How Slaves Used Northern Seaports' Maritime Industry to Escape And
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Eastern Illinois University The Keep Faculty Research & Creative Activity History May 2008 Ports of Slavery, Ports of Freedom: How Slaves Used Northern Seaports’ Maritime Industry To Escape and Create Trans-Atlantic Identities, 1713-1783 Charles Foy Eastern Illinois University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/history_fac Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Foy, Charles, "Ports of Slavery, Ports of Freedom: How Slaves Used Northern Seaports’ Maritime Industry To Escape and Create Trans-Atlantic Identities, 1713-1783" (2008). Faculty Research & Creative Activity. 7. http://thekeep.eiu.edu/history_fac/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Research & Creative Activity by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Charles R. Foy 2008 All rights reserved PORTS OF SLAVERY, PORTS OF FREEDOM: HOW SLAVES USED NORTHERN SEAPORTS’ MARITIME INDUSTRY TO ESCAPE AND CREATE TRANS-ATLANTIC IDENTITIES, 1713-1783 By Charles R. Foy A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History written under the direction of Dr. Jan Ellen Lewis and approved by ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May, 2008 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION PORTS OF SLAVERY, PORTS OF FREEDOM: HOW SLAVES USED NORTHERN SEAPORTS’ MARITIME INDUSTRY TO ESCAPE AND CREATE TRANS-ATLANTIC IDENTIES, 1713-1783 By Charles R. Foy This dissertAtion exAmines and reconstructs the lives of fugitive slAves who used the mAritime industries in New York, PhilAdelphiA and Newport to achieve freedom. It focuses on slaves during the period between 1713, the end of Queen Anne’s WAr, and 1783, the end of the AmericAn Revolution. While the study’s primAry focus is on slAvery in three port cities, it employs a broAd geogrAphic approAch to consider how enslAved individuAls in rurAl areAs surrounding New York, PhilAdelphiA and Newport, as well as slAves in more distAnt regions, used the mAritime industry in northern port cities to escApe slAvery. MAritime work provided unique opportunities for fugitive slAves to exploit conflicts among whites to creAte relAtive autonomy and obtAin freedom. The work mAkes five significAnt contributions to the field of eArly AmericAn history. First, the dissertAtion demonstrAtes thAt the key chArActeristics of slAvery in northern ports were slAves’ mobility, the diversity of the lAbor they performed, and their strong connection to the AtlAntic mAritime community. Second, it illustrAtes thAt the mAritime industry in northern port cities of British North AmericA provided slAves viAble meAns to obtAin freedom. Third, it describes the significAnt eighteenth century blAck mAritime community in port cities of British North AmericA and the lArger BlAck AtlAntic. Its fourth contribution is to the field of AtlAntic history. The work depicts the interconnections among AtlAntic ports in the eighteenth century. It also globAlizes the struggle of enslAved peoples by plAcing their flight to freedom within a lArger AtlAntic ii context. The lAst, but fAr from leAst, contribution of this study is thAt it personAlizes the stories of enslAved individuAls, mAny of whose lives hAve remAined lArgely unknown. iii Acknowledgements As any mAriner cAn attest, support for a life thAt requires stops in ports across the AtlAntic requires extensive finAnciAl and emotionAl support. I wAs fortunAte to hAve been provided both. Generous finAnciAl support wAs received from a number of diverse institutions. Mystic SeAport Museum’s PAul Cuffe Fellowship for the Study of Minorities in MAritime History permitted reseArch in severAl New EnglAnd archives. The New Jersey Chapter of the Daughters of the AmericAn Revolution GrAduAte Student AwArd helped fund research in England. A fellowship from the Andrew Mellon Foundation permitted a month of reseArch at the LibrAry Company of PhilAdelphiA and the HistoricAl Society of PennsylvAniA. The CAird LibrAry Fellowship from the NAtionAl MAritime Museum allowed three months reseArch at NMM and the NAtionAl Archives. A dissertAtion fellowship from the McNeil Center for EArly AmericAn Studies at the University of PennsylvAniA provided a yeAr’s residency in a stimulAting community of scholArs. A DissertAtion Completion Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies helped fund reseArch in EnglAnd and the finAl push to bring this project to conclusion. The History DepArtment of Rutgers University extended substAntiAl finAnciAl Aid, a chAllenging intellectuAl environment, and a supportive community. A number of individuAls provided housing to this itinerAnt scholAr to permit my reseArch in fAr flung archives. HArriet and ChArles GrAce served as wonderful hosts in Kew, EnglAnd on severAl occAsions when I did reseArch at the NAtionAl Archives; Sue BrAder opened shAred her home in Greenwich, EnglAnd, a short wAlk to the NAtionAl MAritime Museum; SheilA Tobin‘s hospitAlity allowed me to complete reseArch in Connecticut; and CAroline SloAt at the AmericAn AntiquAriAn Society arrAnged for a iv short-term stAy at the AAS thAt both allowed me to delve into AAS’s rich archives and pArtAke in the Society’s scholArly activities. As the son of a librarian, I have a deep appreciation for the often unsung work of librAriAns and archivists. Without the assistAnce of these individuAls at a score of institutions, guiding me through their collections and gAthering needed mAnuscripts, this project mAy never hAd reAched completion. The archivists and stAff at AmericAn Antiquarian Society, Bristol Records Office, Columbia University Rare Book Room, Gloucestershire Records Office, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Library Company of PhilAdelphiA, Mystic SeAport Museum, NAtionAl Archives, NAtionAl MAritime Museum, Newport Historical Society, New York City County Clerk’s Office Old Records Division, New-York Genealogical and BibliogrAphical Society, New York City MunicipAl Archives, New-York HistoricAl Society, New York University’s Bobst LibrAry, Portsmouth City Records Office, Rutgers University’s AlexAnder LibrAry, and South Street SeAport Museum, all went to greAt lengths to provide mAteriAls for this project. I hAve been fortunAte to hAve hAd the opportunity to hAve presented portions of this dissertAtion to a vAriety of acAdemic and non-AcAdemic groups. The acAdemic Audiences who provided thoughtful comments on this work included those in attendAnce At the University of Memphis 2002 Graduate Student Conference on African-American History, the 2002 Rutgers University WArren I. SusmAn MemoriAl GrAduAte Conference, the McNeil Center for EArly AmericAn Studies’ Roots & Routes in Early America 2003 conference, the 2003 Annual Conference of the PennsylvAniA HistoricAl AssociAtion, the 2004 Creating Identities and Empire in the Atlantic World, 1492-1888 conference, a v 2005 stAff presentAtion at the NAtionAl MAritime Museum, the 2006 Omohundro “WArfAre and Society in ColoniAl North AmericA and the CAribbeAn” conference and Mystic SeAport Museum’s 2006 conference “Gender, RAce, Ethnicity and Power in MAritime AmericA” and the 2008 AnnuAl Meeting of the AmericAn HistoricAl AssociAtion. Members of the public who attended presentAtions at the South Street Seaport Museum and the New York Chapter of the African-American Genealogical and HistoricAl Society also provided helpful comments. “Seeking Freedom in the AtlAntic, 1713-1783,” published by the Journal of Early American Studies, on which this dissertAtion is bAsed, drew insightful comments from an anonymous reader and George Bordeaux, EAS’s editor. Philip D. MorgAn shAred both reseArch mAteriAls and his expertise. In trAnsforming thAt article into this dissertAtion, Christopher L. Brown provided guidAnce as how to frAme the project, and after reAding eAch chApter supplied insightful comments. John Murrin, Paul G. E. Clemens, and Deborah Gray White, read eAch chApter of this dissertAtion, and provided encourAgement and advise as to how improve the work. My advisor, JAn Ellen Lewis proved to be both an encourAging mentor And a model for the level of scholArship thAt I should strive for. Friends provided emotionAl support throughout the reseArch and drAfting of this dissertAtion. While writing her own dissertAtion, AndreA EsteppA reAd portions of this dissertAtion, provided support and comments thAt were much appreciAted, and most importAntly, shAred a love of movies. Over meAls at Lupé and other New York restaurants Ed DAingerfield provided the support thAt hAs been hAllmArk of a friendship thAt spAns more yeArs thAn either of us would cAre to admit. Allen GoldmAn’s pithy comments about the absurdity of acAdemic life while shAring beers mAde the inevitAble deAd-ends of vi writing more beArAble. Dennis FriedmAn offered his eAr and his artist’s eye, both of which were greAtly appreciAted. My fAmily neither wrote nor edited this dissertAtion, but their fingerprints are on it. My son DAvid and my niece TeresA Foy both provided cruciAl assistAnce in compiling stAtisticAl dAtA thAt helps frAme my thesis. My niece JessicA Rylick spent numerous dAys At the NAtionAl Archives compiling lists of mAriners and trAcing the lives of severAl of the men discussed in Chapters Four and