African-Americans are an integral part of the Shenandoah Valley's history since the early 1700s when they

arrived with European settlers. Enslaved African-Americans were brought to the Shenandoah Valley and were destined for agricultural or domestic labor. Although there were enslaved people working on farms, the enslaved population was not as high in the Valley compared to the slaveowning plantations in the eastern Tidewater region. [2] Plantations in eastern Virginia largely relied on economic gain from cultivating tobacco on their land. Tobacco plantations required vast amounts of land, as the crop quickly depletes the nutrients in the soul. Therefore, farmers rotated the crops on their land each year or until the soil's nutrients were completely exploited. In addition to tobacco's need for rich soil, the cash crop required the careful attention and large amounts of enslaved individuals to work the fields. [2] 

 

The Shenandoah Valley, on the other hand, was settled largely by German Mennonites, Scots-Irish, and English

settlers. Although the Scots-Irish and English were quick to continue farming with enslaved labor, the German population were hesitant to adopt the practice. [3] The population of Germans in the Valley largely opposed slavery; however, there were several German and Mennonites slaveowning families. [4] Not only did religion play a large role in this practice, but economic factors also influenced the lower populations of enslaved people in the region. Farmers in the Shenandoah Valley did not rely as heavily as their neighbors in the Tidewater on tobacco cultivation. The cash crops in the Valley were mainly hemp, wheat, and flax, and they did not require as much labor. 

 

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Notes:

[1] “The Appraisement of the Estate of Daniel Harrison, Deceased” Probate Inventory, Augusta County, Virginia, August 25, 1770.

[2] Robert D. Mitchell. “The Shenandoah Valley Frontier.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 62, no. 3 (1972): 473.

Allan Kulikoff. Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, 1680-1800. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986), 45-52. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807839225_kulikoff

[3] Robert D. Mitchell. “The Shenandoah Valley Frontier.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 62, no. 3 (1972): 473.

[4] Robert D. Mitchell. “The Shenandoah Valley Frontier.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 62, no. 3 (1972): 473.

[5] Last Will and Testament of  Daniel Harrison.” Augusta County, Virginia, 1767; “The Appraisement of the Estate

of Daniel Harrison, Deceased.” Augusta County, Virginia, 1770.

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