Enslavementto
freedom
Study Areas
Enslavement
Afrolumens Project Enslavement in Pennsylvania Home Page
Enslaved Persons Lists
About the Enslavement of Blacks in Pennsylvania
- Buying a Slave
Where did Pennsylvanians buy slaves? - Pennsylvania Slave Merchants
Who were some of the professional dealers in slaves, in Pennsylvania? - Resistance by Enslaved Persons
What are some of the ways enslaved persons resisted their bondage? - Slave Names
How did enslaved persons get their names? - Agriculture and Slave Labor
How were enslaved persons used on Pennsylvania farms? Did Pennsylvania have "plantations?"
People and Places
- Former Slaves
News items including obituaries of formerly enslaved persons. - Profiles of William Kelso and Sons by Fred Kelso
The Kelso family operated a ferry and held enslaved persons in Dauphin, Cumberland and Erie counties. - Paxton Presbyterian Cemetery
Modern view of the gravesite of three enslaved persons from Dauphin County and one Civil War era self-emancipated slave. - Hanover Cemetery
Photograph and notes on this Dauphin County burying ground that reportedly has more than 150 unmarked graves of locally enslaved persons. - Lincoln Cemetery, Dauphin County
An historic African American cemetery with burials back to the 18th century including enslaved persons. - Midland Cemetery
An historic African American cemetery with burials back to the 18th century including enslaved persons. - Wenrich's Cemetery
History and a photograph of the unmarked burial place of numerous enslaved persons from this portion of original Paxton Township.
Documents and Images
- Pennsylvania's Black Codes
Read the harsh laws passed in colonial Pennsylvania to control free Blacks and enslaved persons. - An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery
Full text of the original act, passed on March 1st, 1780. - A Comparison of Servitude Agreements
Full text of separate servitude agreements for two young men, one white and one Black. - Images of Enslavement
Scans of original newspaper advertisements offering enslaved persons for sale, registration documents and miscellaneous documents, and discussion of commercial images.
Tools
- Tips on Using This Site
About the enslavement data and how information is organized. - Pennsylvania Enslavement FAQs
Common questions about enslavement in Pennsylvnia.
Resources
- Kinfolkology.org, featuring Oceans of Kinfolk, "a database of the coastwise traffic of enslaved people in the antebellum United States. Oceans of Kinfolk currently includes the names of more than 63,000 enslaved men, women and children trafficked to New Orleans from domestic ports between 1818 and 1860."
Read the Afrolumens Site Book...
The Year of Jubilee
Vol. 1: Men of God and Vol. 2: Men of Muscle
by George Nagle
The
Year of Jubilee is the history of Harrisburg's free African American
community, from the era of colonialism and enslavement to hard-won freedom. Volume
One, Men of God, covers the turbulent beginnings of this community,
from Hercules and the first enslaved persons, the growth of slavery in central
Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg area slave plantations, early freedom seekers, to the birth of a free Black community. Men of God is a detailed
history of Harrisburg's first Black entrepreneurs, the early Black
churches, the first Black neighborhoods, and the maturing of the social
institutions that supported this vibrant community. It
includes an extensive examination of state and federal laws governing
slave ownership and the recovery of runaway slaves, the growth of the
colonization movement, anti-colonization efforts, anti-slavery, abolitionism
and radical abolitionism. It concludes with the complex relationship
between Harrisburg's Black and white abolitionists and details the
efforts and activities of each group as they worked separately at first,
then learned to cooperate in fighting against slavery. More
here Non-fiction,
history. 607 pages, softcover. Non-fiction,
history. 630 pages, softcover. Volume
One and Two Available free to read now. Click here to read.
Both volumes of the Afrolumens book are no longer in print, although used copies may be found. You may also read the entire text of the book on this site.
Volume
Two, Men of Muscle continues the history from 1850 and the Fugitive Slave
Law of 1850, through the explosive 1850s to the coming of Civil War
to central Pennsylvania. In this volume, Harrisburg's African American
community weathers kidnappings, raids, riots, plots, murders, intimidation,
and the coming of war. Caught between hostile Union soldiers and deadly
Confederate soldiers, they ultimately were forced to choose between fleeing
or fighting. This is the true and dramatic story of that choice.