Slaves and Slave Owners Documents

When the "New World" needed cheap labor for its plantations, slave traders kidnapped Africans from their home villages. A "triangle trade" system forever changed the lives of an entire people. Explore this collection to learn what those slaves endured, and discover stories of other types of slavery such as forced labor camps in the Soviet GULAG.

Frederick Douglass was a much-sought-after speaker.  This image depicts a page from one of his lectures honoring John Brown. Among other observa...

This is an excerpt of the Preface which WIlliam Lloyd Garrison wrote for Frederick Douglass' Narratives.  The white abolitionist greatly admired...

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 permitted slave-hunters to seize an alleged fugitive slave without the slightest due process of law.  It also proh...

In his book, The Underground Railroad, William Still includes a story about four slaves who wanted to escape from Delaware (a slave state which remain...

Image of the "Grand Inquest" court minutes and proceedings for the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania - 1860. Click on the image for a better vie...

Image of the "Grand Inquest" court minutes and proceedings for the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania - 1860. Click on the image for a better vie...

Image of the "Grand Inquest" court minutes and proceedings for the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania - 1860. Click on the image for a better vie...

Image of the "Grand Inquest" court minutes and proceedings for the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania - 1860. Click on the image for a better vie...

Image of the "Grand Inquest" court minutes and proceedings for the District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania - 1860. Click on the image for a better vie...

In his book, The Underground Railroad, William Still tells the story of Henry Brown who escaped to freedom in a sealed box.  When the lid was rem...

Thomas Jefferson represented a slave named Samuel Howell in the man’s quest to gain freedom from his “master,” Wade Netherland. ...

In 1770, Thomas Jefferson - then a practicing lawyer (and a slave owner) in Virginia - represented a slave named Samuel Howell.  Accepting the ca...

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