Slavery in New York State
Not Just in the South
Whenever we think of slavery in the United States, we are inclinced to immediately think of the southern plantations, whose masters and politicians supported the stability of the institution. The south possesed the majority of slaves in the United States, yet we cannot overlook how the north also participated in slavery during the colonial and formation years of the U.S..
Being more industrialized than their southern counterpart, northern slavery demanded more domestic work like household chores, childcare, shopping, or ship building rather than labor heavy plantation hands. Despite having the highest free black population in the country, New York State residents also owned the most amount of slaves in any northern state, with nearly one in three houses owning at least one slave in New York City. Those who did own slaves only had one or a few of them compared to the tens of hundreds southern plantations commanded.
New York City slaves did enjoy more freedoms than southern plantation slaves. One of these freedoms included permission to leave their masters' property to go shopping. On weekends, some even had permisson to take a few hours or even a whole day off to see their loved ones from across the city.
Most slavery in New York State took place in New York City, along the Hudson River Valley like in Westchester County, and the capitol region. While slavery decreased over time in most of the state like in Clinton County, other counties like Niagara briefly gained in slave population.
Even with arguable better working conditions and freedoms than southern slaves, those from the north also made countless attempts to run away in hopes of gaining freedom. Newspapers commonly advertised runaways in their daily papers, rewarding viewers who captured the advertised futative. Runaway ads typically gave the reader a name, physical description, unique characteristics, and language proficiency. Physical description ranged from height, stature, complexion, and recognizable injuries and deformations. Unique characteristics may talk about their demeanor and special skills like musicianship and cooking.
To do: Discuss runaway ads, insert data, conclusions
Most slaves who ran away were men in their 20's - 30's. A common strategy for runaways were to flee from a suscriber. Some were captured and jailed to wait for their master to retrieve them after revealing their master's name to the police. Not all ads were for runaways, an ad may appear where a slave is set free by their former master's will. This lets people know the said person is a freedman and must not be captured or sold off to anyone.
Northern slavery in the United States cannot be overshadowed by its more infamous southern states which rebelled in the Civil War in order to preserve the slave institution. We must also keep in mind that the Thirtheenth Amendment in the United States Constitution still allows slavery during incarceration to this day.
Image Bibliography
“Painting of Shops on Broadway and Canal Street - NYC in 1785.” History 101 NYC. Accessed May 23, 2022. https://www.history101.nyc/broadway-and-canal-street-1785.
“Painting of Shops on Broadway and Canal Street - NYC in 1785.” History 101 NYC. Accessed May 23, 2022. https://www.history101.nyc/broadway-and-canal-street-1785.
David Ramsey Map Collection, "The State of New York, Compiled from the most Authentic Information." In the American Atlas, Published by John Reid and W. Winterbotham, New York, 1796.
“Runaway Slave Advertisement.” NYPL Digital Collections. Accessed May 23, 2022. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47db-bd19-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
Ltd, Bobek. “Jail Images.” Jail Images - Public Domain Pictures - Page 1. Accessed May 23, 2022. https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/hledej.php?hleda=jail.
