"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids--and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."

 - Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man"

Documents

List of Slaves owned by John Augustine, page 1

This is a two-page list of slaves owned by John Augustine, the master of Venus. The document is dated March 1783.  Venus was a housemaid on the Bushfield Plantation and her mother, Jenny,...

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Page 2 List of Slaves by J. A. Washington, 1783

Venus and her mother (Jenny) names appear below. MLV put in the writing next to the names. Data from the MVLA.

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Property of West Ford

 

*West Ford was willed 160 acres of land adjoining Mount Vernon in 1829, making him the richest black man in Virgina at that time.  He later sold his land and purchased...

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Slave Cemetery Burial Records, page 1

This page lists the names and other information about the Mount Vernon burial grounds of the enslaved servants. The Ford family's oral history states that West Ford was placed in the old...

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Slave Cemetery Burial Records, page 2

This page of burial records comes from 1929 minutes p. 46 about the graveyard which was used by General Washington for his enslaved at Mount Vernon. It delves into how the markers were worn and...

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Slave Cemetery Burial Records, page 3

Entry from Mount Vernon records on slave burials that George Ford visited the plantation in 1929 when two workers were placing the memorial tablet.  The workers stated that Ford told them...

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Slave Cemetery Burial Records, page 4

This is a continuing entry from page 3. It states that George Ford told the two workers at the slave cemetery where the tablet was laid that the burying ground used to have a rail fence around...

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Major Ford's Enlistment Info.

Form detailing the enlistment of Major George Ford. U.S., 10th Cavalry, Returns from Regulary Army Cavalry Regiments 1866-1916.

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Enlistment Document 10th Cavalry

Copy of Major Ford's enlistment contract when he joined the 10th Cavalry. 

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Reinlistment into the 10 Calvary

Major George Ford did two tours with the 10th Calvary. This document shows his reinlistment on September 11, 1872.

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Registration Card

Registration Card of Dr. Cecil Bruce Ford.

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Enlistment to 23rd Kansas Volunteers

Photo of the enlistment document of Major George Ford into the 23rd Kansas Volunteers during the Spanish American War.

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Letter from W.E.B. Du Bois to Major Ford

A letter written in 1918 to Major George Ford fom his friend W.E.B. Du Bois after learning he was ill.

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Library of Congress Maj. Ford and  President Theodore Roosevelt

Listing of letters written to and from Major George Ford and Theodore Roosevelt from the Library of Congress Manuscript Division for the personal papers of President Theodore Roosevelt.. You...

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Letter Maj. George Ford from Theodore Roosevelt

From the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.  A letter written to Major George Ford from Theodore Roosevelt. Addenda V24-P176

Maj. Geo. W. Ford, Fort Scott, Kansas...

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Library of Congress Maj. Ford and Theodore Roosevelt

Letter to Major George Ford from Theodore Roosevelt, dated July 9, 1900.  This is from the Library of Congress from archives Addena #V24-P424.

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Letter to W.E.B. Du Bois 50th

Hand written letter dated 1918 from Major George Ford to his friend, W.E.B. Du Bois on his 50th birthday.

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Library of Congress June 30, 1900, page 1

Letter to Theodore Roosevelt from Major George Ford from the Library of Congress Manuscript Division of Theodore Roosevelt Collection Reel 6, page 1.

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Library of Congress June 30, 1900 page 2

Letter to Theodore Roosevelt from Maj. George Ford June 30, 1900.  Library of Congress Manuscript Division for papers of Theodore Roosevelt reel 6.

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Junior Dental Class 1918

Photo of Dr. Cecil Bruce Ford from the Meharry Medical School Dental Class 1918. Early on, Meharry functioned as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College in Nashville for people of...

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