Against the Grain Volume 28 Issue 2 Article 42 2016 Wandering the Web--Laws that Affect the Life of Americans from Slavery to the 21st Century Audrey Robinson-Nkongola Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atg Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Robinson-Nkongola, Audrey (2016) "Wandering the Web--Laws that Affect the Life of Americans from Slavery to the 21st Century," Against the Grain: Vol. 28: Iss. 2, Article 42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.7341 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Wandering the Web — Laws that Affect the Life of Americans from Slavery to the 21st Century by Audrey Robinson-Nkongola (Assistant Professor/Campus Librarian, Western Kentucky University) <[email protected]> Column Editor: Jack G. Montgomery (Professor, Coordinator, Collection Services, Western Kentucky University Libraries) <[email protected]> Author’s Note: Part One of the bibliog- The “Law Library” link will take the researcher was an attempt to avoid the divide between raphy is a list of Websites where informa- to the online catalog of LOC Law Library. the North and the South that was to occur. tion concerns laws and cases that greatly Items such as “Extracts from the American LeFrancois summarized the aspects under impacted African American lives in the slave code” can be found. the 1850 act that made the recapture of slaves nineteenth century. These laws are listed The site states slave codes were in existence easier and the successful escape nearly impos- chronologically beginning at slave codes to from 1660s to 1860s, 200 years of codes that sible. He points out “federal marshals were Plessy v. Ferguson. The slave codes and were designed to control the daily lives of financially liable for not trying to execute the fugitive slave laws were meant to control the African Americans. Maryland and the District warrants and for allowing fugitives to escape. possibility of slave rebellion. As the History of Columbia’s slave codes were published on Penalties were increased for obstructing slave Channel stated, black codes and the Jim March 17, 1862, one month after President owners or helping fugitives, and included Crow laws were meant to maintain white su- Abraham Lincoln signed a law to compensate imprisonment.” LeFrancois states under “an premacy and Southern agricultural society. slave owners for their loss of “property.” Unsuccessful Accommodation” section the The Dred Scott decision declared African PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) — Compromise merely “illustrated the North’s Americans were not citizens. Plessy made http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/ and South’s opposing views on the issue of segregation the law of the land. Laws, such legal/history.html — broadcasted a series slavery.” The last section is a debate about as the Civil Rights Acts and Voting Rights called “Slavery and Making of America.” whether reparations should be paid to African Americans as the result of slavery. Although Act, demanded that the United States gov- The Website entitled, “The Slave Experience: Legal Rights and Government,” is a part of the an interesting debate, it seems out of place in ernment honor the Constitution, particularly the discussion of the Compromises. the Fourteenth Amendment — “all persons series. The page is divided vertically into two born or naturalized in the United States” are columns. The first column on the left, “Legal The History Channel Website — http:// citizens and “… forbids states from denying Rights and Government,” provides a historical www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugi- any person life, liberty or property without overview. The second column discusses the tive-slave-acts — entitled “Fugitive Slave due process of law” or “deny to any person implementation and rationale for slave codes. Acts” begins with a dramatic banner “The within its jurisdiction the equal protection According to the author, Kimberly Sabol-Tos- Slave-hunter is among us. Be on Your Guard. of the laws.”1 co, one of the first slave codes was enacted An arrest is planned for to-night (sic).” It in South Carolina in 1696. It was called the summarizes the Fugitive Slave acts and cir- Part Two lists Websites of laws that “Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of cumstances they were enacted. In addition, the attempted to reserve the centuries of oppres- Negroes and Slaves.” This act originated from Website notes that statues regarding runaway sion. These laws illustrate the small gains Barbados and became the foundation for what slaves were in the thirteen colonies as early African Americans made to obtain de facto other states used for their slave codes. as 1643. freedom. — ARN Fugitive Slave Laws Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 Slave Codes Encyclopedia.com — http://www.ency- U.S. History.org — http://www.ushistory. clopedia.com/topic/fugitive_slave_laws.aspx org/presidentshouse/history/slaveact1793.htm The U.S. History.org — http://www.ushis- — operated by Cengage Learning, repub- — created a Website for the fugitive slave acts. tory.org/us/6f.asp — owned by Independence lished Arthur G. LeFrancois’s article entitled The title of the Website is “The President’s Hall Association of Philadelphia, provides the “Fugitive Slave Acts.” The Website includes House in Philadelphia: Fugitive Slave Act definition and rationale for slave codes. Slave Fugitive Slave laws of 1793 and 1850. The of 1793.” The Website consists of the entire codes were not implemented in the South in Website is divided into five parts, “the Fugitive document of the Fugitive Slave act. In the the 1800s, but it existed in the colonies in the Slave Act of 1793,” “the Fugitive Slave Act of “Fugitive Slave Act of 1793,” in order to force 1700s. U.S. History.org states slave codes 1850,” “an Unsuccessful Accommodation,” a person back into slavery, the burden of proof were employed to control the movement of “Slave Reparations,” and the bibliography. was on the person making the charge. Section slaves in order to avoid rebellion. The bibliography provides citations of Le- Two states “if any person takes a slave or aids At the top of the page is a drop-down menu, Francois’s resources. in the escaping of the slave shall be fined five which provides various aspects of United The site succinctly states the North and hundred dollars and up to a year in prison.” A States history. The subtitle of the page is “Af- South’s views on slavery and the recapture slave owner’s word or a document before the rican Americans in the British New World.” of slaves. The varying views caused division judge was sufficient to provide the proof that a The section for slave codes is label as “6F. between the two regions. According to Le- person should be returned to slavery. African Americans.” The subsection “f” is Francois, the “Fugitive Slave Act of 1793” WGBH New England PBS channel — where slave codes are located. The left side of was an effort to provide a means to enforce http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h62. the page includes further information on slave the constitutional clause concerning escaped html — aired a series called “Africans in codes on other sites. slaves. “The act allowed a slave owner to seize America.” The Website, “Africans in America: The American Treasures of the Library an escaped slave and present him/her before a Revolution, Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.” This of Congress: Memory — http://www.loc.gov/ federal or local judge, and, upon ownership, Website is a continuation of the program. The exhibits/treasures/trm009.html — maintained receive a certificate authorizing the slave to site quotes Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitu- by the Library of Congress (LOC), is a be retaken.” tion: “any person held to service or labor” can Website about slave codes in the District of LeFrancois maintains that the “Fugitive be returned to the owner. PBS points out the Columbia (DC). To the left of the page is an Slave Act of 1850” “was an important part of Constitution does not say a slave. Additionally, image of the actual slave code passed in D.C. the Compromise of 1850.” The Compromise continued on page 83 82 Against the Grain / April 2016 <http://www.against-the-grain.com> should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse of Memorabilia. The Webpage features a slide Wandering the Web to receive such warrant or other process when show of some of the museum’s artifacts, which from page 82 tendered or to use all proper means diligently are very disturbing. However, the menu tab, to execute he shall on conviction thereof, be “About us” and under the section “About the the slave law allowed any official the power to fined in the sum of one thousand dollars.” In Museum,” the goal of the museum is “to get seize a slave and return him/her to bondage. the “Fugitive Slave Act of 1793,” the fine was people to think deeply” and show the alarming Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 five hundred dollars. In addition, if a fugitive artifacts of history of racism in the U.S.” By escape under an officer’s control, that officer clicking on the “video” tab, various YouTube The part four PBS series — http://www.pbs. will be prosecuted “for the full value of the videos on racism are available for viewing. org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html — entitled service or labor of said fugitive.” In this act, “Africans in America: Judgment Day, 1831- The Library of Congress (LOC) — http:// unlike the previous one, the slave catcher is re- www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/ 1865,” included the Compromise of 1850 and sponsible for the successful return of the slave.