Category American Slavery
Lecture at the Pelgrimvaderskerk (Pilgrim Father’s Church) Dec 9, 2025
On December 9th, I’ll be speaking (in Dutch) about slavery in New York at the Pelgrimvaderskerk (Pilgrim Father’s Church) in Rotterdam/ Delfshaven, the Netherlands. This is the church where the Pilgrims last held service before leaving the Netherlands and voyaging to what became Massachusetts.
A White Solomon Northrup? The Barnhart Case in Cattaraugus, NY
Scanning through some digital newspaper databases, I came across the following curious story, originally printed in the Buffalo Courier Express of March 24, 1857. I could not access that newspaper, but other newspapers copied and re-printed the story, in part or in full. The title was typically “A MOHAWK DUTCHMAN IN SLAVERY,” but sometimes it […]
A Dutch letter to Abraham Lincoln, 12 October 1864
Ll. Zaturdag is in handen gesteld van den amerikaanschen consul te Amsterdam het volgend adres, voorzien van de handteekeningen van 160 leden der internationale vereeniging tot bevordering der sociale wetenschappen: >> Aan Abraham Lincoln, president der Vereenigde State. >> Mijnheer de president! >> Sedert zijn ontstaan volgen wij met grootste belangstelling den strijd, die gevoerd […]
Slavery, Capitalism, and the New Moralism
For the past six years or so, I have been researching American slavery, just at the time when this topic has become a political hot potato. I’ve become worried that moralistic language and attitudes, however well intended, will interfere with scholarship and make it more difficult to research certain aspects of slavery, or relate certain […]
How old? Claims for Superannutated, Centenarian, and Super-Centenarian Ex-Slaves
If you search for articles on “ex-slave centenarians” you will discover many claims of formerly enslaved people who lived not only to 100, but much longer. In 1981, William Pinckey of Prince George’s County, Maryland, claimed to be 118, and had been born a slave. Not to be outdone, Philadelphia’s Mary McDonla claimed to be 135 […]
Presentation for the Holland (Michigan) Museum
My presentation on “The Legend of the Black Dutchman”
My article on Dutch-speaking runaway slaves in Geschiedenis Magazine
The full article in Dutch is here.
Michael J Douma 