First Light of Freedom

A year after the Civil War began, Roanoke Island fell to Union forces, and word spread throughout North Carolina that enslaved people could find safe haven there. By the end of 1862, more than a thousand runaway slaves, freed men, women, and children had found sanctuary on the island. The Freedmen’s Colony of Roanoke Island, which lasted from 1862 to 1867 and served as a precursor to the Freedmen's Bureau, became a model for other colonies throughout the South. Located on unoccupied, unimproved lands from Manteo to the north and west shores, including some of the land now known as Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, the colony established a sawmill, hospital, a school for black female teachers, and homes. Able-bodied men received rations and employment building a new fort, and they also enlisted in the First and Second North Carolina Regiments. Because the colony could not remain self-supporting without men, it became a refuge for three thousand women, children, the aged, and the infirm. After the war ended, the federal government discontinued rations and supplies and returned the land to its original owners, and the colony was abandoned in 1867. Many freed people remained and their descendants became respected local residents, while others settled in communities across the region and became an integral part of eastern North Carolina culture.

Manteo, North Carolina · United States