Afrolumens Project Enslavement in Pennsylvania Home Page

Enslaved Persons Lists by County

Adams Allegheny Beaver Bedford Berks Bradford Bucks Butler Centre Chester Crawford Cumberland Dauphin Delaware Erie Fayette Franklin Greene

Huntingdon Juniata Lancaster Lebanon Luzerne Lycoming Mifflin Montgomery Northampton Northumberland Perry Philadelphia Port of Philadelphia Slave Manifests Potter Somerset Susquehanna Washington Westmoreland York

Enslaved Persons in the Lower Counties on the Delaware, 1681-1776

Kent New Castle Sussex

About the Enslavement of People of Color in Pennsylvania

• Buying a Slave
  Where did Pennsylvanians buy slaves?
• First Advertised Slave Auction
  From a Philadelphia newspaper, July 1722
• Pennsylvania Slave Merchants
  Who were some of the professional dealers in slaves, in Pennsylvania?
• Resistance by Enslaved Persons
  What are some of the ways enslaved persons resisted their bondage?
• Slave Names
  How did enslaved persons get their names?
• Agriculture and Slave Labor
  How were enslaved persons used on Pennsylvania farms? Did Pennsylvania have "plantations?"

People and Places

• Former Slaves
  News items including obituaries of formerly enslaved persons.
• Profiles of William Kelso and Sons by Fred Kelso
  The Kelso family operated a ferry and held enslaved persons in Dauphin, Cumberland and Erie counties.
• Paxton Presbyterian Cemetery
  Modern view of the gravesite of three enslaved persons from Dauphin County and one Civil War era self-emancipated man.
• Hanover Cemetery
  Photograph and notes on this Dauphin County burying ground that reportedly has more than 150 unmarked graves of locally enslaved persons.
• Lincoln Cemetery, Dauphin County
  An historic African American cemetery with re-interments from the 18th century including enslaved persons.
• Midland Cemetery
  An historic African American cemetery with burials back to the 18th century including enslaved persons.
• Wenrich's Cemetery
  History and a photograph of the unmarked burial place of numerous enslaved persons from this portion of original Paxton Township. 

Documents and Images

• Pennsylvania's Black Codes
  Read the harsh laws passed in colonial Pennsylvania to control free Blacks and enslaved persons.
• 1722 Act Placing a Duty on Slaves Imported Into Pennsylvania
  Full text of the first act imposing a £5 duty on the importation of enslaved Blacks
• 1729 Act Placing a Duty on Slaves Imported Into Pennsylvania
  Full text of the act reducing the duty on the importation of enslaved Blacks to £2.
• 1761 Act Placing a Duty on Slaves Imported Into Pennsylvania
  Full text of the act increasing the duty on the importation of enslaved Blacks to £10.
• 1778 Act Seeking to Recover Duties on Imported Slaves Uncollected Since the Declaration of Independence.
• An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery
  Full text of the original act, passed on March 1st, 1780.
• 1788 Amendments to the 1780 Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act
  Full text of the 1788 Act to explain, amend and correct abuses of the 1780 Gradual Abolition Act.
• Miller v. Dwilling, 1826, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decision
  Full text of the September 1826 ruling that put an end to the practice of registering children of term slaves as term slaves themselves.
• A Comparison of Servitude Agreements
  Full text of separate servitude agreements for two young men, one white and one Black.
• Images of Enslavement
  Scans of original newspaper advertisements offering enslaved persons for sale, registration documents and miscellaneous documents, and discussion of commercial images.

Tools

• Tips on Using This Site
  About the enslavement data and how information is organized.
• Pennsylvania Enslavement FAQs
  Common questions about enslavement in Pennsylvnia.
• Glossary of Enslavement Terms
  Common words and phrases frequently used in ads and documents.

Resources

• Kinfolkology.org, featuring Oceans of Kinfolk, "a database of the coastwise traffic of enslaved people in the antebellum United States. Oceans of Kinfolk currently includes the names of more than 63,000 enslaved men, women and children trafficked to New Orleans from domestic ports between 1818 and 1860."