The Impact of Slave Laws

1720

Unknown

This map of the Atlantic world from the atlas The English Pilot, the Fifth Book, shows navigation routes that linked Africa and Europe to the colonial Americas and the West Indies.

Mariner's Museum and Park.

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.

mid-18th c.

Matthew Pratt (American, 1734–1805)

Daniel Horsemanden, one of the judges in the New York conspiracy trial of 1741, compiled his notes and trial records, along with his own description of the events. Horsemanden's narrative provides a biased account of trial and a record of justice denied.

Harvard Law School Library, Historical & Special Collections.

1672

Samuel Green, printer (English, c. 1614–1702)

Seventeenth-century legal rights and protections did not pertain to enslaved individuals.

Law Library, Library of Congress.

1631–1633

Willem Cornelisz Duyster (Dutch, 1599–1635)

Portraits of prosperous Dutch families sometimes included a black man or boy, likely an enslaved person, as a sign of their wealth and status. The name of the black man in this image is not known.

Rijksmuseum.

1860

Probably Edouard Rischgitz (Swiss, 1828–1909)

In this detail of a later 19th-century print, an enslaved mother shares a tender moment with her child.

Antiqua Print Gallery / Alamy Stock Photo.

c. 1740

Unknown

The Potter family with their enslaved boy.

Collection of the Newport Historical Society.

January 22, 1759

Unknown

This advertisement appeared in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal.

American Antiquarian 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.