American Slavery Remembered

This episode is a reading of Twelve Years of Slave. Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841 and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana. Published in 1853.

This episode is a reading of deeds recorded in South Carolina between 1780 and 1827. The deeds selected are those that gave enslaved people as gifts. These deeds are among thousands listed for Lawrence and Newberry counties.

This episode is a reading of Behind the Scenes by Elizabeth Keckley, Formerly a Slave, but More Recently a Modiste and Friend to Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. Or Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. Published in 1868.

This episode is a reading of A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison by Paul Jennings, published in 1865.

This episode is a reading of first hand accounts of life at Monticello while enslaved by President, Thomas Jefferson. It includes an account by his son, Madison Hemings. Jefferson owned 607 people, 4 of whom were his own children. His enslaved children were granted their freedom at age 21. Bankrupt at death, Jefferson’s remaining enslaved men, women and children were sold across the country to pay off his significant debt.

A reading of The Fugitive Blacksmith; or Events in the History of James W. C. Pennington, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, New York, Formerly a Slave in the State of Maryland, United States.

This episode is a reading of the Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself. Originally published in New York in 1849.

This episode is a reading of The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada as Narrated by Himself, published in 1849.

This episode is a reading from the convention meeting minutes for the Fugitive Slave Law Convention in Cazenovia, New York, August 21-22, 1850. The convention was held to condemn the Fugitive Slave Act which was soon to pass in Congress. The Act made it legal for bounty hunters to capture “fugitive slaves” in free states and take them back into slavery. Attended by prominent abolitionists including Frederick Douglas, the Edmonson sisters and 50 other Black people who had fled slavery, it was the largest gathering of “fugitive” formerly enslaved people in the United States.