PAR #: 11682002
Location: Richmond City , VA • Year: 1820

Abstract: In May 1807, free black barber Caesar Hope, who cut hair in Williamsburg when it was the seat of government, and later in Richmond after it became the capital, wrote his Last Will and Testament. In it he provided for the purchase and emancipation of his slave children. Following his death, a daughter, Judith Hope, petitions for her freedom, and seeks to remain in Virginia. To leave would be to give up "every friend and natural connexion upon earth, to sunder every habit and association which years have fostered and matured." Under such conditions freedom would become a "cruel mockery."