John Janney
John's Experiences with Slaves
The Quakers were against slavery and they helped form many of the anti-slavery societies in the North and supported the Union during the Civil War. The Quaker community in Loudoun had contact with free and enslaved blacks.
Loudoun's enslaved African Community was a little over 5000 or a quarter of the population by 1860. In the years leading up to the Civil War, the number of slaves sold increased. Many of the slaves sold at the courthouse in Leesburg were purchased by plantations in the Deep South.
John talks about slaves in husking contests. He wrote that there was always a group of African Americans who performed at husking parties playing the banjo, singing and dancing. A popular form of music among the slave was the patting of hands, thighs and chest called "rhythmic patting." John describes "rhythmic patting" in detail by slaves at a family corn husking.
John writes of an enslaved woman whose occupation was making brooms. John also remembers at least 3 African American students at his school.
