Found matches for slavery in 195 collections.

A collection of bills of sale, deeds, passes, certificates of registry, manumission papers, wills, and speeches. Also, letters relating to slavery-related court cases, including the Amistad slave ship revolt. Also includes letters by prominent abolitionists William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and William Lloyd Garrison with their views and comments on the abolition movement. less

The Nautilus Insurance Company (predecessor of the New York Life Insurance Company) was one of several insurance companies that sold policies to slaveholders to insure their slaves against damages or death. The company sold these policies for approximately two and a half years from 1845 until 1848, at which time the board of trustees voted to end the sale of such policies. The Nautilus Insurance Company slavery era ledgers consist of a total of eight volumes: four policy registers; a death claim book; a volume listing losses for death benefits paid; as well as two indices containing names of all insurance applicants. The policy registers contain names of persons, including slaves, who were insured between 1845 and 1848. There are also lists prepared in 2001 and 2002, one of which is a printout from a database developed by the California Department of Insurance entitled "Slavery Era Insurance Policies Registry," that contains information from documents submitted by the New York Life Insurance company as well as other insurance companies that had insured slaves. less

The Middleton "Spike" Harris slavery and abolition collection consists of individual documents pertaining to slavery and abolition in the United States. Included are legal documents, indentures, manumission papers, bills of sale, agreements to hire slaves, other business records, deeds, letters, and indentures referencing specific slaves and their masters and detailing the situations for which the documents were produced. The states in which these documents were issued are Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. There are also letters from the following abolitionists: Granville Sharp, Gerrit Smith, Charles Sumner, and Francis Jackson. less

This collection is the Dutchess County Anti-Slavery Society Executive Committee minutes of proceedings attended by secretary Thomas Austin (May 29, 1838-May 11, 1840). Also present are eight anti-slavery broadsides, one society election slip, one printed form letter, and one news sheet entitled "The Bow of Promise" volume 1, number 1, August 29, 1839 less

Jesse J. Jackson (1908-1983), the collector of these documents, acquired them over ten years while serving as a writer-in-residence at Appalachian State University. Jackson was born in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University. He wrote 8 books for children, and often wrote for magazines, journals, and local newspapers. Jesse J. Jackson Slavery and Civil War documents collection consists of approximately 90 individual documents relating to Southern slavery and the Civil War. The majority of the documents are manuscript bills of sale and deeds of gift for enslaved persons, issued in North Carolina, 1800-1858. Each document generally gives the enslaved person's name, sex, approximate age, and occasionally other information such as occupation, prices, and names of seller and buyer. Other information provided includes mention that the enslaved person being sold is "at large" and an affidavit accusing a dealer of selling a man's runaway despite the fact that the owner had asked the dealer to hold the runaway until he could be retrieved. less

This ledger, most likely from the 19th century because of the dates listed, is possibly a city or county government's ledger used to assign personal, land, and property taxes to the members of the surrounding towns and/or communities. Among the "items" listed are enslaved people, who are denoted as property and assigned arbitrary values. Two dates can be found in the ledger, 1853 and 1865. The ledger mentions the areas of Polk Mill, Seaford Road, and Concord, and the name "Morgan". Items are listed mostly in alphabetical order by last name of free/white adult citizens. In some cases, a citizen is listed, but the only value listed is for "person" which could mean that the individual did not own property but was still taxed. less

Sydney Howard Gay (1814-1888) was an American journalist, author and abolitionist. He was an editor at the Anti-Slavery Standard, the New York Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Evening Post. His other activities included lecturing for the American Anti-Slavery Society and writing biographies and the multi-volume History of the United States (with William Cullen Bryant). Collection consists of writings, correspondence, notes, account books, and reports. Writings include manuscripts of the History of the United States and his biographies and other works. Correspondence, notes, reports, and account books are from the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Anti-Slavery Standard. less

Théodore Étienne de Saint-Léger was provost of the Special Court Provostale investigating the slave uprising in Martinique in February of 1831. This collection consists of sixty-five manuscripts relating to the 1831 slave rebellion including correspondence from the Governor of Martinique, French settlers, and police precincts on the island; register of official correspondence of Saint-Léger, the "Prévôt" (Magistrate), 1831; police reports; warrants issued by Saint-Léger for fugitive slaves suspected of arson and poisoning; court records related to the burning of the Ducasse, Lamentin, and Grande Case plantations; and biographical notes of Saint-Léger dated 1913. less

Daybook kept by H. Davis in Richmond, Virginia containing records of sales, purchases, receipts, and disbursements, including many items related to slaves and their boarding costs. One entry, dated 21 April 1861, is for the purchase of a secession flag less

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, or Charles Carroll III, (1737-1832) served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and later as first United States Senator for Maryland. The papers consists of material relating chiefly to Carroll's business endeavors, including outgoing correspondence, a copy of his will, and a bill of sale for a slave. Also included are bills and accounts, and a shelf list of Carroll's personal library less

Rushmore G. Horton (1826-1867) was editor of The Weekly Day Book (later the New-York Weekly Caucasian and the New-York Weekly Day-Book Caucasian), a New York City pro-slavery newspaper, as well the author of several publications, including The Life and Public Services of James Buchanan, The History of the Tammany Society, and A Youth's History of the Great Civil War in the United States, from 1861-1865. He was secretary of the Anti-Abolition States Rights Society and an active participant in the anti-abolitionist movement in New York State. The Rushmore G. Horton papers include correspondence, autographs, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous personal and financial papers. The collection includes letters to Horton, John H. Van Evrie, and Nathaniel R. Stimson as editors of the New York Weekly Day-Book Caucasian, as well as personal letters to Horton and his wife from George Pope Morris, Samuel F.B. Morse, William G. Brownlow, George Ripley, James Kirke Paulding, William Winter, Thomas H. Seymour, Thomas F. Bayard, and William H. Peck, and autographs by such notable figures as James Buchanan, James A. Bayard, Jr., John Cochrane, and Brigham Young. Miscellaneous papers include invitations, receipts, small notebooks, a certificate of membership to the Anti-Abolition State Rights Society, and a Confederate States of America bond with attached coupons. Most of the material has been pasted into a published blankbook intended for use as an index rerum. Loose material has been removed to separate enclosures. Additional items were added posthumously. less

Notes of 1861 United States peace conference proceedings, likely compiled by and for Lucius E. Chittenden. The notes date from February 4 to part of February 20, 1861. The remainder of the notes to February 28, 1861, when the conference adjourned, are missing less

The ancestors of the Polk Family, Jim and Amey, their daughter, Judah, and her husband, Kit, along with their children, upon reaching the age of twenty-one), were emancipated in 1840. This occurred one and one-half years after the death of their master, plantation owner Thomas Smelly, in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The newly-freed Smelly family left Virginia that same year, according to the law prohibiting freed slaves to remain in the state more than one year, and migrated to New Jersey. At some point the family changed their name from Smelly to Smiley. In New Jersey, the Smiley family met another freed family from Maryland, the Polks, and the two families intermarried. By 1993, Amey and Jim Smiley had over one hundred descendants. The Smiley-Polk family documents consist of nine holograph 19th-century documents relating to the emancipation of the ancestors of the Smiley-Polk family of New Jersey, and other items concerning the genealogy of this family. less

Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853?) was born a slave in Haiti (then Saint Domingue) and came to New York City in 1787 with the family of Pierre Berard. After becoming a successful hairdresser, Toussaint supported the Berard family and bought the freedom of many slaves. A devout Roman Catholic, Toussaint contributed to Catholic schools and orphanages, was a founding member of the first French Catholic Church in New York City, and helped poor black youths and the victims of yellow fever. In 1951 a petition was begun for his canonization. Collection consists of Toussaint's correspondence and other papers. Correspondence, 1793-1853, is with friends and relatives in the U.S., France and the Caribbean. Also included are letters and poems, 1822-1829, from his niece and ward, Euphemie, and manumission papers of several slaves whose freedom Toussaint had arranged. less

Born a slave, William Alexander Yancey was a teacher and a Presbyterian minister and missionary. After the Civil War, he moved to Virginia and purchased some land. In 1872, he converted to the Presbyterian faith. A year later, Yancey graduated from Hampton Normal School in Virginia. He taught from 1873 to 1890, and was also a school principal. Yancey later became a Sabbath school missionary through the Presbyterian Church and was ordained a minister. The William Alexander Yancey papers consist of material related to his career as a teacher, Presbyterian missionary, and minister, such as essays, sermons, correspondence, a program, and certificate. Many essays are autobiographical and include discussions of his years as a slave and his education. Other topics are religious or relate to such topics as "The School System of West Virginia", "The Old South and the Negro", and "The New South and the Negro". There is also one 1955 letter between two of his children. less

Account book (1757-1786) of Episcopal clergyman Richard Charlton of New York, containing an inventory of Charlton's personal estate made by his heir, John Charlton. The inventory lists Charlton's slaves, household goods, bonds and other notes outstanding, and other property with names of buyers and amounts paid. This inventory is followed by a journal of receipts and expenditures made during the settlement of Charlton's estate less

Memorandum and account book kept by Thomas Rodney, U.S. Judge in the Mississippi Territory, from December 1, 1803 to January 13, 1811. Entries are in diary form and were kept primarily at Washington, Mississippi. Entries record money paid and received, personal and local incidents, marriages performed, references to property, hire and sales of negro slaves, and other topics less

Jane Smith, née Godden, wife of John Smith, the English missionary. · To Peter Jackson, bookseller : 1 autograph letter signed : Dec 1823 : (MISC 4397) : 4 pages (double sheet) : from Demerara : giving an eyewitness account of the slave rebellion in Demerara, and of the subsequent arrest, trial and conviction of her husband for encouraging the revolt; begins, "A few days back I gave you a short account of our present distressing situation . . . .". less

Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873) was an American politician, jurist, and abolitionist. The Salmon P. Chase papers consist mainly of correspondence, beginning with letters and circulars relating to the 1845 Southern and Western Liberty Convention. Most date from his term as Secretary of the Treasury and relate political matters, including his ongoing support of the abolition of slavery less

Letters written between 1790 and 1827 by American statesman John Eager Howard from his Baltimore estate, Belvedere, to fellow Maryland statesman Virgil Maxcy. The letters cover political, financial, social, and familial matters, including the purchase and sale of slaves and the signing of deeds of manumission; Howard's observations of the War of 1812; a yellow fever epidemic in Baltimore; and the laying out of city streets. Several letters include bills or receipts less

Lucy Terry Prince is considered the earliest Black American poet, a sample of whose work still exists; she was also a formerly enslaved person. This collection cnosists of material related to Bernard and Jonathan Katz's book, Black Woman: A Fictionalized Biography of Lucy Terry Prince (1973). less

The Dash family included a number of prominent New York merchants including Bowie Dash, notable for becoming one of the earliest importers of coffee into the United States. The file contains papers belonging to members of the Dash family, predominantly John Bowie Dash (Eighteenth century) and Daniel Dash, collected and compiled by J. Bowie Dash (b. 1873). Material includes notes of exchange, a small quantity of correspondence, and a receipt dating from 1784 relating to the sale of a slave less

Henry Dana Ward kept this diary as rector of St. Jude's Protestant Episcopal Free Church in New York City from January 1, 1850 through September 30, 1857. Entries pertain to services for others including William A. Muhlenberg and Thos. Gallaudet; marriages, births, and deaths; church government; elections of bishops; "wine bibbing'" bishops; his family and his school for young ladies; discipline, teachers, and servants; current events; slavery; the weather; a letter from Fillmore, and other matters less

Lawrence Van Wyck kept this diary while assisting in the construction of the Hudson River Railroad near Yonkers, from March 15, 1847 until July 1, 1848; while helping build the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad near Central Bridge, New York from July 16, 1853 until January 11, 1854; and during construction work near Medina and Albion, New York, from July 27, 1856 until September 8, 1857. Van Wyck mentions the names of his fellow workmen and people he met socially, and he also makes occasional references to the trend of public opinion concerning slavery less

John Eastmond (1772-1856) was a New York City businessman specializing in accounting and insurance. He was born in England and died in Middletown, New Jersey. The collection comprises John Eastmond's journal of personal and household accounts, with some business entries, 1803-1807; his business letter book, 1827-1828; and a notebook, 1818-1848, documenting expenses and household clothing. A few letters are in shorthand. Volumes include transactions with the family of his first wife Susanna Thorne, and document his business connections with members of the Van den Heuvel family. less