In this excerpt from The History of Virginia (1722)—an expansion of History and Present State of Virginia (1705)—Robert Beverley describes the male-initiation rite known as the huskanaw among the Algonquian-speaking Indians of Tsenacomoco and Tidewater Virginia.
This excerpt from The History of Virginia by Robert Beverley Jr. encompasses all of Book Four, Chapter 10, in which the author describes the institutions of slavery and indentured servitude in Virginia. He defends the institutions from naysayers, paying special attention to the legal rights of servants. (He does not mention any such rights for slaves.) Beverley’s History and Present State of Virginia was first published in 1705, but written earlier, before the institution of Virginia’s slave code. This excerpt comes from Beverley’s second, revised edition, published in 1722.
In this excerpt from The History of Virginia (1722)—an expansion of The History and Present State of Virginia (1705)—Robert Beverley Jr. describes the Gloucester County Conspiracy (1663), also known as the Servants’ Plot and Birkenhead’s Rebellion, in which a group of indentured servants planned a revolt in Gloucester County.
