Come join the Montgomery Museum's upcoming history presentation, with presenter Daniel B. Thorp, a Virginia Tech Associate History Professor! He'll be talking about an extraordinary freedom suit that took place right here in Montgomery County - which you can learn more about in his newly published book "Seeking Justice: The Extraordinary Freedom Suits of an Enslaved Virginia Family."

Before the Civil War brought emancipation to the South, some enslaved people managed to use the legal system— the same one that had concocted and long perpetuated their bondage — to sue for their freedom from owners who unlawfully held them in slavery. Daniel Thorp will tell the story behind Unis v. Charlton’s Administrator, one of the most extensive freedom suits in all of American history. It began when a woman, known only as Flora, was born in Connecticut and sold into slavery in Virginia. Her children sued, and over more than thirty years, four cases involving almost fifty plaintiffs moved through the Virginia court system before finally reaching a conclusion in 1855.

Visit the museum and listen to this presentation - it will take place at 5 PM on Thursday, September 18. This talk is free and open to the public!