Free lessons Feb. 21 in Woodbridge on how to use Virginia slave name database

Virginia Historical Society will give five free presentations about how to use the Virginia slave name database, including one on Feb. 21 in Woodbridge, according to Lauranett Lee, curator of African American history for VHS.

Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names now includes more than 10,000 names and 1,500+ digital images of documents from which the information was extracted, Lee said.

During Black History Month, Virginia Historical Society staff involved with the research and creation of Unknown No Longer will offer demonstrations of how to use the database; background information about slavery in Virginia; an explanation of how information is extracted; and a question-and-answer session.

The following presentations about Unknown No Longer are free and open to the public:

Chesterfield County Public Library, Chester Branch
11800 Centre Street, Chester, VA 23831
Monday, February 11, 2013
6:30 p.m.

The Commodore Theatre
421 High Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
12:00 p.m.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
200 North Boulevard Richmond, VA 23220
Friday, February 15, 2013
1:00 p.m.

Lest We Forget: The Enslavement and Emancipation Conference
14640 Potomac Mills Road, Woodbridge, VA 22192
Thursday, February 21, 2013
2:30 p.m.

Chesterfield County Public Library, Midlothian Branch
521 Coalfield Road, Midlothian, VA 23114
Saturday, February 23, 2013
11:00 a.m.

Unknown No Longer was made possible by Dominion Resources, which also made possible the “how to use the database” video on the website, according to a news release.