Landowners Created Wealth Through Stolen Labor
This 1977 photo shows the slave quarters at Horton Grove, part of the Cameron Plantation, built circa 1851. Descendents of enslaved people lived in these homes until the 1940s.
Courtesy State Archives of North Carolina
When the Civil War began, nearly 1 out of every 3 people in Orange and Durham Counties was enslaved.
White farmers reaped profits from crops grown on stolen land with the stolen labor of enslaved people.
“They would not allow us to have prayer meetings in our houses, but we would gather late in the night and turn pots upside down inside the door to kill the sound and sing and pray for freedom. No one could hear unless they eavesdropped.”
– Alex Woods, formerly enslaved person from Orange County
The Cameron Plantation was the largest in the state. The Cameron family owned 30,000 acres of land and nearly 900 enslaved people.
The politically powerful Camerons lobbied the state for a local railroad stop to expand the market reach for their plantation’s many products. This stop became the Durham Station and the center of the future city.
The Cameron plantation lands are outlined on this 1887 map. Many of the other landowning families shown on this map also owned enslaved people.
Courtesy David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
This 1977 photo shows the slave quarters at Horton Grove, part of the Cameron Plantation, built circa 1851. Descendents of enslaved people lived in these homes until the 1940s.
Courtesy State Archives of North Carolina
When the Civil War began, nearly 1 out of every 3 people in Orange and Durham Counties was enslaved.
White farmers reaped profits from crops grown on stolen land with the stolen labor of enslaved people.
“They would not allow us to have prayer meetings in our houses, but we would gather late in the night and turn pots upside down inside the door to kill the sound and sing and pray for freedom. No one could hear unless they eavesdropped.”
– Alex Woods, formerly enslaved person from Orange County
The Cameron Plantation was the largest in the state. The Cameron family owned 30,000 acres of land and nearly 900 enslaved people.
The politically powerful Camerons lobbied the state for a local railroad stop to expand the market reach for their plantation’s many products. This stop became the Durham Station and the center of the future city.