Скачать или смотреть How the Courts Proved Black Indigenous Americans Existed: Butt v. Rachel

In 1814, a Virginia courtroom became the battleground for one woman's fight for freedom and proof of a hidden truth in American history.

Meet Rachel: a dark-skinned Indigenous woman enslaved in Virginia, descended from a Native ancestor brought from Jamaica. When her enslaver claimed ownership, Rachel took her case all the way to the state's highest court. The result? Alandmark ruling that declared Indigenous people could not be held as slaves under Virginia law -- legally validating the existence of Black Indigenous Americans.

This forgotten trial exposes how colonial systems tried to erase melanated Native identities by misclassifying them, while the courts, in this rare victory, affirmed their truth.

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Sources: Virginia Supreme Court records, Library of Virginia archives
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