Enslaved, Indentured, Free: Five Black Women of the Upper Mississippi

During the first half of the 19th century, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin was a crossroads that attracted men and women of all backgrounds. Among them were five Black women who represented a variety of experiences. Although the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 outlawed slavery in the areas that would become Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio, a patchwork of laws enabled white slaveholders to retain possession of four of the five women. Historian Mary Elise Antoine will tell us about the degrees of servitude that existed in Wisconsin and the efforts that some of them took to secure their freedom.