** slavery in the United States slave redeemtions








United States Slavery: Slave Redeemtions


Figure 1.--This boy is Charlie King. He was a slave boy redeemed and adopted by Mrs. King of Lima, New York. Mrs King also redeemed and adopted Alice, probably Charlie's sister. Click on the image to see Alice. The portrait was taken about 1862. We do not know where the children were from or just how Mrs. King selected them to redeem. Presumably she had to buy their freedom. This CDV was reproduced commercially to raise funds.

One subject that we do not hear a lot about in connection with American slavery is slave redeemptions. This means buying a slave's freedom. In the United States this by the 19th century largely meant buying a slave in the South and bringing them north. This was because the ability for free blacks to live in the South, especially the Deep South, got increasingly more difficult as laws more tightly restricted the lives of blacks. Some states even prohibited free blacks from living in the state, although enforcement varied. Slave redeemtion were a long established practice in slave socities. They do not seem to have been very common in America, although the information we have been able to find is very limited. The best known redeeemed slave is certainly Frederick Douglass. After he ran away, supporters of slavery mounted a series of attempts to kidnapp him so his friends finally purchased his freedom. We note some redeeded slave children. Some were light-complectioned children. Others were children with black complections and features. We are not entirely sure why these redemtions were so limited. We suspect the primary reason was that there was little support for free blacks locally in the South. Freed slaves in scocities like Rome could more readily assimilate into free society. Another problem was that in the 19th century, especially by the mid-19th century as the abolitionist movement grew in the North, the South grew increasingly defensive about slavery and the moral issues involved. A primary channel for redemtions would have been churches, but churches even began to split along reguonal grounds. And Southern states began to restrict the desiminations of books and perioficals printed in the North.

Redeeming Slaves

One subject that we do not hear a lot about in connection with American slavery is slave redemptions. This meant buying a slave's freedom. In the United States this by the 19th century largely meant buying a slave in the South and bringing them North. This was because the ability for free blacks to live in the South, especially the Deep South, got increasingly more difficult as law increasingly restricted the lives of blacks. Basically the laws were crafted to force freed slaves to move North. The laws were, howver, not strictly enforced/ Even so the numbr of freed slaves in the South was limited. As far as we can tell, only small numbers of slaves were ever redeemed in the United States. Important studies on slavery in America do not even mention the topic. [Franklin] I am not sure when the term redeemption first began to be used, but notice its obviouly Christian origins.

State Laws

Some states even prohibited free blacks from living in the state, although enforcement varied. Even states with less draconian laws still had laws that made life diffivcult and resyticted for freed slaves.

Individuals

Slave redeemtion was a long established practice in slave socities. They do not seem to have been very common in America, although the information we have been able to find is very limited. The best known redeeemed slave is certainly Frederick Douglas. After he ran away, supporters of slavery mounted a series of attempts to kidnapp him so his friends finally purchased his freedom. We note some redeeded slave children. Some were light-complectioned children. Others were children with black complections and features.

Limitations

We are not entirely sure why these redeemtions were so limited. We suspect the primary reason was that there was little support for free blacks locally in the South. Freed slaves in scocities like Rome where slavery was not based on race could more readily assimilate into free society. Another problem was that in the 19th century, especially by the mid-19th century as the abolitionist movement grew in the North, the South grew increasingly defensive about slavery and the moral issues involved. A primary channel for redemtions would have been churches. And northern churches were the center of the abolition movement. Churches even began to split along regional grounds. Southern churches managed to find devine inspiration for slavery. The slaves themselves, of course, focused on moses leading the children is Israel out of Egypt and slavery. Southern states began to restrict the desiminations of books and perioficals printed in the North.

Sources

Franlin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Nefro Americans (Vintage Giant: 1969), 686p. Franklin in this seminal work does not even mention redemptions.









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Created: 9:50 PM 8/30/2008
Last updated: 5:40 AM 6/15/2014