1861

May, Samuel, 1810-1899

Pamphlet

Title: The fugitive slave law and its victims.

Printed by the American Anti-slavery Society. No. 15 of American Anti-Slavery Tracts. Pages are separated from binding. Contains an Essex Institute stamp. Small burn mark on front cover.

GLC06232.11

1842

Peters, Richard, 1780-1848

Book

Title: Report of the case of Edward Prigg against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Argued and adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States at January term, 1842.

In which it was decided that all the laws of the several states relative to fugitive slaves are unconstitutional and void; and that Congress has the exclusive power of legislation on the subject of fugitive slaves escaping into other states. By Richard Peters, reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. Printed by L. Johnson. Cover is fragile, consisting of green wrapper.

GLC06232.12

1805

Alexander, Ann Tuke, 1767-1849

Pamphlet

Title: An address to the inhabitants of Charleston, South Carolina.

"I lament- exceedingly lament, that a custom, so barbarous as well as so repugnant to every principle of humanity and justice, as the African Slave-Trade, should be continued in this or any other nation." Printed by Kimber, Conrad, & Co. Wrapper is extremely fragile. Bound with string.

GLC06232.13

May 1863

Educational Commission for Freedmen (Boston, Mass.)

Pamphlet

Title: First annual report of the educational commission for freedmen.

Printed by Prentiss & Deland. Discusses the Port Royal Experiment, in which former slaves successfully worked on land abandoned by plantation owners on islands off the coast of South Carolina. Includes a report of the committee of teachers sent to Port Royal: "The instruction most needed by the blacks was not in the knowledge of school books, but in that which should lead them to appreciate the advantages of civilized life, to relinquish many of the habits and customs of slavery, and to learn the duties and responsibilities of free men." John Albion Andrew was chosen as President of…

GLC06232.15

December 1870

Arkansas. Supreme Court.

Manuscript document

Title: [Gideon Pillow v. Brown & Childress as executor of John Pointer, appeal from Philips Circuit Court]

Supreme Court of Arkansas case. Involves Pointer's sale of 85 slaves to Pillow on 28 December 1860. Discusses the legitimacy of enforcing slavery related cases. Focuses on unpaid debt, and interest on unpaid debt, that might have accrued during the course of the Civil War. Cites an earlier precedent from the 18th century: "This question first arose in the United States shortly after the War of 1776 and it was held that on contracts made before the War, when the parties belong within the opposing forces, that the debt was suspended and that interest did not run (accrue) unless the creditor…

GLC06244

February 4, 1835

Palmer, Hastings D., 1806-1879

Document signed

Title: [Receipt for payment for a slave named Eliza]

Adam Poole pays Palmer $500 for "a negro girl of dark complexion, about sixteen years of age, known by the name of Eliza or 'Lize,' which I warrant to be sound in body and mind as well as a slave for life." Attested to by [Jessi H. Cleveland?].

GLC06261.01.01

18 September 1852

Napier, John E., fl. 1852

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Bill of sale for a female slave named America and her child]

Napier sells America, a nineteen year old slave, and her six week old child to James Chambers for $675. Attests that the slaves are "sound and slaves for life..."

GLC06261.02

26 December 1774

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Mercer

Written by Washington a month after the adjournment of the first Continental Congress to Mercer as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Informs Mercer of the cost of purchases made for him in Frederick, Maryland including £29 for a slave named Kate. Says the whole of Mercer's purchase was for £2385.14.2. Has heard nothing from Colonel Payton on the Loudoun County land for which Mercer was charged. Washington is involved in a disputed land deal through Mercer for Gray & Adams land, and he writes that it appears that the land in question is 56 acres short of the 1224 he was going to…

GLC06335

1 September 1848

Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Wilson Lumpkin

Here, Calhoun concurs with Lumpkin's views on nullification, the Union, and the differences between [the] North and the South. "The question between the North & South is ... a mere question of power. The pretext of bettering the condition of the Slave is laid asside. The only alternative left as is, shall we resist, or surrender, & thus in fact change condition with our Slaves." States that the South's condition is hopeless unless they can unite their parties. Feels that both candidates [presidential nominees Zachary Taylor and Lewis Cass] for election are useless. "What madness, to…

GLC06317

1802

Header Record

Title: Legal documents pertaining to the Easter Plot of 1802 [Decimalized .01-.16]

An archive of legal documents related to the Halifax County, Virginia trial of slaves following Sancho's Rebellion, also known as the Easter Plot of 1802. Includes six indictments, five mittimus warrants, one arrest warrant, and four writs of summons. Sancho, a participant in Gabriel's Rebellion of 1800, instigated a slave uprising intended to take place on or around Good Friday 1802. The ferment spread through southern Virginia (including Halifax County), and northeastern North Carolina. In his book "Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 & 1802," Daniel…

GLC06338

10 March 1864

Andrew, John A. (John Albion), 1818-1867

Autograph quotation signed

Title: [Sentiments expressing Andrew's wish to see the end of slavery]

Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts, writes, "May the Sun of 1864 see the last fetter fall from the limb of the last slave in Maryland." Written on Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Department stationery.

GLC06352.01

December 1859

Wentworth, William, fl. 1859

Broadside

Title: Brown hung

Calling town meeting at Wentworth Hall on 9 December to discuss the hanging of John Brown. "All (not excluding the ladies) are invited to attend." William Wentworth was the chairman of the event.

GLC06354

30 December 1859

Broadside

Title: John Brown still lives!

Calling a meeting to discuss John Brown, his raid, and slavery. "Hon. E. Graham, of Dewitt, Iowa, and A.J. Grover, Esq., of Lasalle county, Ill., will speak On Brown's Invasion! And the Present Aspect of the Slavery Question...B. C. Golliday, who was with Brown in Kansas, will be present." Notes "All are invited, not excepting ladies"

GLC06355

1839

Stratton, Samuel, fl. 1839

Pamphlet

Title: Report of the Holden slave case, tried at the January term of the Court of Common Pleas, for the County of Worcester, A.D. 1839.

Printed by Colton and Howland for the Board of Directors of the Holden Anti-Slavery Society. Discusses "the case of Commonwealth vs. Samuel Stratton, Samuel Foster, James E. Cheney, and Farnum White, Jun., who were charged in the indictment with a conspiracy to defraud Olivia Eames of Holden, of the voluntary services of her servant girl, named Anne, without her consent..."

GLC06356

circa 1850

Broadside

Title: Prophetic Daniel Webster!

Broadside states, "During the latter days of Mr. Webster, he was assailed by the Abolitionists on account of his 7th of March speech." Excerpts from the speech: "If the Fanatics and Abolitionists ever get the power in their hands they will override the Constitution... and finally Bankrupt the Country and Deluge it with blood."

GLC06357

14 March 1864

Crenshaw, O. A., fl. 1845-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Alexander Seddon

Crenshaw, a surgeon, requests that Seddon allow James Bolling, a free African American from Charles City, Virginia, to remain in Crenshaw's employment as a fisherman. Informs Seddon, Confederate Secretary of War, that "Fish are necessary to the support of my remaining negroes most of the valuable ones having been ... taken by the enemy." Declares that "If all the free negro fisherman are taken for govt service, then the people in and around Richmond must suffer greatly for want of food." Includes several dockets dated March 1864. One docket indicates that Bolling's services are necessary…

GLC06374

1840-1891

Header Record

Title: Slavery archive [decimalized]

Duley Family Papers, mostly by Enoch Duley and his son Enoch M. Duley. The papers consist of correspondence, deeds, land grants, genealogical material, land surveys and maps, a hymn book, and photographs, including cabinet cards, tintypes, and cartes de visite. These materials document the acquisition and division of land by the Duley family; genealogy of the Duley, Wood, and Underwood families; and serve as photographic documentation of a number of Duley family members over a range of years. For instance, the collection contains several photographs of Eva (Duley) Underwood, the youngest…

GLC06377

9 May 1860

Duley, Enoch M., 1773-1864

Broadside

Title: $200 Reward!

Offered for "my boy Manuel," a runaway slave described as 35 years old and enterprising. Includes a physical description: "He has a shrewd expression of the eye, and has a scar on one of his thighs occasioned from a burn, is well dressed and has in his possession a figured, plush carpetbag." Offers $200 if he is apprehended outside Kentucky and $50 if he is captured within the state. From the Duley family papers.

GLC06377.01

26 April 1853

Darbee, L. & Son, fl. 1853

Newspaper

Title: Williamsburgh Daily Gazette [Vol. 18, no. 290, whole no. 1675 (April 26, 1853)]

Includes preview of a work soon to be published called "The Narrative of Solomon Northrop, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped and Sold into Slavery in Washington City, in 1844, and Rescued in 1853 from a cotton plantation, near the Red River, in Louisiana." Also shows an image of women running a printing press on the last page. Other local news, ads, and announcements.

GLC06069.01

29 June 1864

Joy, George, fl. 1785-1795

Newspaper

Title: North Carolina times. [Vol. 1, no. 47 (June 29, 1864)]

Union-occupation newspaper. Masthead motto reads "Liberty and Union - Now and Forever - One and Inseparable." Front page prints recently passed U.S. laws, including acts to provide trials for minor offences and to incorporate homes for women and children. Editorial titled "The Doomed City" describes events in Virginia and details the state's transgressions, including its endorsement of the massacre of colored troops at Fort Pillow. Describes the late reconnaissance toward Kinston. "Affairs About Petersburg." Interesting reminiscence about George Washington's last vote. Ink manuscript notes…

GLC06107.14

circa 1813

Forten, James, 1766-1842

Pamphlet

Title: Letters from a man of colour, on a late bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania.

An eloquent response to a bill in the Pennsylvania senate to stop the emigration of people of color into the state. Forten wrote anonymously, signing his letters "A Man of Colour." Five letters respond to the Pennsylvania bill, arguing that Pennsylvania has been a refuge for emancipated Black people have unalienable rights set forth in the Declaration of Independence, which are protected by the Constitution. Forten writes, "The dog is protected and pampered at the board of his master, while the poor African and his descendant, whether a Saint or a felon, is branded with infamy, registered…

GLC06046

January 23, 1864

White, Edward B., fl. 1863-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his sister

Offers reflections on his earlier prediction for the Confederacy. Writes in part: "my doctrine before the commencement of it [i.e., the war] was that secession would be followed by the bloodiest strife recorded in the page of modern history and lay the foundation stone for the abolition of slavery; but all such talk as this was, at that time, looked upon as proceeding from the imagination of a lunatic, and treated accordingly. There must be a tremendous reconning to settle up for the misery inflicted on the innocent thousands of young boys, who never had a voice in the affairs of government…

GLC06053.02

25 June 1862

Shober, William A., fl. 1862

Newspaper

Title: Quincy semi-weekly dispatch [Vol. 2, no. 1 (June 25, 1862)]

Necessity newspaper from Florida, with accounts of J.E.B. Stewart's ride around McClellan's army, Benjamin Butler's atrocities in New Orleans, Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, also discussion of an "Emancipation Measure" on page 4. Mentions that Jubal Early was made a major general and that Abraham Lincoln visited Fredericksburg. Includes the latest news by telegram on page 2-3 as well as a call for volunteers for a partisan group. Page 4 has an article titled "Who is 'Gov.' Johnson?" which provides a short biography of Andrew Johnson. Advertisements on last two pages. Signature…

GLC06063

1865

North Carolina, Constitutional Convention

Broadside

Title: An ordinance prohibiting slavery in the State of North Carolina.

Ordinance No. 16, introduced by Mr. Settle. Declares, "... it is hereby declared and ordained, That Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than for crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby forever prohibited within the State."

GLC06079

1843

Eldridge, Elleanor, 1785-?

Book

Title: Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge.

Printed by B. T. Albro. Compiled by Francis Harriet Whipple Green McDougall (born Francis Harriet Whipple), an abolitionist and author. Eldridge was a black female slave and servant, who saved money from her labors, establishing herself as a respected entrepreneur. Contains a woodcut portrait of Eldridge opposite title page.

GLC06083