Free Blacks of Israel Hill

To the west lies Israel Hill, settled in 1810–1811 by approximately ninety formerly enslaved persons who received freedom and 350 acres from Judith Randolph under the will of her husband, Richard Randolph, cousin of Thomas Jefferson. These “Israelites” and other free African Americans worked as farmers, craftspeople, and Appomattox River boatmen; some labored alongside whites for equal wages and defended their rights in court. The family of early settler Hercules White bought and sold real estate in Farmville and joined with white citizens to found the town's first Baptist church in 1836. Israel Hill remained a vigorous black community into the twentieth century.