Digest>Sep/Oct 2021

Photo Caption:

William Roscoe Davis (1814-1904) was the son of a white ship’s captain and enslaved mother of mixed African and Native American descent. About 1837, he married Nancy Moore, a slave of mixed-race ancestry, who had one son. Although the marriage had no legal standing, they went on to have four sons and two daughters. When Union troops occupied Fort Monroe, William Davis and his family were among the first slaves to seek refuge there. After he gained his freedom, he became an ordained Baptist minister and promoted the education for freed people. He was appointed the lighthouse keeper at Old Point Comfort in 1870 and served until 1878. (Library of Congress)
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Freedom's Beacon
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