Category American Slavery
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.
Dutch Letters of Marque and the Arrival of the First Enslaved Africans in Virginia
A recording from a webinar I moderated for the Netherlands American Foundation, with Leendert van der Valk and Vincent Tucker. https://vimeo.com/536451450
Ghost Tallies in the Census
In my previous post I explained that historians have overcounted slaves in the New York census of 1830. Instead of the traditional count of 75 or 76, I estimated that there were in fact only between 38 and 51 slaves actually tallied on the census forms. One reason for the latter-day counting error, evident in […]
Runaway Slaves and “Country Marks”
Earlier today, a facebook friend asked me if I was knowledgeable about the history of runaway slaves. Of course, I said, that’s a topic I’ve been working on for about two years now. Ok, then, they asked further, what was in the meaning of the term “country marks” found in some runaway slave advertisements? I […]
Michael J Douma 