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At the time of the Civil War, Hardin Reynolds owned more than 60 enslaved persons on his property Rock Spring Plantation in Critz, Virginia. These documents record the purchase and hiring out of enslaved individuals. The June 25, 1849 bill of slave records the purchase of enslaved boy Jack. The July 29, 1859 receipt records the sale of twenty-three old enslaved woman Milley. These documents serve as an ever present reminder of the role that human property played in the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry relied on Black labor, first as enslaved workers then as free labor. The notion that Black people were best suited for work in tobacco factories has its roots in slavery, when overseers and White capitalists commonly believed that Black people were better able to withstand the long hours, physical demands, and unsanitary conditions of tobacco production.
ProvenanceThe Reynolds Family Papers were transferred from Wake Forest University in 1993 when Reynolda House Museum of American Art established its archives. The bulk of this collection was originally received by Wake Forest University in a series of gifts from Nancy Susan Reynolds, 15 May 1976 and 22 February 1982, and from Reynolda House, Inc., 13 August 1976, 30 November 1976, 15 June 1978, 6 October 1980, 28 October 1980, and 26 January 1981.
Exhibition History2022-2023
Still I Rise: The Black Experience at Reynolda
Reynolda House Museum of American Art
DepartmentEstate Archives
Hardin William Reynolds Records of Enslaved People
Date1849-1859
MediumDocument
Credit LineReynolda House Museum of American Art Archives
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object numberEA.1849.001
DescriptionR.J. Reynolds’ father, Hardin William Reynolds, owned thousands of acres of land and was one of the largest slaveholders in the Patrick County area of Virginia. Hardin, a shrewd businessman, recognized that manufacturing tobacco products was far more profitable than growing the leaf alone; by the time R.J. was born in 1850, the tobacco factory was Hardin’s primary source of income. Young R.J. grew up working the floor of his father’s tobacco factory. He learned not only the mechanics of the factory but also the value of one flavoring over another, the factors that could lead to fluctuations in tobacco prices, and how to select the choicest leaf. In later life, R.J. would use the story of working as a hand in his father’s factory to ingratiate himself with his own workers. While technically true, he did so as the slaveholder’s son. At the time of the Civil War, Hardin Reynolds owned more than 60 enslaved persons on his property Rock Spring Plantation in Critz, Virginia. These documents record the purchase and hiring out of enslaved individuals. The June 25, 1849 bill of slave records the purchase of enslaved boy Jack. The July 29, 1859 receipt records the sale of twenty-three old enslaved woman Milley. These documents serve as an ever present reminder of the role that human property played in the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry relied on Black labor, first as enslaved workers then as free labor. The notion that Black people were best suited for work in tobacco factories has its roots in slavery, when overseers and White capitalists commonly believed that Black people were better able to withstand the long hours, physical demands, and unsanitary conditions of tobacco production.
ProvenanceThe Reynolds Family Papers were transferred from Wake Forest University in 1993 when Reynolda House Museum of American Art established its archives. The bulk of this collection was originally received by Wake Forest University in a series of gifts from Nancy Susan Reynolds, 15 May 1976 and 22 February 1982, and from Reynolda House, Inc., 13 August 1976, 30 November 1976, 15 June 1978, 6 October 1980, 28 October 1980, and 26 January 1981.
Exhibition History2022-2023
Still I Rise: The Black Experience at Reynolda
Reynolda House Museum of American Art
Status
Not on view
July 30, 1980
June 17, 1980
July 22, 1980
July 14, 1980
July 9, 1980
1931-1932
June 19, 1980