Thanks for the tip on the historical documents on line, will try to go thru them over the holidays.

I located a copy of the Black Laws of Va (after I kept seeing it mentioned in the bibliography of others and in footnotes) at the College of William & Mary. At that time it had not been reprinted and I copied the whole thing (at 5 cents a page I thought it was worth the price all 249 pages). Along with that is another book entitled "The Free Negro in Virginia 1619-1865" by John H. Russell,Ph.D. published by John Hopkins Press in 1913. As far was I know that has not been republished. Although others have written extensively on the subject (Berlin etc) I still think it makes for interesting reading.

The one thing doing research has done is make me the student I should have been lo these many years ago in college. I always read the bibliography and footnotes...the book or article might not be that great but the sources can be very interesting.

Selma