Lewis Commodore

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Lewis Commodore (1803 - March 2, 1872) was the only enslaved man to have been owned by the University of Virginia.[1]

The 1870 Census Record of Lewis Commodore in the Albemarle County Poor House

Biography

Lewis was born in Albemarle County in 1803 to an enslaved couple, Harry and Mary, at Gale Hill plantation, which was owned by the Minor family at the time. Beginning in 1808, Dabney Minor purchased the estate, which included Lewis. He remained at Gale Hill for his childhood, though by 1824 he was living at Carrsbrook, another property of Dabney Minor's. Following Minor's death, Lewis was separated from his parents and siblings in the estate sale. Where he lived between 1824 and 1830 is unknown.

Starting in late 1830, Lewis was rented out to UVA by Alexander Garrett, the executor of Minor's estate. He became the Rotunda bell ringer and an attendant in several classrooms. In 1832, Lewis was purchased at auction by three professors for the University, as they felt to lose him would be a "real misfortune".[2] The three men were later reimbursed by the Board of Visitors $580 for the cost. To be clear, the most disgusting fact is that in 1832, the university's Board of Visitors officially declared Commodore the property of the university.[3]

For several years in the 1830s, Lewis lived in the Rotunda itself. While his main responsibilities were to ring the Rotunda's bell and clean the interior rooms, he was occasionally sent outside the building when school was not in session. Outside of his labor at the University, Lewis served as a minister to the Black community nearby. A student later remembered him as having acquired a "smart, practical knowledge of chemistry" and learning so much up from the university life around him that he could be considered "something of a classical scholar." Lewis was constantly asking students from the North about free Black life, proving he held an intellectual curiosity that the University refused to recognize.[2]

In 1835, Lewis was moved out of the Rotunda, seemingly because of his struggles with alcohol. Commodore rang the bell until the mid-1840's when he was relieved of his duties after being accused of drunkenness. [4] Alcohol was a constant problem for Lewis, as the harshness of the labor assigned to him by the Board of Visitors depended upon his state of sobriety or not. He was given manual labor as punishment, and often reprimanded. Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, reports were brought forward of his abandonment of his duties. These are the only documents relating to Commodore's life, though, which means the only notes on the man were from those who enslaved him. By 1855, he had been replaced as the bell ringer, though he stayed on at the University through at least 1862.[2] It is likely that he served as a hospital attendant in the school's Confederate Army hospital through 1865, when the arrival of the Union Army brought freedom to the enslaved people of Albemarle County.

In late 1865 and early 1866, UVA continued to purchase "subsistence" supplies for Lewis, including food and clothing. However, Lewis could not afford the new world that surrounded him, and he checked into the county's poor house in 1867. His health only deteriorated, and Lewis died of old age at the poor house in 1872, where he was likely buried.

Bell-ringing duties were taken over by Henry Martin. According to oral history, Martin was born at Monticello on July 4, 1826—the day Jefferson died. Though sold as a slave to the family of George Carr, Martin was freed by the time he was hired as the University’s bell ringer and janitor in 1847.

References

  1. Web. Lewis Commodore, 1803-1872, UVA School of Law
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Web. President's Commission on Slavery and the University Report
  3. Ervin L. Jordan, Jr., "Slavery and the University of Virginia: Information and Documents," 1985. This book by a UVA history professor states on page 16 that in 1832, the Board of Visitors declared Lewis Commodore to be "property of the University" making him "the only slave ever owned outright by the University." Maurie D. McInnis, “Slaves, Servants and Students: The Histories of Slavery at the University of Virginia,” PhD dissertation, The College of William and Mary, 1999. Page 106 cites the July 4, 1832 minutes of the Board of Visitors documenting their resolution declaring Lewis Commodore as property of the university. "History of African Americans at UVA: 1830s," Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, UVA, 2004. This chronology from UVA's library states under 1832: "On July 4, the BOV declare Lewis Commodore to be property of the University, making him the only slave ever owned outright by UVA." The Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, “Minutes of the Board of Visitors, University of Virginia, 1817-1840,” UVA Library. The original minutes from the July 4, 1832 meeting confirm the Board's resolution
  4. Web. History of African-Americans at UVA, Kiera Givens, October 14, 2015, retrieved November 4, 2015.