Introduction: Stories of Slavery in the Colonial North

1730–1740

Matthew Seutter (German, 1678–1757)

In the illustration that is a part of this 18th-century map, enslaved Africans are shown carrying goods to the British king, an allegory of the global trade network.

Historic Hudson Valley.

c. 1730

Attributed to John Heaton (Probably English, active 1730-1750)

Two children with different social status in colonial New York.

From a private collection.

1963

Unknown

Tens of thousands of people marched in Washington D.C. in August, 1963 demanding school integration and decent housing.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

July 7, 2016

A. Katz (Unknown, active 2015-2016)

Activists carry a "Black Lives Matter" banner at a march in New York City.

Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress 2010719186.

2007

Rodney Leon, designer (American, active 1992-current)

Today, the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan is the nation's earliest and largest known African American cemetery and has been designated as a national monument.

Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress 2010719186.

1755

Francis Maerschalck, surveyor (American?, active 1752-1755)

This detailed map of Manhattan shows the burial ground outside the palisades that marked the northern border of the settlement at the time, the site now known at the African Burial Ground National Monument.

Library of Congress

September 4, 1766

Unknown

This advertisement appeared in The New-York Gazette.

The New-York Historical Society.

1750

Joseph Reade (English, born New York, 1694-1771)

This single page from the lengthy inventory of Adolph Philipse's estate includes the names of the enslaved individuals living at Philipsburg Manor, Upper Mills.

Adolph Philipse estate records. Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

1774

Unknown, after Scipio Moorhead (American, c. 1750-unknown)

The engraved portrait of Phillis Wheatley, printed as the frontispiece to her 1773 volume of poetry, was created after the work of Scipio Moorhead, an enslaved artist known to Wheatley in Boston. Scholars believe Wheatley commissioned her original portrait from Moorhead to whom she also dedicated a poem, "To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works."

Michigan Quarterly Review Images.