wtvr has a profile of Elizabeth Van Lew, calling her “the most hated woman in America”:
Elizabeth Van Lew is born in 1818 into a wealthy slave owning household. She was a woman of means living in the finest mansion on Church Hill, but the Quaker educated Van Lew comes to abhor the institution – of humans owning humans.
She secretly starts freeing her slaves following her father’s passing 20 years ‘before’ the Emancipation Proclamation. The decision sets the unmarried Van Lew on a crash course with her fellow Virginians.
13 comments
@chpn I would think right now it’s the lady who arranged the Boston Bomber Burial. #mosthatedwomaninvirginia
Saw this on the news last night this is the history they don’t teach us in school…wow!
Because only idiots would be afraid of a corpse.
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I remember reading somewhere that her mansion was on the site of the current Bellevue Elementary School. Thanks for posting.
Her mansion was on the current site of Bellevue Elementary. We have a museum dedicated to Van Lew and Maggie Walker, who was born in the Van Lew Mansion. Come visit!!
@ Trish
Fear isn’t the issue and having contempt for a monster (even in death) who masterminded the killing of innocent people is far from idiotic.
@The U…nion Hill, please elaborate.
Fascinating piece! Bravo, Ms. Van Lew.
On another note, what a beautiful home with beautiful grounds. Shame it was demolished, as is the case with so many historic structures.
@The U–well, you don’t seem to have much of a problem with the Virginia Tech shooter, who killed many more people in a much more personal and perverse way, being buried in Virginia. Or is it a case of NIMBY? The guy’s dead, it’s not like someone’s going to raise a monument on his grave or anything.
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