The History of Slavery in Massachusetts
It would be impossible to understand what life was like for late 18th- and early 19th-century African Americnans in Essex County without some knowledge of the history of slavery in Massachusetts. Even after slavery officially ended in Massachusetts by the 1780s there were still laws that enforced segregation in Massachusetts, including restrictions on railroad travel, inter-racial marriage and in schools. In 1822 the Massachusetts Legislature commissioned a report to revisit the never enforced 1788 Massachusetts Law restricting Blacks from other states from migrating to Massachusetts. This 1822 report provides an interesting and concise history of slavery in Massachusetts. We’ve digitized and transcribed the report here and highlighted some of the main points here. There is a much more detailed account of slavery in Massachusetts written in 1887 by Beverly’s Robert Rantoul entitled “Negro Slavery in Massachusetts”. We’d also like to offer you a searchable finding aid to the 1754 Massachusetts Slave Census.
For a great model on how one might go about doing this, see Christine Comiskey’s research.
Slave Gravestones of Essex County
Gravestone of ‘Primus’ in Andover, MA (photo: W. Dean Eastman)
Help add to this list of slave gravestones by Essex County city or town! If you know of slave gravestones in Essex County, please let us know. We are looking for photos as well as transcribed inscriptions. Feel free to use the list of questions to the right as a guide.
What about a freed slave. I am searching for King Pompey who was owned by Daniel Mansfield and freed by his son Thomas Mansfield. He owned land on the Saugus River which was then Lynn and now Saugus. Do you have any record of that.
Andover MA Negroes
ANN Dodge, bur. June 17, 1810, a. 62 y. C.R.2