How do I index the race if it is listed as "Slave"?
I was indexing some Virginia records, and I came across these instances of people's races being labeled as "Slave". Since that doesn't really tell me anything, I'm not really sure what to index it as. I was able to put "Slave" in the field, so that's an option, but it could also be marked as "Other" or <Blank>. What do I do?
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@BraydenGraves Hi, the term Slave is not the person's race and is not listed in the drop-down choices, so the Race box should be marked <blank>. However, the word "Slave" does indicate that the Name shown in the "Father if born ..." is the Owner's Name and should be indexed in the Owner boxes. The word Owner does not get indexed as the Owner's Name Prefix -- this box is marked <blank> unless a specific prefix such as Miss or Mrs. is shown on the record. Do not assume a person's sex based on the Given Name such as "Francis" or "Frances."
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Since Slave is not a race, you are correct to enter <Blank>, unless the field helps say to index "Other". W is the abbreviation for White, which the field helps (accessed by clicking on the purple question marks) generally state to index W in the Race column as White, N as Negro, B as Black, etc. The field helps usually give additional instructions and it is important to read them in addition to the project instructions.
In America, there have been Negro, Indian (Native American), Colored, Red, Mulatto, Black, and White Slaves. People with those same terms or "races" also have all been slave-owners. The practice had no limitations.
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Disclaimer: I did not refer to project instructions for the following - but am only responding to the image of the batch above.
There are some with race W listed. Obviously the letter W is not a race. But likely an abbreviation for one - I would suspect White (the field is headed Color or Race). So if W is known to be a race option and instead Slave is written - I would suspect this means the person's race is not W (not white). I don't recall from this Project but not WI don't think is an option. I recognize this assumption is not entirely foolproof but probably would cover a large percentage of those marked as Slave.
If the field instruction for race field say not to assume/guess - then yes it should be marked <BLANK>.
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Thanks for the reply, and sorry for the delayed response! The problem with this is that, at some point in American history, Irish people could be slaves as well. Therefore, white slaves did exist. Admittedly, I don't know if that time period overlaps with the time the record was made, but I feel that it is worth taking into consideration. Ultimately, I've decided the best thing to do is mark it as <BLANK>.
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