Rachel Findlay (born circa 1750 – died after August 17, 1820) (also spelled "Finley" or "Findley") was a Native American mixed race woman who was illegally enslaved for over fifty years and twice sued

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

for her rightful freedom, successfully winning her case in 1820.

Life

Rachel Findlay was born enslaved in the early 1750s in Virginia, in the area now known as

Powhatan County Powhatan County () is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,033. Its county seat is Powhatan. Powhatan County is included in the Greater Richmond Region. The James River forms the cou ...

. Her mother was possibly of both Indian and African ancestry, and her maternal grandmother was named Chance, an illegally enslaved Indian woman from either the

Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany * Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other ...

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

nation.

Freedom lawsuits

In the early 1770s, Findlay and her brother sued their enslaver Thomas Clay (the great-grandfather of politician

Henry Clay Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, al ...

) on the ground that they were illegally enslaved (the colony of Virginia had formally ended the legal practice of Indian slavery in 1705). Being a descendant of a Native American was one of the few circumstances under which enslaved Black persons could sue to be emancipated during this period. In May 1773, the General Court of Virginia in Williamsburg ruled that Findlay and her brother were free, but before the court reached its verdict, the Clay family had preemptively sent Findlay and her daughter west and sold them to another enslaver, John Draper near

Ingles Ferry Ingles Ferry is a historic tavern near the city of Radford in Pulaski County, Virginia, Virginia, United States. William Ingles and his wife Mary Draper Ingles began developing a farm on the eastern side of the New River a few years after Mary' ...

. The Draper family enslaved Findlay and her daughter in

Wythe County, Virginia Wythe County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,290. Its county seat is Wytheville. History Wythe County was formed from Montgomery County in 1790. It was ...

for forty years. In 1813, Rachel again filed suit, this time in the Wythe County courts, to obtain her freedom. The case was eventually transferred to Powhatan County and became a jury trial. Rachel's legal counsel faced the challenge of convincing the jury of twelve white men of Rachel's rightful freedom. Rachel formally won her freedom on May 13, 1820, and was granted one penny in damages. Because of Virginia law, when Rachel received her freedom, all of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren also became legally entitled to freedom (approximately forty-four persons in total).

Death

Little is recorded about Rachel's life after the case, but she is believed to have died after August 17, 1820.

Legacy and honors

The 2002 novel, ''Free in Chains,'' is a historical fiction account of Findlay's life and fight for her freedom. In 2014, Rachel was posthumously honored as a

Virginia Women in History Virginia Women in History was an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honored Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of th ...

inductee. One of her descendants, Robert Fitzgerald, accepted the award on her behalf saying, "Her life reflects the human spirit's need to be free and at all costs".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Findlay, Rachel 1750s births 1820s deaths 18th-century Native American women 18th-century American women 18th-century Native Americans 19th-century Native American women 19th-century Native Americans Women in Virginia 19th-century American slaves 18th-century American slaves