In “A Caution to All Travellers to Philadelphia,” published in the Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser on March 30, 1786, Philip Dalby, of Alexandria, complains that Quakers have sued for his slave’s freedom.
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Category: Slavery
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“A Dastardly Crime,” Staunton Spectator and Vindicator (July 14, 1898)
In “A Dastardly Crime,” published on July 14, 1898, the Staunton Spectator and Vindicator reports on the recent lynching in Charlottesville of John Henry James, an African American man accused of assaulting a white woman.
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“A List of Negroes at College” (ca. 1780)
This list of enslaved people owned by the College of William and Mary, circa 1780, includes both those who were at the College at that time and those who were hired out.
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“A Proclamation by the President of the United States” (February 18, 1851)
In “A Proclamation by the President of the United States,” dated February 18, 1851, President Millard Fillmore and Secretary of State Daniel Webster condemn the escape from federal custody of Shadrach Minkins, a slave from Norfolk who had escaped to Boston, Massachusetts, the previous year.
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“A Report of a Comittee from an Assembly Concerning the freedome of Elizabeth Key” (1656)
On July 21, 1656, in “A Report of a Comittee from an Assembly Concerning the freedome of Elizabeth Key,” the General Assembly ruled that the slave Elizabeth Key should be freed.
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“A Slave of George Washington!” by Benjamin Chase, The Liberator (January 1, 1847)
In “A Slave of George Washington!,” published in William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist newspaper the Liberator on January 1, 1847, Benjamin Chase interviews Oney Judge, who ran away from the household of President George Washington in 1796.
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“A strange dream this day”; an excerpt from the diary of Landon Carter (1776–1777)
In this excerpt from the diary he kept for more than twenty-five years, Landon Carter notes that several of his slaves have run away following a proclamation by the royal governor, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, promising freedom to slaves who joined British forces during the American Revolution (1775–1783). Carter repeatedly voices his dislike for Patrick Henry and his belief that he (Carter), and not Henry, had taken the lead in opposing the Stamp Act (1765). Finally, he gives evidence of strained relations at home with his son and wife, and brags of his abilities as a physician.
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“Abolitionism,” New York Spectator (September 26, 1842)
In this short article from the September 26, 1842, edition of the New York Spectator, disapproving editors reprint news from an abolitionist newspaper in New York describing the aid of fugitive slaves. This marks one of the earliest appearances in print of the phrase “underground railroad.”
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“Account of a wonderful talent for arithmetical calculation, in an African slave living in Virginia,” American Museum, or Universal Magazine (January 1789)
In this account, dated November 14, 1788, and published in the January 1789 issue of American Museum, or Universal Magazine, Dr. Benjamin Rush describes the life and mathematical feats of Thomas Fuller, an enslaved man living near Alexandria.
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“Against Runawayes” (1669)
In this act, “Against Runawayes,” passed by the General Assembly in the session of October 1669, Virginia’s colonial government responds to the problem of runaway indentured servants and slaves.
