Wall Street (now 15th Street) between 14th and 18th Streets between the 1830s and the end of the American Civil War.^[2]^[3]^[4] Its final and most notorious owner, Robert Lumpkin, bought and sold slaves throughout the South for well over twenty years, and Lumpkin's Jail became Richmond's largest slave-holding facility.^[5]

History

Robert Lumpkin purchased three lots on Wall Street in Shockoe Bottom (named for nearby Shockoe Creek) on November 27, 1844, for roughly six thousand dollars. Although named after Lumpkin, the property had two previous owners, and the holding facility already existed.^[3]^[6] Lumpkin was also involved in the slave trade at the Birch Alley facility in Richmond.^[7] Not only the largest slave trader in Richmond at the time, Lumpkin became known for cruelty, publicly beating or torturing those who tried to escape. The "whipping room" inside the jail allowed slaves to be fastened by their wrists and ankles to iron rings while lying on the floor, and flogged.^[8] Four other lots on Wall Street (now 15th Street) contained slave jails; the area was collectively referred to as Lumpkin's Alley.^[9]

Lumpkin's Jail complex actually contained four separate buildings: Lumpkin's residence, a guest house, a kitchen/bar and the "slave pen". The two-story brick slave pen was approximately forty feet long.^[10] The bottom floor was the main jail area, and typically temporarily held men, women and children who were fit to be sold to plantation owners or other slave traders.^[8] Lumpkin's slave breeding business provided hoods to the enslaved people forced to breed to keep them from knowing with whom they were having forced sex, as it could be someone they know, a niece, aunt, sister, or their own mother.^[11] The jail featured "barred windows, high fences, chained gates opening to the rutted streets, and all seen and smelled through a film of cooking smoke and stench of human excrement."^[9] At times, it was filled by so many slaves that they were virtually on top of one another, sometimes crammed into one room or floor and lacking toilets and outside access other than a small window. Slaves at the jail often died of disease or starvation, if not from beatings and torture. ^[12]^[13] The nearby market with ready canal and railroad access was used as a slave market, or auctions were held in nearby hotels. Slaves were groomed, fed, and dressed up to be sold at auction, then pushed onto a boat or train to their next destination.^[14]

Robert Lumpkin

"He was both an evil man and a family man."^[15] Robert Lumpkin, known for his cruelty and mistreatment of slaves, would eventually "marry" a light-skinned slave that he had purchased: Mary.^[16] He was 27 years older than she.^[17] He fathered five children with Mary. He treated them well and gave them the best education, even sending two of his daughters to finishing school. Before the Civil War ended, he sent his wife and children to Pennsylvania to avoid their being sold back into slavery to pay off his debts. When Lumpkin died in late 1866, he left all of his property and land to Mary, who by then was legally allowed to accept it.^[15]

Postwar reuse

In April 1865, the Union Army captured Richmond, and all slaves were emancipated. In late 1866, Lumpkin died, leaving his property to Mary. In 1867, Mary Lumpkin leased the land to Nathaniel Colver, a Baptist minister looking for a place to establish a theological seminary for freedmen.^[3] The National Theological Institute, which would come to be called The Colver Institute in 1869, later called Richmond Theological Seminary, and finally Virginia Union University, used the buildings for three years, so the land once colloquially called "the Devil's half acre" became "God's half acre."^[18]^[19]^[20]

Work was begun on demolishing Lumpkin's jail on March 10, 1888, according to various newspapers.^[21] Richmond Iron Works was eventually built over the original foundation. Today the Interstate 95 embankment, as well as a parking lot for university students, cover the area.^[6] In the mid-2000s archeologists began excavating the site, digging fourteen feet into the earth before finding the jailhouse foundation. Constant saturation from the adjacent Shockoe Creek restricted aerobic bacteria which normally break down organic matter. Archeologists thus found artifacts, including clothes, shoes, toys, and books, although no whipping rings, iron bars or other artifacts typically associated with slavery remained.^[15]

Inmates

Over the twenty years the Lumpkin Jail was in operation, thousands of slaves passed through the complex. The most famous inmate was Anthony Burns, who had escaped slavery in Virginia, but was arrested in Boston and tried under the Fugitive Slave Law. Though many lobbied for his release, he was sent back to Lumpkin's Jail and held for four more months until abolitionists raised sufficient funds to buy his freedom^{[contradictory]}. Once freed, he returned to the North and became a pastor, but died shortly thereafter at the age of 28.^[22]

References

^ Spivey, William (2023-11-12). "America's Breeding Farms: What History Books Never Told You". Medium. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
^ Trammel, Jack (2012). The Richmond Slave Trade: the Economic Backbone of the Old Dominion. The history Press. pp. 13, 50, 94. ISBN 978-1-60949-413-1.
^ ^a ^b ^c Guide to Richmond and Vicinity; Embracing a Sketch of the City, Social Statistics and Notices of All Places in and About the City of Interest to the Tourist. Richmond. Virginia: Benjamin Bates. 1871. pp. 24–25.
^ Tucker, Abigail. "Digging Up the Past at a Richmond Jail". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
^ Zucchino, David (18 December 2008). "With Unearthing of Famous Jail, Richmond Confronts Its Past". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
^ ^a ^b Laird, Matthew. "Preliminary Archaeological Investigation of the Lumpkin's Jail Site" (PDF). City of Richmond. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
^ Trammel p. 94
^ ^a ^b Tucker, Abigail. "Digging Up The Past At Richmond Jail". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
^ ^a ^b Richardson, Seldon; Maurice Duke (2008). Built by Blacks: African American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press.
^ "Preliminary History of the Lumpkin's Jail Property" (PDF). Richmond City Council Slave Trail Commission. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
^ Spivey, William (2023-11-12). "America's Breeding Farms: What History Books Never Told You". Medium. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
^ "PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE LUMPKIN'S JAIL PROPERTY" (PDF). Retrieved 30 March 2014.
^ Noe-Payne, Mallory (10 December 2015). "Memorializing the Lumpkin's Jail Site in Richmond". wvtf.org. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
^ Zucchino, David (18 December 2008). "With unearthing of infamous jail, Richmond confronts its slave past". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tucker, Abigail. "Digging Up The Past At A Richmond Jail". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
^ Rhodes, Karl. "Mother of the Domestic Slave Trade" (PDF). Economic History. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
^ Polat, Guy (2022-03-28). "Mary Lumpkin: Enslaved Women That Freed A Prison Jail & Taught Them To Read". Trailblazing Women & LGBTQ Folks. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
^ "National Theological Institute",The Daily Dispatch, December 23, 1868, Library of Congress
^ Pauly, Megan, "The woman who turned the "Devil's Half Acre" into "God's Half Acre", VPM News, April 12, 2022
^ Laird, Matthew R. PhD, Archaeological Data Recovery Investigation of the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail Site(44HE1053) Richmond, Virginia, Volume I: Research Report, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, August 2010
^ "An Old Slave-Pen", Peninsula Enterprise, March 17, 1888, Chronicling America, Library of Congress
^ Steven, Charles. "PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE LUMPKIN'S JAIL PROPERTY" (PDF). Anthony Burns: A History. Retrieved 30 March 2014.

37°32′12″N 77°25′43″W / 37.536576°N 77.428534°W / 37.536576; -77.428534

External links

The Story Of Mary Lumpkin, The Formerly Enslaved Woman Who Liberated A Slave Jail And Turned It Into An HBCU, By Genevieve Carlton | Checked By Cara Johnson, Published September 6, 2022
My Heart Went Right Down–The Devil’s Half Acre And The Richmond Slave Trade, The Uncommon Wealth, Library of Virginia, Published December 15, 2014
"God made me a man- not a slave": The Arrest of Anthony Burns, Boston African American National Historic Site, National Park Service
"Jennie Crawford (formerly Jane Jones) seeking her relatives, including her parents Joe and Phoebe Jones · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery". informationwanted.org. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
"Richard Conway searching for his mother Annie Holmes and brothers Lawson and Robert · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery". informationwanted.org. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
"Jerry Williams searching for his parents Jerry and Sophia Thompson and siblings · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery". informationwanted.org. Retrieved 2024-12-02.

[1] Spivey, William (2023-11-12). "America's Breeding Farms: What History Books Never Told You". Medium. Retrieved 2024-02-23.

[2] Trammel, Jack (2012). The Richmond Slave Trade: the Economic Backbone of the Old Dominion. The history Press. pp. 13, 50, 94. ISBN 978-1-60949-413-1.

[:0-3] Guide to Richmond and Vicinity; Embracing a Sketch of the City, Social Statistics and Notices of All Places in and About the City of Interest to the Tourist. Richmond. Virginia: Benjamin Bates. 1871. pp. 24–25.

[Tucker-4] Tucker, Abigail. "Digging Up the Past at a Richmond Jail". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 27 September 2013.

[5] Zucchino, David (18 December 2008). "With Unearthing of Famous Jail, Richmond Confronts Its Past". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 March 2014.

[Laird-6] Laird, Matthew. "Preliminary Archaeological Investigation of the Lumpkin's Jail Site" (PDF). City of Richmond. Retrieved 3 July 2016.

[7] Trammel p. 94

[smithsonianmag.com-8] Tucker, Abigail. "Digging Up The Past At Richmond Jail". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 27 March 2014.

[Richardson_2008-9] Richardson, Seldon; Maurice Duke (2008). Built by Blacks: African American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press.

[slave_trail_commission-10] "Preliminary History of the Lumpkin's Jail Property" (PDF). Richmond City Council Slave Trail Commission. Retrieved 26 February 2015.

[11] Spivey, William (2023-11-12). "America's Breeding Farms: What History Books Never Told You". Medium. Retrieved 2024-02-23.

[12] "PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE LUMPKIN'S JAIL PROPERTY" (PDF). Retrieved 30 March 2014.

[13] Noe-Payne, Mallory (10 December 2015). "Memorializing the Lumpkin's Jail Site in Richmond". wvtf.org. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[14] Zucchino, David (18 December 2008). "With unearthing of infamous jail, Richmond confronts its slave past". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 March 2014.

[ReferenceA-15] Tucker, Abigail. "Digging Up The Past At A Richmond Jail". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 27 March 2014.

[rhodes-16] Rhodes, Karl. "Mother of the Domestic Slave Trade" (PDF). Economic History. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[17] Polat, Guy (2022-03-28). "Mary Lumpkin: Enslaved Women That Freed A Prison Jail & Taught Them To Read". Trailblazing Women & LGBTQ Folks. Retrieved 2023-01-05.

[18] "National Theological Institute",The Daily Dispatch, December 23, 1868, Library of Congress

[19] Pauly, Megan, "The woman who turned the "Devil's Half Acre" into "God's Half Acre", VPM News, April 12, 2022

[20] Laird, Matthew R. PhD, Archaeological Data Recovery Investigation of the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail Site(44HE1053) Richmond, Virginia, Volume I: Research Report, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, August 2010

[21] "An Old Slave-Pen", Peninsula Enterprise, March 17, 1888, Chronicling America, Library of Congress

[22] Steven, Charles. "PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE LUMPKIN'S JAIL PROPERTY" (PDF). Anthony Burns: A History. Retrieved 30 March 2014.

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@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 [[File:Lumpkin's Jail Site Richmond, VA.jpg|thumb]]
 [[File:Aerial view of Lumpkin's Jail Site .jpg|thumb]]
-'''Lumpkin's Jail''', also known as "the Devil's half acre", was a holding facility, or [[slave jail]], located in [[Richmond, Virginia]], just three blocks from the state capitol building. More than five dozen firms traded in enslaved human beings within blocks of Richmond's Wall Street (now 15th Street) between 14th and 18th Streets between the 1830s and the end of the American Civil War.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Trammel|first=Jack|title=The Richmond Slave Trade: the Economic Backbone of the Old Dominion|publisher=The history Press|year=2012|isbn=978-1-60949-413-1|pages=13, 50, 94}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=|first=|date=1871 |title=Guide to Richmond and Vicinity; Embracing a Sketch of the City, Social Statistics and Notices of All Places in and About the City of Interest to the Tourist |title-link=:File:Visitor's guide to Richmond and vicinity - embracing a sketch of the city, social statistics and notices of all places in and about the city of interest to the tourist .. (IA_visitorsguidetor00rich).pdf |publisher=Benjamin Bates |location=Richmond. Virginia|pages=24–25}}</ref><ref name="Tucker">{{cite web|last=Tucker|first=Abigail|title=Digging Up the Past at a Richmond Jail|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Digs-Devils-Half-Acre.html|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine|access-date=27 September 2013}}</ref> Its final and most notorious owner, Robert Lumpkin, bought and sold slaves throughout the [[Southern United States|South]] for well over twenty years, and Lumpkin's Jail became Richmond's largest slave-holding facility.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zucchino|first=David|title=With Unearthing of Famous Jail, Richmond Confronts Its Past|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/18/nation/na-richmond-slaves18|work=Los Angeles Times|date=18 December 2008 |access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>
+'''Lumpkin's Jail''', also known as "the Devil's half acre", was a [[Slave breeding in the United States|slave breeding]] farm,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spivey |first=William |date=2023-11-12 |title=America’s Breeding Farms: What History Books Never Told You |url=https://williamspivey.medium.com/americas-breeding-farms-what-history-books-never-told-you-6704e8b152a4 |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Medium |language=en}}</ref> as well as a holding facility, or [[slave jail]], located in [[Richmond, Virginia]], just three blocks from the state capitol building. More than five dozen firms traded in enslaved human beings within blocks of Richmond's Wall Street (now 15th Street) between 14th and 18th Streets between the 1830s and the end of the American Civil War.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Trammel|first=Jack|title=The Richmond Slave Trade: the Economic Backbone of the Old Dominion|publisher=The history Press|year=2012|isbn=978-1-60949-413-1|pages=13, 50, 94}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=|first=|date=1871 |title=Guide to Richmond and Vicinity; Embracing a Sketch of the City, Social Statistics and Notices of All Places in and About the City of Interest to the Tourist |title-link=:File:Visitor's guide to Richmond and vicinity - embracing a sketch of the city, social statistics and notices of all places in and about the city of interest to the tourist .. (IA_visitorsguidetor00rich).pdf |publisher=Benjamin Bates |location=Richmond. Virginia|pages=24–25}}</ref><ref name="Tucker">{{cite web|last=Tucker|first=Abigail|title=Digging Up the Past at a Richmond Jail|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Digs-Devils-Half-Acre.html|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine|access-date=27 September 2013}}</ref> Its final and most notorious owner, Robert Lumpkin, bought and sold slaves throughout the [[Southern United States|South]] for well over twenty years, and Lumpkin's Jail became Richmond's largest slave-holding facility.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zucchino|first=David|title=With Unearthing of Famous Jail, Richmond Confronts Its Past|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-dec-18-na-richmond-slaves18-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=18 December 2008 |access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>
 == History ==
@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 Robert Lumpkin purchased three lots on Wall Street in [[Shockoe Bottom]] (named for nearby [[Shockoe Creek]]) on November 27, 1844, for roughly six thousand dollars. Although named after Lumpkin, the property had two previous owners, and the holding facility already existed.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Laird">{{cite web|url=http://www.richmondgov.com/CommissionSlaveTrail/documents/LumpkinsSlaveJailFinalReport.pdf|title=Preliminary Archaeological Investigation of the Lumpkin's Jail Site|last=Laird|first=Matthew|publisher=City of Richmond|access-date=3 July 2016}}</ref> Lumpkin was also involved in the slave trade at the Birch Alley facility in Richmond.<ref>Trammel p. 94</ref> Not only the largest slave trader in Richmond at the time, Lumpkin became known for cruelty, publicly beating or torturing those who tried to escape. The "whipping room" inside the jail allowed slaves to be fastened by their wrists and ankles to iron rings while lying on the floor, and flogged.<ref name="smithsonianmag.com">{{cite web|last=Tucker|first=Abigail|title=Digging Up The Past At Richmond Jail|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/digging-up-the-past-at-a-richmond-jail-50642859/?no-ist|publisher=Smithsonian.com|access-date=27 March 2014}}</ref> Four other lots on Wall Street (now 15th Street) contained slave jails; the area was collectively referred to as Lumpkin's Alley.<ref name="Richardson 2008">{{cite book|last=Richardson|first=Seldon|title=Built by Blacks: African American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond|year=2008|publisher=The History Press|location=Charleston, South Carolina|author2=Maurice Duke }}</ref>
 [[File:Another Aerial Look of Lumpkin's Jail Site .jpg|thumb]]
-Lumpkin's Jail complex actually contained four separate buildings: Lumpkin's residence, a guest house, a kitchen/bar and the "[[slave pen]]".  The two-story brick slave pen was approximately forty feet long.<ref name="slave trail commission">{{cite web|title=Preliminary History of the Lumpkin's Jail Property|url=http://www.richmondgov.com/CommissionSlaveTrail/documents/historyLumpkinJail.pdf|publisher=Richmond City Council Slave Trail Commission|access-date=26 February 2015}}</ref> The bottom floor was the main jail area, and typically temporarily held men, women and children who were fit to be sold to plantation owners or other slave traders.<ref name="smithsonianmag.com"/> The jail featured "barred windows, high fences, chained gates opening to the rutted streets, and all seen and smelled through a film of cooking smoke and stench of human excrement."<ref name="Richardson 2008"/> At times filled by so many slaves that they were virtually on top of one another, sometimes crammed into one room or floor and lacking toilets and outside access other than a small window. Slaves at the jail often died of disease or starvation, if not from beatings and torture. <ref>{{cite web|title=PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE LUMPKIN'S JAIL PROPERTY|url=http://www.richmondgov.com/CommissionSlaveTrail/documents/historyLumpkinJail.pdf|access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Noe-Payne|first=Mallory|title=Memorializing the Lumpkin's Jail Site in Richmond|date=10 December 2015 |url=http://wvtf.org/post/memorializing-lumpkins-jail-site-richmond#stream/0|publisher=wvtf.org|access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref> The nearby market with ready canal and railroad access was used as a slave market, or auctions were held in nearby hotels. Slaves were groomed, fed, and dressed up to be sold at auction, then pushed onto a boat or train to their next destination.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zucchino|first=David|title=With unearthing of infamous jail, Richmond confronts its slave past|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/18/nation/na-richmond-slaves18|work=Los Angeles Times|date=18 December 2008 |access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>
+Lumpkin's Jail complex actually contained four separate buildings: Lumpkin's residence, a guest house, a kitchen/bar and the "[[slave pen]]".  The two-story brick slave pen was approximately forty feet long.<ref name="slave trail commission">{{cite web|title=Preliminary History of the Lumpkin's Jail Property|url=http://www.richmondgov.com/CommissionSlaveTrail/documents/historyLumpkinJail.pdf|publisher=Richmond City Council Slave Trail Commission|access-date=26 February 2015}}</ref> The bottom floor was the main jail area, and typically temporarily held men, women and children who were fit to be sold to plantation owners or other slave traders.<ref name="smithsonianmag.com"/> Lumpkin's [[Slave breeding in the United States|slave breeding]] business provided hoods to the enslaved people forced to breed to keep them from knowing with whom they were having forced sex, as it could be someone they know, a niece, aunt, sister, or their own mother.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spivey |first=William |date=2023-11-12 |title=America’s Breeding Farms: What History Books Never Told You |url=https://williamspivey.medium.com/americas-breeding-farms-what-history-books-never-told-you-6704e8b152a4 |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Medium |language=en}}</ref> The jail featured "barred windows, high fences, chained gates opening to the rutted streets, and all seen and smelled through a film of cooking smoke and stench of human excrement."<ref name="Richardson 2008"/> At times, it was filled by so many slaves that they were virtually on top of one another, sometimes crammed into one room or floor and lacking toilets and outside access other than a small window. Slaves at the jail often died of disease or starvation, if not from beatings and torture. <ref>{{cite web|title=PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE LUMPKIN'S JAIL PROPERTY|url=http://www.richmondgov.com/CommissionSlaveTrail/documents/historyLumpkinJail.pdf|access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Noe-Payne|first=Mallory|title=Memorializing the Lumpkin's Jail Site in Richmond|date=10 December 2015 |url=http://wvtf.org/post/memorializing-lumpkins-jail-site-richmond#stream/0|publisher=wvtf.org|access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref> The nearby market with ready canal and railroad access was used as a slave market, or auctions were held in nearby hotels. Slaves were groomed, fed, and dressed up to be sold at auction, then pushed onto a boat or train to their next destination.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zucchino|first=David|title=With unearthing of infamous jail, Richmond confronts its slave past|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-dec-18-na-richmond-slaves18-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=18 December 2008 |access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>
 == Robert Lumpkin ==
-"He was both an evil man and a family man."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|last=Tucker|first=Abigail|title=Digging Up The Past At A Richmond Jail|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/digging-up-the-past-at-a-richmond-jail-50642859/?no-ist|publisher=Smithsonian.com|access-date=27 March 2014}}</ref>  Robert Lumpkin, known for his cruelty and mistreatment of slaves, would eventually "marry" a light-skinned slave that he had purchased: Mary.<ref name="rhodes">{{cite web|last1=Rhodes|first1=Karl|title=Mother of the Domestic Slave Trade|url=https://www.richmondfed.org/~/media/richmondfedorg/publications/research/econ_focus/2013/q2/pdf/economic_history.pdf|website=Economic History|publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond|access-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref> He was 27 years older than her.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Polat |first=Guy |date=2022-03-28 |title=Mary Lumpkin: Enslaved Women That Freed A Prison Jail & Taught Them To Read |url=https://letherfly.org/en/mary-lumpkin-enslaved-women-that-freed-a-prison-jail-taught-them-to-read/ |access-date=2023-01-05 |website=Trailblazing Women & LGBTQ Folks |language=en-US}}</ref> He fathered five children with Mary. He treated them well and gave them the best education, even sending two of his daughters to finishing school. Before the Civil War ended, he sent his wife and children to Pennsylvania to avoid their being sold back into slavery to pay off his debts. When Lumpkin died in late 1866, he left all of his property and land to Mary, who by then was legally allowed to accept it.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
+"He was both an evil man and a family man."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|last=Tucker|first=Abigail|title=Digging Up The Past At A Richmond Jail|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/digging-up-the-past-at-a-richmond-jail-50642859/?no-ist|publisher=Smithsonian.com|access-date=27 March 2014}}</ref>  Robert Lumpkin, known for his cruelty and mistreatment of slaves, would eventually "marry" a light-skinned slave that he had purchased: [[Mary Lumpkin|Mary]].<ref name="rhodes">{{cite web|last1=Rhodes|first1=Karl|title=Mother of the Domestic Slave Trade|url=https://www.richmondfed.org/~/media/richmondfedorg/publications/research/econ_focus/2013/q2/pdf/economic_history.pdf|website=Economic History|publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond|access-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref> He was 27 years older than she.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Polat |first=Guy |date=2022-03-28 |title=Mary Lumpkin: Enslaved Women That Freed A Prison Jail & Taught Them To Read |url=https://letherfly.org/en/mary-lumpkin-enslaved-women-that-freed-a-prison-jail-taught-them-to-read/ |access-date=2023-01-05 |website=Trailblazing Women & LGBTQ Folks |language=en-US}}</ref> He fathered five children with Mary. He treated them well and gave them the best education, even sending two of his daughters to finishing school. Before the Civil War ended, he sent his wife and children to Pennsylvania to avoid their being sold back into slavery to pay off his debts. When Lumpkin died in late 1866, he left all of his property and land to Mary, who by then was legally allowed to accept it.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
 == Postwar reuse ==
-In April 1865, the Union Army captured Richmond, and all slaves were emancipated. In late 1866, Lumpin died, leaving his property to Mary. In 1867, Mary Lumpkin leased the land to Nathaniel Colver, a Baptist minister looking for a place to establish a theological  seminary for freedmen.<ref name=":0" /> The National Theological Institute, which would come to be called The Colver Institute in 1869, later called [[Richmond Theological Seminary]], and finally [[Virginia Union University]], used the buildings for three years, so the land once colloquially called "the Devil's half acre" became "God's half acre".<ref>"[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024738/1868-12-23/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1868&index=0&rows=20&words=jail+Lumpkin&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1868&proxtext=Lumpkin%27s+Jail&y=12&x=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 National Theological Institute",The Daily Dispatch, December 23, 1868, Library of Congress]</ref><ref>[https://vpm.org/news/articles/31268/the-woman-who-turned-the-devils-half-acre-into-gods-half-acre Pauly, Megan, "The woman who turned the "Devil's Half Acre" into "God's Half Acre", VPM News, April 12, 2022]</ref><ref>[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/Lumpkin's%20Jail%20data%20recovery%20report%20vol.%201%20(research).pdf Laird, Matthew R. PhD, Archaeological Data Recovery Investigation of the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail Site(44HE1053) Richmond, Virginia, Volume I: Research Report, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, August 2010] </ref>
+In April 1865, the Union Army captured Richmond, and all slaves were emancipated. In late 1866, Lumpkin died, leaving his property to Mary. In 1867, Mary Lumpkin leased the land to Nathaniel Colver, a Baptist minister looking for a place to establish a theological  seminary for freedmen.<ref name=":0" /> The National Theological Institute, which would come to be called The Colver Institute in 1869, later called [[Richmond Theological Seminary]], and finally [[Virginia Union University]], used the buildings for three years, so the land once colloquially called "the Devil's half acre" became "God's half acre."<ref>"[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024738/1868-12-23/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1868&index=0&rows=20&words=jail+Lumpkin&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1868&proxtext=Lumpkin%27s+Jail&y=12&x=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 National Theological Institute",The Daily Dispatch, December 23, 1868, Library of Congress]</ref><ref>[https://vpm.org/news/articles/31268/the-woman-who-turned-the-devils-half-acre-into-gods-half-acre Pauly, Megan, "The woman who turned the "Devil's Half Acre" into "God's Half Acre", VPM News, April 12, 2022]</ref><ref>[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/Lumpkin's%20Jail%20data%20recovery%20report%20vol.%201%20(research).pdf Laird, Matthew R. PhD, Archaeological Data Recovery Investigation of the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail Site(44HE1053) Richmond, Virginia, Volume I: Research Report, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, August 2010] </ref>
-Work was begun on demolishing Lumpkin's jail on March 10, 1888, according to various newspapers.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn94060041/1888-03-17/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1888&index=0&rows=20&words=jail+Lumpkins&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1890&proxtext=Lumpkin%27s+jail&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=2 "An Old Slave-Pen", Peninsula Enterprise, March 17, 1888], Chronicling America, Library of Congress</ref> Richmond Iron Works was eventually built over the original foundation. Today, the Interstate 95 embankment, as well as and a parking lot for university students cover the area.<ref name="Laird"/>
+Work was begun on demolishing Lumpkin's jail on March 10, 1888, according to various newspapers.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn94060041/1888-03-17/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1888&index=0&rows=20&words=jail+Lumpkins&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1890&proxtext=Lumpkin%27s+jail&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=2 "An Old Slave-Pen", Peninsula Enterprise, March 17, 1888], Chronicling America, Library of Congress</ref> Richmond Iron Works was eventually built over the original foundation. Today the Interstate 95 embankment, as well as a parking lot for university students, cover the area.<ref name="Laird"/>
 In the mid-2000s archeologists began excavating the site, digging fourteen feet into the earth before finding the jailhouse foundation. Constant saturation from the adjacent Shockoe Creek restricted aerobic bacteria which normally break down organic matter. Archeologists thus found artifacts, including clothes, shoes, toys, and books, although no whipping rings, iron bars or other artifacts typically associated with slavery remained.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
 == Inmates ==
-Over the twenty years, the Lumpkin Jail was in operation, thousands of slaves passed through the complex. The most famous inmate was [[Anthony Burns]], who had escaped slavery in Virginia, but was arrested in Boston and tried under the [[Fugitive Slave Act|Fugitive Slave Law]]. Though many lobbied for his release, he was sent back to Lumpkin's Jail and held for four more months until abolitionists raised sufficient funds to buy his freedom{{contradict-inline|page=Anthony_Burns|section=Freedom_and_later_life|reason=He had another owner between his release from jail and his liberation}}. Once freed, he returned to the North and became a pastor, but died shortly thereafter at the age of 28.<ref>{{cite web|last=Steven|first=Charles|title=PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE LUMPKIN'S JAIL PROPERTY|url=http://www.richmondgov.com/CommissionSlaveTrail/documents/historyLumpkinJail.pdf|work=Anthony Burns: A History|access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>
+Over the twenty years the Lumpkin Jail was in operation, thousands of slaves passed through the complex. The most famous inmate was [[Anthony Burns]], who had escaped slavery in Virginia, but was arrested in Boston and tried under the [[Fugitive Slave Act|Fugitive Slave Law]]. Though many lobbied for his release, he was sent back to Lumpkin's Jail and held for four more months until abolitionists raised sufficient funds to buy his freedom{{contradict-inline|page=Anthony_Burns|section=Freedom_and_later_life|reason=He had another owner between his release from jail and his liberation}}. Once freed, he returned to the North and became a pastor, but died shortly thereafter at the age of 28.<ref>{{cite web|last=Steven|first=Charles|title=PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE LUMPKIN'S JAIL PROPERTY|url=http://www.richmondgov.com/CommissionSlaveTrail/documents/historyLumpkinJail.pdf|work=Anthony Burns: A History|access-date=30 March 2014}}</ref>
+== See also ==
+* [[Slave markets and slave jails in the United States]]
+* [[List of white American slave traders who had mixed-race children with enslaved black women]]
 ==References==
@@ Line 35: / Line 39: @@
 * [https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2014/12/15/my-heart-went-right-down-the-devils-half-acre-and-the-richmond-slave-trade/ My Heart Went Right Down–The Devil’s Half Acre And The Richmond Slave Trade, The Uncommon Wealth, Library of Virginia, Published December 15, 2014]
 * [https://www.nps.gov/articles/-god-made-me-a-man-not-a-slave-the-arrest-of-anthony-burns.htm "God made me a man- not a slave": The Arrest of Anthony Burns, Boston African American National Historic Site, National Park Service]
+* {{Cite web |title=Jennie Crawford (formerly Jane Jones) seeking her relatives, including her parents Joe and Phoebe Jones · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery |url=https://informationwanted.org/items/show/4124 |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=informationwanted.org}}
+* {{Cite web |title=Richard Conway searching for his mother Annie Holmes and brothers Lawson and Robert · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery |url=https://informationwanted.org/items/show/559 |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=informationwanted.org}}
+* {{Cite web |title=Jerry Williams searching for his parents Jerry and Sophia Thompson and siblings · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery |url=https://informationwanted.org/items/show/12 |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=informationwanted.org}}
 [[Category:Archaeological sites in Virginia]]
 [[Category:Buildings and structures in Richmond, Virginia]]
-[[Category:Slave pens]]
+[[Category:Defunct prisons in Virginia]]
+[[Category:Slave jails in the United States]]
 [[Category:African-American history in Richmond, Virginia]]
 [[Category:History of slavery in Virginia]]

v t e History of slavery in Virginia
Slavery in the colonial history of the United States History of Virginia
Enslaved people	Angela (fl. 1619–1625) Emanuel Driggus (c. 1620s-d. 1673) Henry Box Brown (c. 1815–1897) John Casor (living 1655) Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797) Isabella Gibbons (c. 1836–1890) William D. Gibbons (1825–1886) John Graweere (living 1641) Elizabeth Key Grinstead (Greenstead) (1630–1665) Left, husband of Jane Webb (fl. 1704–1727) Mary and Anthony Johnson (1600–1670) Philip Lee (c. 1785–?) Dangerfield Newby (c. 1820–1859) John Punch (fl. 1630s, living 1640) Gabriel Prosser (1776–1800) William Tucker (born 1624) Nat Turner (1800–1831) Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)
Slave owners	Presidents of the United States Washington Jefferson Madison Monroe Tyler John Armfield (1797–1871) Carter Braxton (1736–1797) Landon Carter (1710–1778) Robert "King" Carter (1663–1732) Robert Carter III (1728–1804) Thomas Roderick Dew (1802–1846) Andrew Hunter (1804–1888) Robert M. T. Hunter (1809–1887) Eppa Hunton (1822–1908) Richard Bland Lee (1761–1827) William Mahone (1826–1895) George Mason (1725–1792) James M. Mason (1798–1871) John Page (1628–1692) Thomas Prosser (died 1798) Randolph family of Virginia William Barton Rogers (1804–1882) George Henry Thomas (1816–1870) William Tucker (died 1642) John Wayles (1715–1773) Henry A. Wise (1806–1876) Seth Woodroof (1805–1875)
Plantations	Beall-Air Berry Hill Brookfield Kenmore Monticello Montpelier Mount Airy Mount Vernon (enslaved people) Oatlands Poplar Forest Shirley Stratford Hall Tuckahoe Westover Woodlawn List of plantations in Virginia
Slave pens	Bruin's Slave Jail The Cage Franklin and Armfield Office Lumpkin's Jail
Other sites	African American Burial Ground Bremo Slave Chapel Memorial to Enslaved Laborers White House of the Confederacy
Legal history	Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 Virginia v. John Brown
Revolts	Gabriel's Rebellion Nat Turner's Rebellion John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
Related articles	The 1619 Project Atlantic Creole Burning of Winchester Medical College Coastwise slave trade First Africans in Virginia Indentured servitude in Virginia District of Columbia retrocession Great Dismal Swamp maroons Human trafficking in Virginia Liberation and Freedom Day Richmond slave market Virginia in the American Civil War