April 1757
Virginia confines enrolled Black and Indigenous men to unarmed militia roles
Virginia
Virginia’s militia law required enrolled free Black, mixed-race and Indigenous men to attend musters without arms. Officers could employ them as drummers, trumpeters, pioneers or in other labor the statute designated as servile. The provision imposed racially restricted participation in the militia.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
Section VII applies to free men who were enrolled and differentiates their duties from armed service. It is not a blanket exemption from militia obligations or a claim about every later enlistment rule. April 1757 identifies the legislative session; April 1 is a month-level sorting anchor. This provision is separate from the 1723 substitution question.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 5, pp. 77–79; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified; context for the jurisdiction-specific follow-up, not a citation of this particular act
- William Waller Hening, Statutes at Large, vol. VII, April 1757 session, chapter III, section VII, p. 95 ↗