Paths to Freedom Legal Paths to Freedom Massachussets

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Paths to Freedom

Paths to Freedom

Legal Paths to Freedom- Massachussets Early legal challenges to slavery ◦ Elizabeth Freeman* ◦

Legal Paths to Freedom- Massachussets Early legal challenges to slavery ◦ Elizabeth Freeman* ◦ Quok Walker-The Quock Walker case refers to three civil and criminal actions involving a slave named Quock Walker and his purported master, Nathanial Jennison. In 1781, Walker ran away from Jennison. Walker claimed he was free, as his former master (James Caldwell) had promised him freedom at age 25. Walker contended that Caldwell 's promise bound Jennison, who was married to Caldwell's widow. Jennison caught and beat Walker. ◦ With the help of Caldwell's brothers, Walker sued for his freedom. Prominent Worcester attorney Levi Lincoln, Sr. represented Walker. Lincoln did not rely on Caldwell's alleged promise to free Walker, but on a "law of nature that all men are equal and free. "

Legal Paths to Freedom-Buying your freedom Richard Allen-born in 1760 in Philadelphia, PA, Sold

Legal Paths to Freedom-Buying your freedom Richard Allen-born in 1760 in Philadelphia, PA, Sold to a farmer in Delaware, he and the farmer both converted to Methodism, farmer allowed him to buy his freedom Became an asst. minister at a Methodist Episcopal Church, frustrated by segregation and left the church to form a new church, Bethel Church, which eventually became the first African Methodist Episcopal Church. Also started the Free African Society and worked the Underground Railroad.

Mother Bethel Church

Mother Bethel Church

Freedom Suits Freedom suits were legal challenges to enslavement. Grounds 1. 1. Your mother

Freedom Suits Freedom suits were legal challenges to enslavement. Grounds 1. 1. Your mother was free (partus sequitur ventrem) 2. 2. Manumission- you had been promised to be legally freed and someone broke that promise. Polly Berry was a slave originally from Kentucky who had been held as a slave in Illinois and freed in her owners will. 3. 3. You had been moved to a free state or had been bought in a free state or illegally She sued for her daughters freedom based on partus sequitur ventrem and won.

Freedom Suits St. Louis was a hotbed for these legal actions because Missouri was

Freedom Suits St. Louis was a hotbed for these legal actions because Missouri was a slave state and Illinois was free. Over 300 Freedom Suits were filed in St. Louis. Less than half got their freedom. One famous case was Dred Scott’s case. Dred Scott unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in 1857. Scott claimed that he and his wife should be granted their freedom because they had lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory for four years, where slavery was illegal. The United States Supreme Court decided 7– 2 against Scott, finding that neither he nor any other person of African ancestry could claim citizenship in the United States, and therefore Scott could not bring suit in federal court. Illinois

Rebellion Another way people tried to obtain their freedom was through insurrection or rebellion.

Rebellion Another way people tried to obtain their freedom was through insurrection or rebellion. The only time this was truly successful on a wide scale was in Haiti, where slaves led a revolution against their French masters. Haiti was called St Domingue and was a French colony that was the most profitable French colony, one of the most profitable sugar producers in the world. “The death rate from yellow fever was such that at least 50% of the slaves imported from Africa died within a year of arriving, and as such the masters preferred to work their slaves as hard as possible while providing with them with the barest minimum of food and shelter, calculating that it was better to get the most work out of their slaves with lowest possible expense possible since they were probably going to die of yellow fever anyway. ”

Haiti Blacks outnumbered whites more than 10 -1 on the island. The treatment of

Haiti Blacks outnumbered whites more than 10 -1 on the island. The treatment of the slaves was so bad that Louis XIV passed the Code Noir- laws to curtail the bad treatment of enslaved people. They weren’t followed though, and after the French Revolution began in 1789, freed blacks began to demand full citizenship. The French government gave them their citizenship, but wealthy whites refused to allow them their rights, and in 1791, the violence broke out against whites. This painting represents a religious gathering of Haiti’s black population at Bois Caiman where they prepped for the revolt.

Violence It was incredibly violent- with the enslaved raping, mutilating, torturing and killing men,

Violence It was incredibly violent- with the enslaved raping, mutilating, torturing and killing men, women and children. One of the leaders of the Bois Caiman was beheaded and his head was displayed on a pike, so in retaliation, the children of many white slave masters were given the same treatment. The French Revolution and Napoleon’s efforts to conquer Europe made it difficult for them to maintain an effort to stop the revolt, but the British were afraid the revolt would spread to their islands and took the fight over. So many soldiers died from malaria that they left the island. Eventually, Napoleon sent new forces, but ultimately, on January 1, 1804, Haiti declared independence and became the first black nation in the Western hemisphere.

Whites are Terrified As you can imagine, whites in America were terrified by these

Whites are Terrified As you can imagine, whites in America were terrified by these events.

Denmark Vesey was a former slave who had been able to purchase his freedom,

Denmark Vesey was a former slave who had been able to purchase his freedom, but was unable to buy his wife and children’s freedom. In 1816 black Methodists in Charleston, South Carolina, vote to separate from the white church. Vesey is a ‘class leader’ who preaches and leads Bible study. He believes in a new radical liberation theology where he only used the Old Testament and compared their struggles to the Hebrews in Egypt. When the African church is shut down by white authorities in 1822, Denmark Vesey, a freed slave, plans a wide-scale rebellion. It is planned for July 14, and a man named Gullah Jack works with him. Gullah Jack and many other rebels use West African religious traditional charms, amulets and dances to prepare for the revolt. Their plan was to seize Charleston’s arsenal, guard houses, kill the governor, set fire to the city, and kill every “buckra” they saw.

Denmark Vesey Some people got scared and revealed the plot to their masters. Vesey,

Denmark Vesey Some people got scared and revealed the plot to their masters. Vesey, Gullah Jack and most of the conspirators were hung. (35 people in all) Their church was burned to the ground and the whites became even more strict with the African Americans in the area. The White Methodist and Episcopal Churches in the area saw that AME Churches were all starting to go Old Testament exclusive in their teachings as well and began re-teaching Christianity with extra emphasis on the New Testament. Mother Emmanuel AME Church rebuilt after Civil War.

The Sentence of Gullah Jack 9 th July, 1822 -- Jack, a slave belonging

The Sentence of Gullah Jack 9 th July, 1822 -- Jack, a slave belonging to Paul Pritchard, commonly called GULLAH JACK, and sometimes COUTER JACK, was brought up, and sentence pronounced by L. H. KENNEDY, Presiding Magistrate. JACK PRITCHARD -- The Court, after deliberately considering all the circumstances of you case, are perfectly satisfied of your guilt. In the prosecution of your wicked designs, you were not satisfied with resorting to natural and ordinary means, but endeavored to enlist on your behalf, all the powers of darkness, and employed for that purpose, the most disgusting mummery and superstition. You represented yourself as invulnerable; that you could neither be taken nor destroyed and that all who fought under your banners would be invincible. While such wretched expedients are calculated to inspire the confidence, or to alarm the fears of the ignorant and credulous, they excite no other emotion in the mind of the intelligent and enlightened, but contempt and disgust. Your boasted Charms have not preserved yourself, and of course could not protect others. "Your Altars and your Gods have sunk together in the dust. " The airy spectres, conjured by you, have been chased away by the special light of Truth, and you stand exposed, the miserable and deluded victim of offended Justice. Your days are literally numbered. You will shortly be consigned to the cold and silent grave, and all the Posers of Darkness cannot recue you from your approaching Fate! Let me then conjure you to devote the remnant of your miserable existence, in fleeing from the "wrath to come". This can only be done by a full disclosure of the truth. The Court are willing to afford you all the aid in their power, and to permit any Minister of the Gospel, whom you may select to have free access to you. To him you may unburthen your guilty conscience. Neglect not the opportunity, for there is "no device nor art beyond the tomb, " to which you must shortly be consigned.