Pleasants, Robert, 1723-1801
Name Entries
person
Pleasants, Robert, 1723-1801
Name Components
Surname :
Pleasants
Forename :
Robert
Date :
1723-1801
eng
Latn
authorizedForm
unknown
Pleasaents, Robert, 1723-1801
Name Components
Surname :
Pleasaents
Forename :
Robert
Date :
1723-1801
eng
Latn
alternativeForm
rda
Pleasants, Robert, 1722-1801
Name Components
Surname :
Pleasants
Forename :
Robert
Date :
1722-1801
eng
Latn
alternativeForm
rda
Genders
Male
Exist Dates
1723
1723
Birth
1801-03-04
1801
Death
Some sources list Pleasants's birth as 1722, perhaps due to Old-Style/New-Style calendar differences.
Biographical History
Robert Pleasants was a Quaker merchant, planter, and enslaver-turned-abolitionist who spent most of his life in Henrico County, Virginia. He is perhaps best known for successfully suing for the freedom of over 400 enslaved people as the plaintiff in Pleasants v. Pleasants, the largest manumission case in U.S. history.
Pleasants was born about 1723 to John Pleasants III and Margaret Jordan Pleasants, Quaker members of Virginia's planter aristocracy of enslavers, at their estate of Curles’ Neck in Henrico County, Virginia. In 1748 he married Mary Webster of Baltimore County, Maryland. Pleasants became a leader in the local Quaker community at a relatively young age; in 1749/50 he succeeded his father as clerk of Henrico Monthly Meeting, and in 1759 he was recommended for the position of elder.
Though born into a family of enslavers, Pleasants eventually came to support antislavery, likely through a connection with Philadelphia Quaker abolitionist Anthony Benezet. Before his father's death in 1771, Pleasants persuaded him to provide in his will for the manumission of the people he enslaved. Since existing Virginia law nullified the manumissions, Pleasants took a leading role in lobbying efforts that eventually led to the passage of Virginia's Manumission Act in 1782. He soon thereafter legally recognized the freedom of the people he had enslaved and hired them as paid laborers. Pleasants founded the Virginia Aboltion Society in 1790, and served as its president until his death in 1801. He also submitted a number of petitions to the state and national legislatures calling for the end of the slave trade.
In 1793, after Pleasants's relatives failed not comply with his father's last will in freeing the enslaved people it had placed under their charge, Pleasants brought them to court in Pleasants v. Pleasants. The case was eventually decided in his favor in 1800, establishing the legal freedom of over 400 people. Pleasants died the following year. In his will, he set aside land to endow a school for free Black children known as Gravelly Hill.
eng
Latn
External Related CPF
https://viaf.org/viaf/36764520
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-nr90001087
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/nr90001087
https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7348931
Other Entity IDs (Same As)
Sources
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Internal CPF Relations
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Languages Used
eng
Latn
Subjects
Slavery
Abolitionists
African American schools
Antislavery movements
Breweries
Canals
Society of Friends
Fugitive slaves
Iron foundries
Jails
Manumissions
Merchants
Quakers
Slave labor
Westham Canal (Va.)
Nationalities
Activities
Occupations
Abolitionists
Merchants
Quaker abolitionists
Quakers
Slaveholders
Legal Statuses
Places
Henrico County
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>