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Archiver > APG > 2003-11 > 1068528302


From: "James Brady" <>
Subject: RE: [APG] Race and Blind Spots
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 00:26:32 -0500
In-Reply-To: <004701c3a7e8$efa560f0$16763e44@win2000a141573>


Elizabeth wrote:
>James, have you tried searching the WPA ex-slave narratives that are now
>online at the Library of Congress? There are some wonderful -- and some
>awful -- accounts there that do just that. It can also be a valuable
>experience to track down descendants of a forebear's slaves, or descendants
<of free people of color who lived next to our ancestral families. They may
>have memories or mementos.

No I haven't. I'll take a look (And thanks for the story that went with the
above).

My problem seems to be that everyone is familiar only with the institution
of slavery in the Southern states. And most of the narratives that I have
seen reflect that. Everybody up here in the North (I'm in New Jersey) likes
to forget that it happened up here too. And of those that do accept that it
happened up here, too many seem to apply the Southern plantation model.

I'm looking at New York (Hudson River valley) and in the 1790 census I see
some very large land-holders with 6-12, or so, slaves. Most people have
none, and some have 1-3. It's clearly not the stereotypical plantation model
and many local pastors seem to have encouraged the owners of the slaves to
allow the slave's active participation in the local church services. Very
early accounts of New York mention Indian, Negro and White slaves. Whatever
we think of these people, in earlier years, they were used to having
neighbors captured by Indians and killed or enslaved. They were also used to
white indentured servants still working off the debts that allowed them to
come to the new world.

So I see the black slave-white Palatine woman marriage that I mentioned
earlier. I see two black slaves, of different owners, married and the
baptisms of their children. And I wonder where did they live and who claimed
ownership of the children? And I see the slave owners serving as baptismal
sponsors for these same children, and I have no context to understand any of
this.

New York drew up a plan to abolish slavery by 1817 (check my date, it's off
the top of my head) and I thought, well there must be records. Someone
pointed out to me that, despite my naiveté in believing that the spirit of
the law would be followed, that many New York owners of slaves circumvented
the law and created perhaps the largest slave market in the US in New York
City.

So, I still hope to find manumission records, but realize that may not have
happened in many cases. The literature that I have seen seems to ignore the
Northern states. I'm wondering if the Schomburg Center for Research in Black
Culture (part of the New York City library system) has anything that might
help.

In one curious case I found a will where a slave was given the tools of his
trade (blacksmithing) and was allowed to choose which of the testator's
children he would become the property of. Were the children forced to bid
for him, in effect? Could the slave have parlayed that into a later promise
of freedom?

If anyone has seen something published that would put this into perspective
I would appreciate a mention.

Jim


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