By Page H. Gifford
The Words They Left Behind: Letters From the Enslaved, a documentary film by Horace Scruggs III, will be shown Sept. 27 at 3 p.m. at Palmyra United Methodist Church.
The film chronicles the creation of the Fluvanna Historical Society’s exhibition featuring letters written by people enslaved at Bremo Plantation.
Using these documents and conversations with descendants and historians, Scruggs explores the preservation of enslaved people’s voices and the enduring effects of forced migration and family separation.
Scruggs highlights the exhibit of the same name at the Old Stone Jail Museum in Palmyra. Curated by the Fluvanna Historical Society, the exhibit details the lives and relationships of people enslaved by the Cocke family at Bremo’s three plantations during the 19th century, told through their own words.
“Many of the enslaved workers at Bremo Plantation were literate, and the Fluvanna Historical Society’s collection of their letters is incredible,” Scruggs said. “The contents of these letters include writings to their family members who had been sold states away, and to their enslavers. The letters also document these remarkable people’s everyday lives and their history in their own words.”
The exhibit features letters from five African Americans enslaved by the Cocke family: Kiesiah Moss, Peyton Skipwith, Lucy Nicholas, Jack Creasy and Lucy Skipwith. The film also features their direct descendants, including members of the Creasy and Scruggs families.
“The broader descendant community that still resides in Fluvanna includes Smith, White, Hill and Adams. A direct descendant of John Hartwell Cocke is also featured,” Scruggs said.
The letters were among the writings the Fluvanna Historical Society obtained from the Bremo Trust. Others were found in the Cocke family papers at the University of Virginia’s Special Collections Library.
Peyton Skipwith and his family moved to Liberia in 1835 after Bremo plantation owner John Hartwell Cocke freed him. They wrote more than 50 letters to Cocke describing their health and the difficulties of building a new life in Africa. The Skipwith family corresponded with Cocke for more than 30 years. The University of Virginia Library archives their letters, but Cocke’s replies have been lost.
Along with Peyton’s letters, the collection includes correspondence from his brother George and his daughter Lucy, who were sent to Cocke’s Alabama cotton plantation rather than to Liberia. George had been sent to Alabama to prepare for emancipation and migration to Liberia. Ultimately, Cocke decided he was not “sufficiently mature” to be freed, and George remained enslaved there for the rest of his life.
The film will be shown at locations throughout Virginia, including the Virginia Museum of History & Culture on Saturday, Oct. 3.
