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Enslaved persons, chained together in a coffle, are paraded through the streets of Washington D.C. on their way to the slave market. Detail from a larger print in the Library of Congress.

A series of pages exploring
various aspects of enslavement in Pennsylvania

 

Philadelphia County Slavery Advertisements

 

 

May 1798 news account of the suicide of a captured fugitive slave in Philadelphia.

May 16, 1798: Suicide of a captured slave girl

Yesterday a runaway negro girl was pursued by her master, who overtook her this side the middle ferry in High-street, and ordered her home, at the same time giving her a stroke with something he held in his hand by way of chastisement -- She sat out on her return, and passed on to the bridge, while her master stopped to speak to a person at the toll house, during which, the girl having arrived at the middle of the bridge, jumped into the river and was drowned-- Her body was not found till three quarters of an hour after.

Source: Gazette of the United States, 16 May 1798, page 3

 
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