By Warren Eugene Milteer Jr.
UNC-Greensboro professor of history
Before the Civil War, Craven County was home to one of the largest populations of free people of color in the South. In 1860, over 1,300 free people of color lived in the county. This population was composed of individuals who had various combinations of African, Native American, European, and in the case of at least one family, South Asian ancestry.
In my recent book, North Carolina’s Free People of Color, 1715-1885 (Louisiana State University Press, 2020), I explore the history of free people of color in Craven County and other parts of the state. The routes to freedom for free people of color were as diverse as their ancestries. Some were born free. Under North Carolina law, no matter one’s race, if your mother was free when you were born, you were also free. This was the case for many families in Craven County whose roots reached back into the colonial period, like the George, Carter, Moore and Dove families.