Slavery was not built for love.

Nonetheless, despite caprice and cruelty, love endured.

In 1866, when the State of North Carolina created a path for recognition of marriages made  before Emancipation, thousands of couples found their way to a justice of peace. The cohabitation register for Wilson County shows a column for the groom’s name and a column for the bride’s and a column that recorded the years they had been together.

Arch Daniel and Rena Daniel. 35 years.

Bob Rountree and Tempy Horne. 30 years.

Amos Taylor and Amy Barnes. 33 years.

Champion Simms and Deura Simms. 40 years.

Living miles apart, without bodily autonomy, under constant threat of sale and separation, disrespected and denigrated, these men and women chose to love — and whom to love. Today, we recognize these revolutionaries and honor their memory.

My great-great-grandparents, Willis Barnes and Cherry Battle, registered their six-year cohabitation in Wilson County in 1866.