JUEL ID/KEY: P47679

"Uncle Peter," adult male. (Peter Briggs).

A biographical article on Henry Martin, perhaps the most well-known of African American employees of the University of Virginia in the nineteenth century, mentions other employees who also worked in the capacity of janitors, mechanicians, and the like. The 1915 article quotes a passage in College Topics that describes Martin as "one of the best type of the negro of the old South . . . [with] none of the buffoonery of that almost equally famous University character, 'Uncle Peter'" (600). The quote reflects the stereotypical attitudes of the time period, not the behaviour of  the actual individual.

More information about Uncle Peter will be added as it is researched. 

*NOTE: a R. W. Holsinger portrait labelled, "Uncle Peter," is mislabelled and is not of the Uncle Peter (Peter Briggs) associated with the University (according to the UVA Library Catalogue).

(ABOVE: "Sketch of Uncle Peter," Corks and Curls 1890)

Sources

Corks and Curls Yearbook 1890 [Hathi Trust] 

- "Uncle Peter," (date unknown) photograph in UVA Catalogue (#U00270B) 

- Patton, John S. "Henry Martin, 1826-1915." Alumni Bulletin ser.3 vol. 8 (October 1915), pp.597-602.

- Transcript of Patton's "Henry Martin, 1826-1915" here

SEE ALSO:
Holsinger Image Gallery of African Americans

Charlottesville City Directory, 1914-15 [Hathi Trust] 

Return to the Holsinger Main Page or Return to the List of UVA-Affiliated African American Individuals