The Aftermath of Emancipation in Massachusetts
The systems of enslavement have a horrible way of contorting themselves and surviving years after their supposed demise. Thus is the case in Massachusetts, where despite its official legal end in 1783 with the Quock Walker and Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman court cases, it did not die. The practice managed to adapt in a number of ways, in order to continually exploit and damage the lives of Black Americans. This becomes incredibly important in examining how Massachusetts has managed to scrub its own engagement with slavery from history. Now generations of citizens fail to understand their state’s lengthy history with slavery, and how it has impacted the lives of decedents. Creating the dissonance between black and white Massachusetts residents regarding the reality of racism within the state that pervades to this day.
Freed people of Massachusetts had won a great victory with Chief justice Cushing’s court ruling that ended slavery. Unfortunately, the proclamation did not amount to true equality, and there was little efforts from the state to amend this. Black citizens were to be treated equally by the legal system and pay taxes, but they could not serve as jurors or even vote. The system that caused their enslavement remained, and was still stacked against them. And freed people could not even luxuriate in the security that was afforded to them by the end of slavery. For there were still multiple avenues that could leave them in bondage that was not accounted for by the state’s ruling.
Firstly, there was the spectre of kidnappings, as freed Africans remained at risk for being abducted and sold back into slavery. This was because the slave trade was not yet outlawed, so it was all to possible to be captured by slavers if one was near the Boston harbor. Fear weighed heavy on the minds of freeman, as the worst possible nightmare would be a return to a system of horror that was only slightly in the rear view mirror for some. Danger of kidnapping caused many to avoid seaport areas entirely, which would pose a major problem for employment. Most of the notable cities in Massachusetts like Boston are seaside, and are easily the best options for viable locations to find work. Resulting in formerly enslaved people being asked to decide whether to risk capture and enslavement in order to find quality work, or explore more exploitive yet safer career avenues. With those cities being at risk, the already small pool of employment that freed people had to work with became even smaller.
With less opportunity for employment or education, many freed people were forced to go down the path of Indentured Servitude in order to survive within Massachusetts. The practice of indentured servitude was not slavery, but it could easily be considered slavery adjacent. It did not strip one of their rights and render them merely property, bu the practice was a contractual and could end with one working for years in service with another for no pay. In Massachusetts, following the end of slavery it was a very common practice, in particular for black children to be indentured out until they reached adulthood. Public school education was not easily available to many freed slaves and their children, so indentured servitude was one of their only options to work with.
This unjust system that continued in Massachusetts after the abolition of slavery did not go on without opposition. Free black citizens worked tirelessly to promote equality within the state, and advocate for abolition elsewhere. Black Abolitionist like Prince Hall would spend their entire lives pressing for black civil rights, and the end of the slave trade. And this legacy of black activism throughout Massachusetts would be furthered carried by people like W.E.B. Du Bois.
But where does that leave us now? Centuries removed from the legal end of slavery in Massachusetts, it seems as though the state has all but forgotten this history. Public school education, particularly the K-12 does not center discussions of slavery within Massachusetts. The state’s history is dramatized for its role in the American revolution, and kids are taught to take pride in our state’s status as a birthplace for liberty. And thanks to the convenient role Southern states take during the civil war, slavery is treated as an alien practice that was only notable for its preeminence in the south. Massachusetts remained part of the union, so we can take solace in the fact that we played the role of the good guys, once again fighting for liberty. And that is the beginning and end of discussions of slavery within Massachusetts, as dates like 1783 are not even celebrated or taught in school. Maybe it would only serve as an unsavory reminder for white residents of their own culpability, and that is why so many fail to remember such an important date.
The amnesia of Massachusetts regarding their own role in slavery has consequences. Massachusetts and Boston in particular have become widely infamous among Black Americans for its racism. This statement always manages to spark confusion and disbelief with white residents of Massachusetts, who have essentially been assured by their history that they were always a bastion of equality and freedom. They somehow say this even as Boston remains essentially segregated by race, and any attempt to amend this is countered with riots and racial violence against Black citizens. Centuries after the end of slavery in Massachusetts, Black citizens still bare the brunt of the devastating effects the practice had on them. And this is not helped by Massachusetts routinely patting itself on the back for doing the bare minimum throughout history. The watching as freed black people are left to fend for themselves within a system that continuous to profit off of their exploitation. Janna Malamud Smith says it best writing for the WBUR…
“When you live with a false story about your nation’s past … developing an informed consensus for action becomes extremely difficult.”(Smith, 2019)
Massachusetts and its white citizens must reckon with its own history and responsibility for the enslavement of Black Americans. Stories from the captives of The Phillis to the incredible legal victories of Mumbet and Quock Walker should be foregrounded, and not left ignored for their messy relationship towards the State’s involvement with slavery. Hiding from the fact is helping no one, not the white citizens who are taught an unfinished and rose tinted history. Nor the black population who are forced to suffer the economic and social legacy of slavery, while simultaneously being gaslight by white people who deny any type of oppression and relish their status as liberals. This all has to stop, and the first step would be confronting the reality of our state’s sordid history and makes real steps in changing the way we have viewed Massachusetts in relation to freedom and liberty throughout history.
Bibliography
https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/02/22/racism-in-boston-janna-malamud-smith
Litigating Emancipation in Massachusetts
The system of enslavement does not change from power, it is born out of it. Even in states such as Massachusetts, who has carefully built its identity through the struggle for independence; slavery managed to endure through the revolution. It would not be the people who were presently in power to change this fact, but the enslaved people themselves. Despite their conditions, the enslaved Africans of Massachusetts would force the practice out of law through their own will.
Foreshadowed in the previous post, Massachusetts Puritan society was largely susceptibly to legal challenges. During the American Revolutionary war, groups of enslaved people petitioned to the Massachusetts governor for freedom. Even though their requests were largely ignored, it demonstrated that enslaved people were politically active, and were willing to leverage their power and influence when needed. And it was the highly structured and legal society of the Puritans that made this easier for enslaved people of color. For despite the racism of the Puritans, their fundamental beliefs still allowed for enslaved Africans to have some legal rights under God.
This made the avenue of freedom clear, as enslaved people in Massachusetts could test the boundaries of state law and sue their masters. This practice was typically outlawed in the United States, for the legal justifications for enslavement were blatantly flimsy and contradictory. Think of it as a house of cards, where just one nudge could send the whole institution crumbling in on itself. Given this, it would appear as only a matter of time until an enslaved person’s case against their master would give them their freedom. For both the American constitutions and the newly created Massachusetts state constitution reiterated the rights of all men. The ratified document read as followed.
“All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”(Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1780)
Now it may seem obvious that enslavement should end with this ratified document, as it states rather plainly the status of all individuals as born free. But its ratification did not change either the legal status of slavery, or the situation of the enslaved. The white legislators and leaders of Massachusetts seemed entirely content with allow this clear discrepancy to continue. However, enslaved people were fully aware of this contradiction and would make great use of this in securing their freedom.
Elizabeth Freeman, or frequently referred to as “Mumbet” would be the first major enslaved person to successfully fight for her freedom in the courts. After living for 40 years as a slave, Mumbet approached local attorney Theodore Sedgwick and sought help in gaining her freedom. Using the recent Massachusetts constitution, Sedgwick argued that slavery was inherently illegal. And this was enough, as Mumbet won her case and freedom. But it would take another prominent court case to deliver the legal death blow to slavery in Massachusetts.
Enter Quock Walker, an enslaved person who had been inherited to a particularly cruel and violent master named Nathaniel Jennison. Walker had been promised his freedom by his former master, and following an attempt to flee, Jennison brutally attacked Walker. Following this incident, Walker decided to sue Jennison for assault and battery, and for his freedom. This case made it all the way to the Massachusetts Suprme Court, where Quock walker’s appeals would convince Chief justice William Cushing to rule in his favor. Using Mumbet’s case a precedent, Justice Cushing ruled that slavey was hereby unconstitutional, stating himself…
“there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational Creature …” (Cushing 1783)
This would be the end of the legal practice of slavery in Massachusetts, but the actual act of Emancipation is not as simple as a court case can make it appear. This ruling did not free every enslaved person in the state immediately, nor did it put an end to all forms of exploitive labor such as indentured servitude. It was an impactful victory for enslaved people, but their fight was far from over.
Work Cited
A slave ship arrives in Boston
Discussions on North American slavery has often been limited to discussions of the southern states. It is not in anyway wrong to emphasize studies of slavery in this area of the United States, but it can lead to an imagination of Northern states having little to no role in the practice of enslaving Africans. This train of thought can have troubling implications in how white northerners see themselves and their ancestors today. People unburdened by the past brutalities of American slavery, who can see themselves as the heroes of history versus the slave reliant south. The role of the north in American history is deeply connected with abolition, and opposition to slavery. Yet this denies the reality of slavery being practiced in the north for years. The focus of this work will hope to mend this by centering around the slave voyages of the Northern United Staes, specifically Massachusetts. The first of these voyages covered, being that of the “Phillis”
The story of this particular voyage begins in Boston, Massachusetts on January 12th, 1760. Boston Merchant Timothy Fitch sends out his vessels, named the “Phillis” to the Windward Coast of Africa in order to purchase enslaved Africans. The ship is captained by a Peter Gwyn. The spelling of the captains name is one of the first mysterious of this voyage, as his last name has ranged from Gwyn, Gwinn, or Gwin.
This “Phillis” itself is an Brigantine vessel, a two masted sailing ship used commonly by slave merchants. The destination of the ship is the Ivory coast, called the “Windward Coast”. There is no specification regarding which particular port the “Phillis” was destined for unfortunately. Leaving us with the incredibly large number of possible ports that these people were stolen from. It is an unfortunate, yet common reality that many of these slave voyages fail to even record the places they took people from. The simple truth is that it was no longer important information, the enslaved African people have been torn from their communities and disconnected from any notion of a place of origin or belonging. It is all apart of the process of enslavement. All we are left with is the country itself, and nothing more
The date at which the ship arrived at the Ivory coast is yet again unknown. We might be able to estimate it was around the month of May when the ship reached its port. This is based on assuming they reached this point in the middle of their journey, between January and August. Once they arrived, a grand total of 95 enslaved Africans boarded the “Phillis” and began their voyage to the United Sates. There is no records on how many were men, women, or children. The only records that remain is that only 74 of the Africans were able to disembark at Boston on August 6th 1760. Around 22% of the enslaved Africans perished on their voyage. It is always disheartening to know that the names and identities of those who died on this voyage are almost certainly forever lost, it is one of the cruelest aspects of slavery. Yet once the ship arrived to its Boston port, it was marked completed as intended.
“Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database.” Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – Database, www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/database.
Resistance to Slavery in Massachusetts
Now while I would love to keep a greater focus to the entire region of New England, I cannot deny the incredibly interesting position which Massachusetts find itself in. The same state which is a proud home to many of the most iconic events of the American Revolutions, such as the massacre, a tea party, and the battle of Bunker Hill. Something that might sour these incredibly patriotic images is the fact that Massachusetts was not exempt from taking part in the forced enslavement of human beings. The practice preceded the revolution, and would shamefully continue decades after.
Massachusetts held a rather unique place within New England, and to a greater extent the rest of the colonies in its relation with slavery. Much of this was due to the large puritan influence over the state that shaped attitudes and practices towards enslavement. Before any other state, Massachusetts cemented slavery in law, and emphasized it through notions of biblical bondage. And by emphasizing the legality and religiosity of slavery, this allowed for enslaved people to combat their status through legal actions.(Nagl)
![A new and accurate map of the colony of Massachusets [i.e. Massachusetts] Bay, in North America, from a late survey. | Library of Congress](https://tile.loc.gov/image-services/iiif/service:gmd:gmd376:g3760:g3760:ar088100/full/pct:25/0/default.jpg)
Now legal action taken by enslaved people is not unheard of, there are evidence of other regions where this was common place. Many South American Spanish colonies allowed for the enslaved person to sue their master for a wide range of things. This was put in place as a royal check against the powerful white colonists, not really out of sympathy for the plight of enslaved people.(Bryant)
On May 25, 1774 a group of enslaved people in Massachusetts created a petition for freedom intended for Governor Thomas Gage. They make their case for freedom thusly…
“By our deplorable situation we are rendered incapable
of shewing our obedience to Almighty God how can a
Slave perform the duties of a husband to a wife or parent
to his child How can a husband leave master and work and
Cleave to his wife How can the wife submit themselves
to their Husbands in all things. How can the child obey
their parents in all things” (Jeremy Belknap Papers)
The enslaved people here are invoking the traditional family hierarchy of the Puritans. This is not coincidental that they bring up these major tenants of puritanism, they are actively throwing this rhetoric back at their Puritan masters. Zeroing in one the contradictory place that slavery exists within Puritan society and asking that it be reconciled. These contradiction cannot be questioned within this society less it cause the fundamental reasoning behind this hierarchy to fall. So the enslaved people here force the leadership of Massachusetts to reckon with this discrepancy.
This petition was not an anomy by any chance, the legal structure of slavery preserved by Puritan society allowed for Enslaved people to pursue their own freedom through this avenue with consistency. From individual lawsuits, to large scale petitions, Massachusetts enslaved people exercised legal action against their masters for their freedom. And it was through this method that they eventually won their emancipation, through exploiting the legal nature of slavery within puritan society for their inevitable gain. The enslaved people of Massachusetts confronted their Puritan Master’s hypocrisies, and forced them into a legal bind that could only result in their eventual freedom.
Bibliography
Nagl, Dominik. “The Governmentality of Slavery in Colonial Boston, 1690-1760.” Amerikastudien / American Studies 58, no. 1 (2013): 5-26. Accessed November 2, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43485857.
Bryant, S.K. Enslaved rebels, fugitives, and litigants: The resistance continuum in colonial Quito.(2004) Colonial Latin American Review, 13 (1) , pp. 7-46.