Slavery is a social-economic system under which people are enslaved: deprived of personal freedom and forced to perform labor or services without compensation. These people are referred to as slaves, or as enslaved people.
The following is a list of historical people who were enslaved at some point during their lives, in alphabetical order by
first name. Several names have been added under the letter representing the person's last name.
Absalom Jones (1746–1818), formerly-enslaved man who purchased his freedom, abolitionist and clergyman – first ordained black priest of the
Episcopal Church.
Addas (
Arabic: عَدَّاس) an enslaved
Christian boy who lived in
Taif during the time of
Muhammad, who was supposedly the first person from the western province of Taif to convert to
Islam.[2][3]
Aelus Perseus, a
freedman of the
late Roman Empire, whom T. Aelius Dionysius included by name on a stela for him, his wife, their freedman and those who came after them.[10]
Aelstan, a man enslaved in Anglo-Saxon England freed with his wife and all their children (born and unborn) by Geatflæd "for the love of God and the good of her soul".[11]
Aesop (c. 620–564 BCE), Greek poet and author or transcriber of
Aesop's Fables.
Afak (12th century), an enslaved
Kipchak girl who was given by Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah, ruler of
Darband, to
Persian poetNizami Ganjavi (1141–1209). She became Ganjavi's wife and the mother of his only son, Mohammad. Through his poems, he expressed his grief at her premature death. It is disputed whether "Afak" (meaning Horizon or Snow White[12]) was her birth name or a nickname.
Afanasy Grigoriev (1782–1868), Russian serf and Neoclassical architect.
Ng Akew (died 1880), famous Chinese businesswoman and smuggler, originally a slave.
Alam al-Malika (died 1130), enslaved singer who was promoted to become the de facto prime minister, adviser and ruler of the principality of
Zubayd, in what is now
Yemen.
Alice Clifton (c. 1772–unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787.
Alick was a man enslaved by
John C. Calhoun,
Vice President of the United States and a firm upholder of
slavery. In 1831, Alick ran away when threatened with a severe whipping. Calhoun wrote to his second cousin and brother-in-law, asking him to keep a lookout for Alick, and if he was taken, to have him "severely whipped" and sent back.[16] When Alick was captured, Calhoun wrote to the captor: "I am glad to hear that Alick has been apprehended and am much obliged to you for paying the expense of apprehending him ... He ran away for no other cause, but to avoid a correction for some misconduct, and as I am desirous to prevent a repetition, I wish you to have him lodged in Jail for one week, to be fed on bread and water and to employ some one for me to give him 30 lashes well laid on, at the end of the time. I hope you will pardon the trouble. I only give it, because I deem it necessary to our proper security to prevent the formation of the habit of running away, and I think it better to punish him before his return home than afterwards.[17] Alick's case got considerable publicity,
opponents of slavery regarding it as giving the lie to Calhoun's assertion that slavery was "not a Necessary Evil but a Positive Good" and that slaves get the "kind attention" of their masters.[18]
Amanda America Dickson (1849–1893), the daughter of white
Georgianplanter David Dickson and Julia Frances Lewis, who was enslaved by Dickson's mother. Although legally enslaved until her emancipation after the
American Civil War, Amanda Dickson was raised as her father's favorite and inherited his $500,000 estate after his 1885 death.[20]
Anarcha Westcott (c. 1828–unknown), a black woman enslaved in the United States who was one of the several enslaved women experimented on by
J. Marion Sims.
Anna J. Cooper (1858–1964), author, educator, speaker and prominent African-American scholar.
Annice (died 1828), executed for the murders of five children.
Annika Svahn (fl. 1714), Finnish woman abducted by the Russians during the
Great Northern War. The daughter of a vicar in
Joutseno, she became perhaps the best-known victim of the abuse suffered by the civilian population in Finland during the Russian occupation
Greater Wrath.
Anteia, a woman in
ancient Greece described in Against Neaera as the property of Nicarete, who prostituted her c. 340 BC.
Anthony Burns (1834–1862), a
Baptist preacher who escaped slavery to
Boston only to be recaptured due to the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, then had his freedom bought by those who opposed his recapture in Boston.
Antonio and Mundy, the presumed names of two 16th-century African slaves brought by
Portuguese owners to
Macau. They later managed to escape into
Ming China. A popular legend states that one of them was the first to teach
Chinese to an Englishman.[23]
Aputsiaq Høegh, sued her oppressor William Daniel for her freedom in
Arkansas, alleging that her mother had been a kidnapped and enslaved white woman.[24]
Archibald Grimké (1849–1930), born into slavery, the son of a white father, became an American lawyer, intellectual, journalist, diplomat and community leader.
Aristocleia, a woman in ancient Greece described in Against Neaera as the property of Nicarete, who prostituted her c. 340 BC.
Arkil, a slave in
Anglo-Saxon England freed by Geatflæd "for the love of God and the good of her soul".[11]
Aster Ganno (c.1872–1964), a young Ethiopian woman was rescued by the Italian Navy from a slave ship crossing to Yemen. She went on to translate the Bible into the
Oromo language. Also she prepared literacy materials and went on to spend the rest of her life as a school teacher.
Aurelia Philematium, a
freedwoman whose tombstone glorifies her marriage with her fellow
freedman, Lucius Aurelius Hermia.[28]
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (1701–1773), also known as Job ben Solomon, a Muslim of the
Bundu state in West Africa who was enslaved for two years in
Maryland, freed in 1734, and later wrote memoirs that were published as one of the earliest
slave narratives.
Harriet Balfour (c.1818–1858), Surinam-born enslaved woman who was freed in 1841 and moved to Scotland
Balthild (c. 626–680), an
Anglo-Saxon woman of elite birth who was sold into slavery as a young girl and served in the household of
Erchinoald,
mayor of the palace of
Neustria. Later she became queen consort by marriage to
Clovis II, and then regent during the minority of her son
Clotaire. She abolished the practice of trading Christian slaves and sought the freedom of children sold into slavery. She was
canonized by
Pope Nicholas I about 200 years after her death.[29]
Bass Reeves (1838–1910), one of the first black
Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the
Mississippi River, credited with arresting over 3,000 felons as well as shooting and killing fourteen outlaws in self-defense.
Sarah Basset (died 1730), enslaved in
Bermuda; executed in 1730 for the poisoning of three individuals.
Batteas, a black slave sold by
Choctaw chief Francimastabe to Benjamin James, and later stolen by Robert Welsh.[30]
Belinda Sutton (1713–179?), born in Ghana, petitioned for support from her enslaver's estate, considered an early
reparations case and inspired future activism.
Bill Richmond (1763–1829), born in America, was freed and became one of England's best-known boxers.
Billy, a 7-year-old black boy captured by
Creek raiders in 1788; he passed through several hands before being sold at auction in
Havana,
Spanish Cuba.[31]
Billy (born c. 1754), a man who escaped
John Tayloe II's plantation and was charged with
treason against Virginia during the
American Revolutionary War. He was
pardoned after arguing that, as a slave, he was not a citizen and thus could not commit treason against a government to which he owed no allegiance.
Bissula (fl. 368) enslaved Alemannic woman, and muse of the Roman poet Ausonius.
Blaesus and Blaesia, whose late
Republican Rome tomb inscription names them as the
freedman of Caius and the freedwoman of Aulus.[32]
Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), born into slavery, became an American educator, author and leader of the African-American community after the
Civil War.
Nathaniel Booth (1826–1901), escaped slavery in
Virginia and settled in Lowell,
Massachusetts. In 1851, the citizens of Lowell purchased his freedom from slave hunters.
Saint
Brigid of Kildare, a major
Irish Saint. According to tradition, Brigid was born in the year 451 AD in
Faughart,[37] just north of
Dundalk[38][39] in
County Louth,
Ireland. Her mother was Brocca, a Christian
Pict slave who had been baptized by
Saint Patrick. They name her father as Dubhthach, a chieftain of
Leinster.[40] Dubthach's wife forced him to sell Brigid's mother to a druid when she became pregnant. Brigid herself was born into slavery. The child Brigid was said to have performed miracles, including healing and feeding the poor.[41] Around the age of ten, she was returned as a household servant to her father, where her habit of charity led her to donate his belongings to anyone who asked. In two Lives, Dubthach was so annoyed with her that he took her in a chariot to
the King of Leinster to sell her. While Dubthach was talking to the king, Brigid gave away his jewelled sword to a beggar to barter it for food to feed his family. The king recognized her holiness and convinced Dubthach to grant his daughter her freedom, after which she started her career as a well-known nun.[42]
Caesar (c. 1737–1852), the last slave to be
manumited in New York. A
supercentenarian, he may have also been the earliest-born person ever photographed while alive, in 1851.
Caesar Nero Paul (c. 1741 - 1823), enslaved as a child in Africa and brought to
Exeter, New Hampshire, he was freed and started a prominent New England family of abolitionists.
Cato (died 1803), an enslaved man in
Charleston, New York, who murdered twelve-year-old Mary Akins after an attempted rape. His confession was published in the murder literature of the time.[46]
Celia (died 1855), a woman convicted and executed for the
murder of Robert Newsom, her enslaver. During the
trial,
John Jameson argued she had killed him in self defense to stop Newsom from raping her.
Cesar Picton (c. 1765–1831), enslaved in
Senegal, worked as a servant in England, and later became a wealthy coal merchant.
Cevri Kalfa, an enslaved
Georgian girl at the sultan's
harem in
Istanbul, who saved
Mahmud II's life and was rewarded for her bravery and loyalty by being appointed haznedar usta, the chief treasurer of the imperial
Harem.
Charity Folks (1757–1834), African-American slave born in
Annapolis, Maryland, released from slavery in 1797 and later became a property owner.[47]
Charles Ayres Brown, enslaved mixed-raced man born in
Buckingham County, Virginia around 1820 or 1821 who was a part of the contraband camp during the
American Civil War in
Corinth, Mississippi. He was in Company E. He was legally married to Minerva Brown in 1867 and they had six children.
Chica da Silva (c. 1732–1796), also known as Xica da Silva,
Braziliancourtesan who became famous for becoming rich and powerful despite having been born into slavery.
Chloe Cooley (
fl. 1793), enslaved in Canada, her violent treatment and transport to the United States prompted Upper Canada's 1793 Act Against Slavery.
Claudia Prepontis, a Roman
freedwoman who erected in the 1st century AD a funerary altar to her freedman husband T. Claudius Dionysius; their clasped hands, depicted on it, show the legitimacy of their marriage, possible only once they obtained their freedom.[49]
Clara Brown (c. 1800–1885), a formerly enslaved
Virginian woman who became a community leader, philanthropist and aided settlement of former slaves during
Colorado's
Gold Rush.
Cooper, an enslaved black man around 20 years old who fled to the
Creek. He was captured to be sold to the whites but killed after he wounded a warrior.[51]
Cudjoe Lewis (c. 1840–1935), born Oluale Kossola, the third-to-last surviving victim in the United States of the
Transatlantic slave trade. Transported upon the slave ship Clotilda.
Cuffy (died 1763), was an
Akan man who was captured in his native
West Africa, taken to work in the plantations of the Dutch colony of
Berbice in present-day
Guyana, and in 1763 led a
revolt of more than 2,500 slaves against the colonial regime. Today, he is a national hero in Guyana.[52]
Danae, "the new maidservant of Capito", named in lead curse tablet from
Republican Rome, which aimed to destroy Danae.[55]
Daniel Bell (c. 1802–1877) who tried for decades to obtain lasting freedom for himself, his wife, and his children. He helped organize what was called "the single largest known escape attempt by enslaved Americans", called the
Pearl incident in Washington, D.C., in 1848.
Dave Drake (c. 1801–1876), also known as Dave the Potter.
David George, a black man who fled a cruel
Virginia master and was captured by
Creeks and enslaved by Chief Blue Salt.[56]
Denmark Vesey (c. 1767–1822), an enslaved African-American man and later a freeman who planned what would have been one of the largest
slave rebellions in the United States had word of the plans not been leaked.[58]
Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761–1804), born into slavery as the natural daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the
West Indies, and
Sir John Lindsay, a career
Royal Navy officer. Lindsay took Belle with him when he returned to England in 1765, entrusting her raising to his uncle
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Mansfield. The Murrays educated Belle, bringing her up as a free
gentlewoman at their
Kenwood House, together with their niece,
Lady Elizabeth Murray. Belle lived there for 30 years. In his will of 1793, Lord Mansfield confirmed her freedom and provided an outright sum and an
annuity to her, making her an heiress.
Diego was a formerly-enslaved freedman closely associated with the
Elizabethan English navigator
Francis Drake. In March 1573, Drake raided
Darien (in modern
Panama), in which he was greatly aided by
Maroons – Africans who had escaped from Spanish slave owners and were glad to help their English enemies. One of them was Diego, who proved a capable ship builder and accompanied Drake back to England. In 1577, when
Queen Elizabeth sent Drake to start an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas – which eventually developed into
Drake circumnavigating the world – Diego was once again employed under Drake; his fluency in
Spanish and
English would make him a useful interpreter when Spaniards or Spanish-speaking Portuguese were captured. He was employed as Drake's servant and was paid wages, just like the rest of the crew. Diego died while Drake's ship was crossing the Pacific, of wounds sustained earlier in the voyage. Drake was saddened at his death, Diego having become a good friend.[59]
Dincă, half-
Roma man enslaved by his father, a
Cantacuzino boyar in the 19th-century
Danubian Principalities (present-day
Romania). Well-educated, working as a cook but not allowed to marry his French mistress and go free, which had led him to murder his lover and kill himself. The affair shocked public opinion and was one of the factors contributing to the abolition of
slavery in Romania.[60]
Diocletian (244–312),
Emperor of Rome, was by some sources born as the slave of Senator Anullinus. By other sources, it was Diocletian's father (whose own name is unknown) who was a slave, and was freed prior to the birth of his son, the future emperor.[61]
Dolly Johnson (born late 1820s, died after 1887), African-American woman from Tennessee, enslaved by President
Andrew Johnson, later a small small-business owner.[62]
Dorota Sitańska (died after 1797), Polish serf and Royal Ballet Dancer, donated to the king of Poland by will and testament.[63]
Dragut (1485–1565) Ottoman commander, gally slave during his Italian captivity.
Dufe the Old, a man enslaved in
Anglo-Saxon England who was freed by his mistress Æthelgifu's will.[64]
E
Ecceard the Smith, a slave in
Anglo-Saxon England freed by Geatflæd "for the love of God and the good of her soul".[64]
Ecgferð Aldun's daughter, a slave in
Anglo-Saxon England freed by Geatflæd "for the love of God and the good of her soul".[64]
Edmond Flint, a black person enslaved by the
Choctaw Nation who later described it as very like slavery among the whites.[65]
Ediþ, an enslaved woman in
Anglo-Saxon England who bought her freedom and that of her children.[66]
Edward Mozingo, Sr., (c. 1649 – 1712), kidnapped from Africa when about 10 years old, sold into slavery in
Jamestown, Virginia. After his owner died, he sued for his freedom and won it. He married an impoverished white woman, Margaret Pierce Bayley (1645–1711) and together they, essentially, founded the Mozingo family line in North America.[67]
Elias Polk (1806–1886), a conservative political activist of the 19th century.
Eliezer of Damascus,
Abraham's slave and trusted manager of the Patriarch's household in the Hebrew Bible.
Elieser was a man enslaved by the family of Paulo de Pina,
Portuguese Jews who moved to the Netherlands in 1610 to escape persecution and forced conversion in Portugal. He lived with the family in Amsterdam until his death in 1629 and was buried in the Beth Haim cemetery, oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands. He appears to have been set free, either de jure or in practice, and to have been on near equal footing with the family that owned him back in Portugal – indicated by the fact that he attended the funeral of the wife of his master, Sara de Pina, and contributed to that occasion six
stuivers, and that he was buried alongside his (former) owners and alongside Jacob Israel Belmonte, the community's richest businessman. Elieser must have been converted to Judaism and widely accepted as Jewish, otherwise he would not have been buried inside the Jewish cemetery; the name "Elieser" was likely bestowed on him at conversion, recalling
Eliezer of Damascus. In recent years, Elieser's memory was taken up by members of the
Surinamese community in the Netherlands, who erected a statue of him and hold an annual pilgrimage to his grave on what came to be known as Elieser Day.[68]
Elisenda de Sant Climent (1220–1275), enslaved during a slave raid on Mallorca and placed in the harem of the emir in Tunis.
Eliza Hopewell, a woman enslaved by Confederate spy
Isabella Maria Boyd ("
Belle Boyd"). In 1862 she aided her owner's espionage activities, carrying messages to the
Confederate Army in a hollowed-out watch case.
Eliza Moore (1843–1948), one of the last proven African-American former slaves living in the United States.
Elizabeth Key Grinstead (1630–after 1665), the first woman of African ancestry in the North American colonies to sue for her freedom and win. Key and her infant son, John Grinstead, were freed on July 21, 1656, in the colony of
Virginia, based on the fact that her father was an Englishman and that she was a baptized Christian.
Elizabeth Freeman (c. 1742 – 1829), known as Bett and later Mum Bett, was among the first enslaved black people in Massachusetts to file a
freedom suit and win in court under the
1780 constitution, with a ruling that slavery was illegal.
Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907), best known as the personal
modiste and
confidante of
Mary Todd Lincoln, the
First Lady of the United States. Keckley wrote and published an autobiography, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House (1868).
Ellen Craft (1826–1891), light-skinned wife of William Craft, who escaped with him from Georgia to
Philadelphia, by posing as a white woman and her slave, in a case that became famous.
Ellen More, an enslaved woman brought to the royal Scottish court
Elsey Thompson, a white captive enslaved by a Creek. When trader John O'Reilly attempted to ransom her and Nancy Caffrey, he was told they were not taken captive to be allowed to go back, but to work.[70]
Emiline (age 23); Nancy (20); Lewis, brother of Nancy (16); Edward, brother of Emiline (13); Lewis and Edward, sons of Nancy (7); Ann, daughter of Nancy (5); and Amanda, daughter of Emiline (2), were freed in the 1852 Lemmon v. New York court case after they were brought to New York by their Virginia owners.
Emily Edmonson (1835–1895), along with her sister Mary, joined an unsuccessful 1848 escape attempt known as the
Pearl incident, but
Henry Ward Beecher and his church raised the funds to free them.
Enrique of Malacca, also known as Henry the Black, slave and interpreter of
Ferdinand Magellan and possibly the first man to circumnavigate the globe in Magellan's voyage of 1519–1521.
Epunuel, a native of
Chappaquiddick who was taken captive by English explorers in the 1610s with twenty-nine others, and taken to London as a slave.[71]
Estevanico (1500–1539), also known as Esteban the Moor. In principle he was a slave of the Portuguese to, later, be a servant of the Spaniards. He was one of only four survivors of the ill-fated
Narváez expedition, later a guide in search of the fabled
Seven Cities of Gold and possibly the first African person to arrive in what is now
Arizona and
New Mexico.
Eucharis, a Greek born
freedwoman of Roman Licinia, described in her epitaph in the 1st century AD as fourteen when she died, a child actress and a professional dancer.[72]
Eunus (died 132 BC), a Roman slave from
Apamea in Syria, the leader of the slave uprising in the
First Servile War in the
Roman province of Sicily. Eunus rose to prominence in the movement through his reputation as a prophet and wonder-worker. He claimed to receive visions and communications from the goddess
Atargatis, a prominent goddess in his homeland; he identified her with the Sicilian
Demeter. Some of his prophecies were that the rebel slaves would successfully capture the city of
Enna and that he would be a king some day.
Euphemia (died 520s), Empress of the Byzantine Empire by marriage to Justin I, originally a slave.
Exuperius and Zoe (died 127), 2nd-century
Christian martyrs. They were a married couple who were enslaved by a pagan in
Pamphylia. They were killed along with their sons, Cyriacus and Theodolus, for refusing to participate in pagan rites when their son was born.[73]
F
Fabia Arete, Ancient Roman actress and freedwoman who is referred to as an elite actress or archimima who enjoyed a highly successful career and likely belonged to the minority of female actors to perform speaking parts.[74]
Felicitas (died 203), Christian martyr and saint.[75]
Fiddih,
enslaved by the
Báb when she was no older than 7 years of age, Fiddih served the Báb's wife
Khadíjih-Bagum.[76] Fiddih would die the same night as her owner.[77]
Francis Jackson (born 1815 to 1820), born free, he was kidnapped in 1850 and sold into slavery and was finally freed in 1855 with the resolution of Francis Jackson v. John W. Deshazer.
Francisco Menéndez, a man enslaved in
South Carolina who escaped to
Spanish Florida, where he served in the Spanish militia, leading the garrison established in 1738 at
Fort Mose. This site was the first legal free black community in what is now the United States.
French John, a French fur trader captured by the
Cherokee and enslaved by
Old Hop, apparently making no effort for his freedom for many years, until he ran away when the British offered to buy him.[78]
C. Furius Cresimus, ancient Roman. As a freedman, he produced such crops from his small farm that he was accused of witching away other people's crops, but when he produced his agricultural implements in court, he was acquitted.
Pliny the Elder recounts his tale as evidence that hard work is what counts in farming.[79]
Ganga Zumba or Ganazumba (c. 1630 – 1678), a descendant of an unknown king of
Kongo who escaped slavery in colonial
Brazil and became the first leader of the runaway slave settlement of
Quilombo dos Palmares.
George Colvocoresses (1816–1872), from Chios, Greece, who came to the United States and became a Captain in the U.S. Navy, was briefly enslaved as a child.
Colvos Passage is named after him.
George Lewis (1794–1811), also known as Slave George, was an enslaved man murdered in
Kentucky on the night of December 15–16, 1811.
George Moses Horton (1797–1884), the first African-American author; first book of poetry published in North Carolina.
George Sanders, a black person enslaved by the Cherokee, who described his enslavers as kind and providing clothes and food.[65]
George Washington Carver (c. 1864–1943), an African-American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor known for encouraging cultivation of alternative crops to
cotton such as
sweet potatoes and
peanuts in the South; born into slavery in
Missouri and freed as a young child following the American Civil War.
George W. Hayes (1847–1933), a court crier and politician in Ohio of mixed African American and Native American heritage enslaved early in his life.
Gerónimo de Aguilar (1489–1531), a Franciscan friar, shipwrecked on the Yucatán Peninsula in 1511 and captured and enslaved by Mayans.
Glaumur, enslaved by the outlaw Grettir in
early medieval Iceland (protagonist of "
Grettis saga"). Glaumur is mentioned as loyally sharing Grettir 's long exile on the lonely island of
Drangey, off the northern tip of
Iceland, though in the circumstances described in the saga he could have easily escaped.
Gosala, a sixth-century BC
ascetic teacher of ancient India – a contemporary (and rival) of
Gautama Buddha – was said to have been born into slavery, and became a naked ascetic after fleeing from his irate captor, who managed to grab hold of Gosala's garment and disrobe him as he fled.
Gordon, also known as Whipped Peter, an enslaved African-American man who escaped to a
Union Army camp from a plantation near
Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1863. The images of Gordon's
scourged back taken during a medical examination were published in Harper's Weekly and provided
Northerners visual evidence of the brutality of slavery. They inspired many
free blacks to enlist in the
Union Army.[80]
Gryphus Ancient Roman slave. The epigraph of the enslaved boy Iucundus describes him as the son of Gryphus and Vitalis.[81]
Hanna, an enslaved woman in Virginia, and grandmother of Jackey Wright, who sued for her freedom in Hudgins v. Wright (1806) on the grounds that three generations descended from Butterwood Nan, who was an American Indian, not African. The
Virginia Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision by
George Wythe, that because of Jackey's and Hanna's appearance as mixed Indian and European, she was entitled to the presumption of freedom, given the limited nature of Indian slavery.
St. George Tucker and
Spencer Roane said that, as most Africans had been imported as slaves and blacks descended from enslaved mothers, a black person would not have the same presumption of freedom.[82][83]
Hark Olufs (1708–1754),
Danish sailor, was captured by
Algerian pirates. Sold to the
Bey of
Constantine, he became Commander in Chief of the Bey's cavalry. He was released in 1735.
Harriet Powers (1837–1910), American folk artist, and quilter.
Harriet Tubman (c. 1822 – 1913), nicknamed "Moses" because of her efforts in helping other American slaves escape through the
Underground Railroad.
Harry, the plaintiff in the 1818 Harry v. Decker & Hopkins decision by the
Supreme Court of Mississippi (the first among U.S. southern states) to free a person from slavery solely on the basis of prior residence in a free territory.
Hafsa Sultan (died March 1534) was the wife of
Selim I and the first valid sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother of
Suleiman the Magnificent. Her background is disputed but some historians hold that she was a slave.
Henry Highland Garnet (1815–1882), born an African-American slave in Maryland, escaped slavery in 1824, and became an abolitionist and educator.[88]
Hercules (born c. 1755), head cook enslaved by
George Washington at Washington's plantation,
Mount Vernon. He escaped and gained his freedom in 1797, but his wife Alice and his three children remained enslaved.
Helvius Successus, freed slave, and father of Roman emperor
Pertinax.
Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, born in
Cartagena, was enslaved at the age of 13 when the ship bearing him to Spain for education sank off Florida. A Calusa chief enslaved him and used him as a translator until he was ransomed at 30.[89]
Horace King (1807–1885), American architect, engineer, and bridge builder, was born into slavery on a
South Carolina plantation.
İbrahim Pasha (c. 1495 – 1536),
Suleiman the Magnificent's first appointed
Grand Vizier.
Greek by birth, at the age of six he was sold as a slave to the Ottoman palace for future sultans where he befriended Suleiman, who was the same age.
Icelus Marcianus, a slave and later freedman of Roman emperor
Galba in the 1st century CE. He was one of three men said to completely control the emperor, increasing Galba's unpopularity.[90]
Imma, a
Northumbrian aristocrat who was knocked unconscious in battle and later pretended to have been a peasant, so that his captors would not kill him. His manners and bearing soon betrayed him, and he was sold into slavery.[91]
Israel Jefferson (c. 1800 – after 1873), known as Israel Gillette before 1844, was born into slavery at
Monticello, the estate of
Thomas Jefferson, and worked as a domestic servant close to Jefferson for years.
Isthmias, a woman in ancient Greece described in Against Neaera as the property of Nicarete, who prostituted her.
Iucundus, boy in Ancient Roman, described in his epitaph as the slave of
Livia, the wife of
Drusus Caesar, the son of Gryphus and Vitalis. It states he was seized and murdered by a witch, and warns parents to guard their children to prevent such a fate.[81]
Jackey Wright, an enslaved American woman who sued for and won her freedom in the famous 1806 Virginia case of Hudgins v. Wright. The opinion of the Virginia Supreme Court relied on Wright appearing white and Native American, whereas the lower court under
George Wythe had tried to establish a presumption of freedom for all people, regardless of race.
James Leander Cathcart (1767–1843), a diplomat and sailor notable for his narrative of eleven years of
enslavement in
Algiers and for his diplomatic accomplishments while in slavery.
James Somersett or Somerset, a man enslaved in colonial America whose escape while in England in 1771, supported by notable
British abolitionists, led to the milestone legal case Somerset v Stewart, which effectively ended slavery in Britain, though not in its colonies.
Jim Cuff or Jim Crow was a crippled enslaved African man, variously claimed to have resided in
St. Louis,
Cincinnati, or
Pittsburgh,[98][99] whose song and dance supposedly inspired the
blackface song and dance "
Jump Jim Crow" by white comedian
Thomas D. Rice. The great popularity of Rice's creation soon led to Jim Crow becoming a pejorative name for blacks, and later to the name being used for the segregationist
Jim Crow Laws, a highly unfair posthumous memory of the original crippled slave.
Jim Henson, an African man who escaped slavery and published his
memoirs, Broken Shackles, in
Canada.
Joe, a man enslaved by
William B. Travis, one of the Texian commanders in the
Battle of Alamo. After the Texian defeat, Mexican General Santa Anna spared Joe, hoping to convince other slaves in Texas to support the Mexican government over the Texian rebellion.[100] Afterwards, Joe together with some other survivors were sent to Gonzales and encouraged to relate the events of the battle, and to inform the remainder of the Texian forces that Santa Anna's army was unbeatable.
John Axouch (1087–1150), a
Seljuk Turk captured as a child by the
Byzantine Empire, freed and raised in the imperial household as the companion of future emperor
John II Komnenos, and on his accession given command of the empire's armies and remaining the emperor's only close personal friend and confidant.
John "Lit" Fleming, born into slavery in Virginia but later moved to
Edmundson, Arkansas, with his parents and siblings. He would then move to Memphis, Tennessee, and was part-owner of the newspaper Memphis Free Speech with activist
Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
John Munroe Brazealle, along with his mother, the subjects of Hinds v. Brazealle (1838), a case in the
Supreme Court of Mississippi which denied the legality and inheritance rights in
Mississippi of deeds of
manumission executed by Elisha Brazealle, a Mississippi resident, in Ohio to free the pair.
John Brown (c. 1810–1876), escaped and wrote of conditions in the
Deep South of the United States.
John Ezzidio (c. 1810–1872), enslaved Nigerian man who became a successful
Sierra Leonese politician and businessman.
John Jea (born 1773), enslaved African-American man best known for his 1811 autobiography, The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher.
John Joyce born into slavery in Maryland, served in the
United States Navy, held a variety of jobs after, and murdered a shopkeeper, Sarah Cross; his life and crime recounted in the murder literature of his day.[101]
John Punch (
fl. 1630s, living 1640), an enslaved African man in the
Virginia Colony in the 17th century.[102][103] In July 1640, the
Virginia Governor's Council sentenced him to serve for the remainder of his life as punishment for running away to
Maryland. Many historians consider Punch the "first official slave in the
English colonies,"[104] and his case as the "first legal sanctioning of lifelong slavery in the
Chesapeake."[102] Historians also consider this to be one of the first legal distinctions between Europeans and Africans made in the colony,[105] and a key milestone in the development of the institution of
slavery in the United States.[106]
John S. Jacobs (1815–1873), born into slavery in
North Carolina, escaped, became an abolitionist speaker and author of a slave memoir. Brother of famed author
Harriet Jacobs.
John Smith (1580–1631), English soldier, sailor, and author best known for his role in the survival of the
Jamestown colony in Virginia. Smith was captured by the
Crimean Tatars in 1602 while fighting in
Wallachia and enslaved by the Ottoman Empire, but escaped and returned to England by 1604. As Smith described it: "we all sold for slaves, like beasts in a market-place."[107]
Jordan Anderson (1825–1907), best known for a letter sent to his former oppressor/master in response to the latter's request that Jordan return to his service.
John White, an enslaved black boy who was captured by Creeks in 1797 and escaped back to New Orleans, where he was returned to slavery by Spanish officials.[108]
John Ystumllyn, also known as Jac Du or Jack Black, an 18th-century Welsh gardener and the first well-recorded Black person of
North Wales.[109][110]
Joseph Cinqué (1814–1879), also known as Sengbe Pieh, leader of a slave rebellion on the slave ship La Amistad and defendant in the subsequent Supreme Court case United States v. Amistad in 1839.
Joseph Knight, successfully sought his freedom through a legal suit in
Scotland in 1777, a case which established that Scots law would not uphold the institution of slavery.
Juan Gros, a free black soldier captured near
Pensacola by an
Upper Creek, who sold him to a white trader who sold him to Mitasuki chief
Kinache, from whom Spaniards ransomed him.[115]
Juan Latino, called "el negro Juan Latino", from Ethiopia, brought to Spain as a child, received an education and rose to be professor of Latin at the
University of Granada, in 16th-century Spain.
Juan Ortiz, a young Andalusian nobleman enslaved by Chief Ucita in Florida to avenge injuries he suffered at the hands of the expedition Ortiz belonged to.[116]
Julia Frances Lewis, mother of Amanda American Dickson by the son of her owner.[117]
Juliana, a
Guaraní woman from present-day
Paraguay, famous for killing her Spanish enslaver between 1538 and 1542 and urging other indigenous women to do the same.[118][119]
Julius Zoilos, enslaved by
Julius Caesar. After obtaining his freedom, he rose to prominence in his home city of
Aphrodisias after Caesar's death.[120]
King
Jaja of Opobo (1821–1891), sold at about the age of 12 into slavery in the
Kingdom of Bonny in present-day
Nigeria. Proving at an early age his aptitude for business, he not only earned his way out of slavery but also became a rich and powerful merchant prince and the founder of the
Opobo city-state, his career eventually ended by the British colonizers whom he tried to defy.
Anna Kingsley (1793–1870), enslaved woman and then a planter and slave owner herself.
Kizzy Kinte, the daughter of
Kunta Kinte.[123] As with her father, the existence of an historical Kizzy Kinte is disputed.
John Knox (c. 1514 – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, galley slave in the French galleys, 1547–1549.
Kodjo (c. 1803–1833), a Surinamese slave who was burnt alive for starting the 1832 fire in
Paramaribo,
Dutch Suriname, possibly as an act of resistance.
Kösem Sultan (1589–1651), an Ottoman enslaved woman, later extremely powerful as wife, then mother and later grandmother of the Ottoman sultan during the 130-year period known as the
Sultanate of Women.
L
Lalla Balqis (1670 – after 1721), an Englishwoman captured and enslaved by Corsairs and included in the harem of the Sultan of Morocco.
Lamhatty, a
Tawasa Indian captured and enslaved by
Creek; he escaped.[124]
La Mulâtresse Solitude (1772–1802), a slave on the island of
Guadeloupe freed in 1794 by the abolition of slavery during the
French Revolution. She was executed after having fought for freedom when slavery was reintroduced by
Napoleon in 1802.
Laurens de Graaf (c. 1653–1704), a Dutch pirate, mercenary, and naval officer, enslaved by Spanish slave traders when captured in what is now the Netherlands and transported to the
Canary Islands to work on a plantation, prior to 1674.
Leo Africanus, (1494–1554), a
Moor born in
Granada who was taken by his family in 1498 to Morocco when expelled from Spain. As an adult he served on diplomatic missions. Captured by
Crusaders while in the Middle East, he was enslaved in Rome and forced to convert to Christianity. He eventually regained his freedom and lived out his life in
Tunis.
Leofgifu the dairy maid, an enslaved woman in Anglo-Saxon England, named in her manumission.[126]
Leoflaed, an enslaved woman in Anglo-Saxon England, whose freedom was bought by a man who described her as a "kinswoman."[127]
Leonor de Mendoza, an enslaved woman in
colonial Mexico who tried to marry Tomás Ortega, a man enslaved by another master; when her master imprisoned Tomás she appealed to a church court for assistance, which threatened excommunication if he did not free Tomás.[128]
Letitia Munson (
c. 1820 – after 1882), midwife and formerly enslaved, she was acquitted of performing an illegal abortion in Canada.
Lilliam Williams, a
Tennessee settler who was captured by the Creek while pregnant. The Creek adopted her daughter (whom she named Molly and they named Esnahatchee,); they kept the girl when Williams' freedom was arranged.[130]
Liol, a Chinese man enslaved by Mongol bannerman Soosar. He was rewarded with semi-independent status, as a separate register dependent. In 1735, his son Fuji tried to claim that he and his brother were in fact Manchus and detached household bannermen, but failed.[131]
Lott Cary (c. 1780 – November 10, 1828), born an African-American slave in Virginia, bought his freedom c. 1813, emigrated to Liberia in 1822, where he later served as colonial administrator.[132]
Louis Hughes (1832–1913), African-American man who escaped slavery, author, and businessman[133]
Lovisa von Burghausen (1698–1733), Swedish writer who published an account of being enslaved in Russia after being taken prisoner during the
Great Northern War.
Lucius Aurelius Hermia, a freedman butcher whose tombstone glorifies his marriage with his fellow freedwoman Aurelia Philematium.[135]
Lucius Cancrius Primigenius, a freedman of Clemens in an inscription praising him for breaking spells against the city.[136]
Lucius of Campione, who lost a lawsuit in the 8th century over a man Toto's claimed ownership of him.[137]
Lucy, the black woman enslaved by John Lang. She was taken captive by the
Creek when 12 years old and kept in slavery in Creek territory, where she had slave children and grandchildren.[138]
Luís Gama (1830–1882), born free in Brazil, illegally sold into slavery as a child, he regained liberty as an adult and became a lawyer who freed hundreds from slavery without asking for recompense, notably in the
Netto Case.
Lunsford Lane (1803 – after 1870), an enslaved African-American man and entrepreneur from North Carolina who bought freedom for himself and his family. He also wrote a
slave narrative.
Lyde, an enslaved woman freed by Roman empress Livia.[139]
Lydia Carter, the "Little Osage Captive," captured and enslaved among the Cherokee. She was ransomed by Lydia Carter, who made her her namesake. The Osage attempted to reclaim her, but she took ill and died.[140]
Mae Louise Miller (1943–2014), American woman kept in modern-day slavery (peonage) until 1961.
Malik Ambar, born in 1548 as Chapu, a birth-name in Harar,
Adal Sultanate in
Somalia. He was from the now extinct
Maya ethnic group. As a child he was sold in slavery by his parents[141] Mir Qasim Al Baghdadi, one of his slave owners, eventually converted Chapu to Islam and gave him the name Ambar, after recognizing his superior intellectual qualities.[142][143] Malik was brought to India as a slave. While in India he created a mercenary force numbering up to 1500 men. It was based in the Deccan region and was hired by local kings. Malik became a popular Prime Minister of the
Ahmadnagar Sultanate, showing administrative acumen. He is also regarded as a pioneer in
guerilla warfare in the region. He is credited with carrying out a
revenue settlement of much of the Deccan, which formed the basis for subsequent settlements. He is a figure of veneration to the
Siddis of
Gujarat. He humbled the might of the
Mughals and
Adil Shah of Bijapur and raised the low status of the Nizam Shah.[144][145]
Mammy Lou (1804 – after 1918), a formerly-enslaved woman who lived to extreme old age and acted in the 1918
silent filmThe Glorious Adventure.
Manes, a man enslaved by
Diogenes of Sinope. He ran away shortly after his owner arrived in Athens, and Diogenes failed to pursue him on the grounds that if Manes could live without him, it would be disgraceful if he could not equally live without Manes.
Manjeok, enslaved Korean person and leader of an abortive slave uprising.
Mann, either of two men enslaved by Æthelgifu in Anglo-Saxon England and freed by the terms of her will. One was a goldsmith and the other's wife was freed at the same time.[64]
Marcos Xiorro, a man enslaved in
Puerto Rico who, in 1821, planned a revolt against the sugar plantation owners and the Spanish colonial government. Though the conspiracy was unsuccessful, he became a part of island's folklore.[146]
Marcius Agrippa (late 2nd and early 3rd century), an enslaved man who was not only freed but eventually elevated to senatorial rank by Roman emperor
Macrinus.
Marcus Tullius Tiro (c. 103 – 4 BCE), Roman author, slave, and secretary of the Roman politician
Cicero, later freed. He invented a long-lasting system of shorthand and wrote books that are now lost.
Margaret Garner (1835–1858), an enslaved woman in antebellum America infamous for killing her own daughter rather than see the child returned to slavery.
Margaret Himfi (before 1380 – after 1408), a
Hungarian noblewoman who was abducted and enslaved by Ottoman marauders in the late 14th century. She later became an enslaved mistress of a wealthy Venetian citizen of
Crete, with whom she had two daughters. Margaret returned to Hungary in 1405.
Maria ter Meetelen (1704 – fl. 1751), Dutch writer of a slave narrative, enslaved by pirates and sold to the Sultan of Morocco. Her 1748 biography is considered to be a valuable witness statement of the life of a former slave.
Marguerite Scypion (c. 1770s – after 1836), an African-Natchez woman born into slavery in
St. Louis who sued for and eventually won her freedom.
Maria al-Qibtiyya (died 637), also known as "Maria the Copt" (
Arabic: مارية القبطية) or, alternatively, Maria Qupthiya, an enslaved
Copt who was sent as a gift from
Muqawqis, a
Byzantine official, to the
Islamic prophet
Muhammad in 628, and became Muhammad's wife. She was the mother of Muhammad's son
Ibrahim, who died in infancy. Her sister,
Sirin, was also sent to Muhammad. Muhammad gave her to his follower
Hassan ibn Thabit. Maria never remarried after Muhammad's death in 632, and died five years later.
Maria, (died 1716), the leader of a slave rebellion on
Curaçao.
Maria Perkins, an enslaved woman from Virginia who wrote a letter to her husband in 1852 about their son being sold away.[147]
Mariah Bell Winder McGavock Otey Reddick (died 1922), as a girl she was given as a wedding gift to Carrie Winder when she married John McGavock in 1848 in
Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Mariah, born enslaved in Mississippi, was taken to
Franklin, Tennessee, where she lived for most of the remainder of her life. She was matched with Harvey Otey after his first wife Phebe died. They had several children, including two sets of twins, born into slavery. During the Civil War, she was sent to Montgomery to be far from Union lines and possible freedom. She has been featured in three novels: Widow of the South and Orphan Mother both by Robert Hicks and in a book by her great-grandson William 'Damani' Keene and his wife Carole 'Ife' Keene entitled Clandestine: The Times and Secret Life of Mariah Otey Reddick.[148]
Marianna Malińska (died after 1797), Polish serf and Royal Ballet Dancer, donated to the king of Poland by will and testament.[149]
Marie-Josèphe dite Angélique (died 1734), a
black Portuguese enslaved woman who was tried and convicted, beaten and hanged for setting fire to her female owner's home, burning much of what is now referred to as
Old Montreal.
Mark, Massachusetts man enslaved by Captain John Codman.[150] Mark's body was displayed in chains publicly near
Charlestown, Massachusetts for twenty years. The gruesome display of his body was so well known at the time, the site where Mark's body was displayed is mentioned by
Paul Revere as a landmark, in his 1798 account of Revere's 1775 midnight ride.[151]
Martha Ann Erskine Ricks (1817–1901), an African-American born enslaved in Tennessee, later an Americo-Liberian quilter[152]
Marthe Franceschini (1755–1799), an Italian captured and enslaved by Corsairs and included in the harem of the Sultan of Morocco.
Mary Calhoun, white woman and cousin of
John C. Calhoun who was kidnapped by Cherokee. She never returned home.[1]
Mary Edmonson (1832–1853), along with her sister Emily, joined an unsuccessful 1848 escape attempt known as the
Pearl incident, but
Henry Ward Beecher and his church raised the funds to free them.
Mary Fields (c. 1832–1914): the first African-American female star route mail carrier in the United States.
Mary Mildred Williams, Nee Botts (born 1847), the original 'Poster Child' whose image was used to advance the abolitionist cause by propagandising 'White Slavery' in 1855.
The Master of Morton and the eldest son of the Chief of
Clan Oliphant, two Scottish nobles who were exiled from
Scotland after being implicated in the 1582
Raid of Ruthven. The ship in which they sailed was lost at sea, and it was rumoured that they had been caught by a Dutch ship. The last report was that they were slaves on a Turkish ship in the Mediterranean. A plaque to their memory was raised in the church in Algiers.
Mende Nazer (born c. 1982), a
Nuba woman captured in
Darfur and transported from
Sudan to London, where she eventually won refugee status and wrote the memoir Slave: My True Story (2002).
Miguel Perez was the Spanish name of a boy of the
Yojuane people who was among 149 Yojuane women and children taken captive in 1759 during
an attack on their camp by an expedition of Spaniards and
Apaches along the
Red River in what is now northern
Texas.[155] Many of the captives died of
smallpox while those who survived were enslaved.[156] The boy was sold to a Spanish soldier who bestowed the Spanish name on him. Perez became an Hispanicized Indian of
San Antonio but he continued to maintain contact with the Yojuanes. In 1786, Perez was recruited to convince the Yojuanes and their
Tonkawa allies to go to war with the
Lipan Apache, which he did successfully.[155]
Mikhail Matinsky (1750–1820), Russian serf scientist, dramatist, librettist and opera composer.
Michał Rymiński (died after 1797), Polish serf and Royal Ballet Dancer, donated to the king of Poland by will and testament.[157]
Mingo, the 15–16 years old boy enslaved by the Titsworth family in Tennessee, who was captured in 1794 by Creeks in a raid on the house and kept as a slave by them.[158][159]
Moses A. Hopkins (1846–1886), African-American diplomat, U.S. minister to Liberia.[160]
Hájí Mubárak,
purchased at the age of 5 years old by Hájí Mírzá Abú'l-Qásím, the great-grandfather of
Shoghi Effendi and brother-in-law of the
Báb, Hájí Mubárak was sold to the Báb in 1842 at the age of 19 for fourteen
tomans.[161] Hájí Mubárak died at about the age of 40 and is buried in the grounds of the
Imam Husayn Shrine in
Karbala, Iraq.
Mustapha Khaznadar (1817–1878), born Georgios Kalkias Stravelakis, a Christian Greek on the island of Chios, captured by Ottoman troops during the 1822
Massacre of Chios, converted to Islam and given the name Mustapha, sold in Constantinople to an envoy of the
Husainid Dynasty. He was raised by the family of
Mustapha Bey, then by his son
Ahmad I Bey[162] while he was still crown prince. Initially, he worked as the prince's private
treasurer before becoming Ahmad's state treasurer (khaznadar).[162] He managed to climb to the highest offices of the Tunisian state, married Princess Lalla Kalthoum in 1839 and was promoted to lieutenant-general of the army, made
bey in 1840 and then
president of the Grand Council from 1862 to 1878.
Muyahid ibn Yusuf ibn Ali, 11th-century leader of the
Saqaliba (slaves of supposed Slavic origin) in
Dénia, Spain (then part of Muslim
Al Andalus). Taking advantage of the crumbling of the
Caliphate of Córdoba, he and his followers rebelled, freed themselves, seized control of the city and established the
Taifa of Dénia, a city-state which at its peak extended its reach as far as the island of
Majorca.
N
Nafisa al-Bayda, Egyptian investor and diplomat, referred to as a "white slave", originally bought as a slave concubine.
Nancy, otherwise called Ann, the plaintiff in the 1799
New Brunswickhabeas corpus suit R v Jones
nancy brown Nancy Caffrey, a white captive enslaved by a
Creek. When trader John O'Reilly attempted to ransom her and Elsey Thompson, he was told they were not taken captive to be allowed to go back, but to work.[70]
Nathan McMillian, who as a freedman sued for the admission of his children to a local "
Croatan Indian" school on the grounds that it was for all non-white children, and that his children had Croatan blood on their mother's side.[163]
Neaera, a formerly-enslaved woman and prostitute whom the Athenian Stephanus married against the law c. 340 BC, according to a speech of
Demosthenes.[164]
Nicarete, a woman in ancient Greece, described in
Against Neaera the freedwoman of Charisius the Elean and the wife of his cook Hippias, and as owning and prostituting several women c. 340 BC.
Saint Nino (c. 280 – c. 332), a 4th-century
Roman woman from
Constantinople who is greatly venerated for having brought
Christianity to
Georgia. By some of the accounts of her life, she originally came to Georgia as a slave kidnapped from her homeland.
Afife Nurbanu Sultan (c. 1525–1583), née Cecilia Venier-Baffo, an enslaved
Venetian noblewoman who became the most favored wife of Ottoman sultan
Selim II and the highly influential mother of sultan
Murad III.
O
Oenomaus, a Gallic gladiator and one of the leaders of rebellious slaves during the Third Servile War.
Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797), also known as Gustavus Vassa, a prominent African-British author and figure in the
abolitionist cause whose birthplace is heavily contested.
Omar ibn Said (1770–1864), a writer and Islamic scholar from
Senegal who was enslaved and transported to the United States in 1807, where he spent the rest of his life enslaved.
Onesimus, a slave in colonial Boston who was instrumental in spreading knowledge about inoculation against smallpox.
Onesimos Nesib (c. 1856 – 21 June 1931), an Ethiopian bought out of slavery by Swedish missionaries when he was a boy. He went on to work with another former slave
Aster Ganno to translate the Bible into the
Oromo language.
Oney Judge (1773–1848), enslaved by the family of
Martha Washington, and then by the
First Lady herself, Judge worked at
Mount Vernon and elsewhere as a personal servant to Martha Washington until she escaped in 1796 to Portsmouth New Hampshire.
Juan de Pareja (1606–1670), man enslaved by Spanish artist
Diego Velázquez. Velázquez trained him as a painter and freed him in 1650.
Pasion, an enslaved Athenian man and banker.[45] Late in life, he received the rare honor for a freedman of citizenship.[167]
Saint Patrick, abducted from
Britain, enslaved in Ireland, escaped to Britain, returned to Ireland as a missionary.[168]
Patsey (born c. 1830), an enslaved African-American person who lived in the mid-1800s in South Carolina.
Paul Jennings (1799–1874), personal servant enslaved by President
James Madison during and after his White House years, bought his freedom in 1845 from
Daniel Webster. Noted for publishing the first
White House memoir, 1865's A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison.[169]
Paul Smith, a free black who accused the Cherokee headman Doublehead of kidnapping him and forcing him into bondage.[170]
Peggy Margaret Titsworth, enslaved at 13 years for three years, after a
Creek raid in 1794 on her Tennessee home.[158][172]
Pete and Hannah Byrne, freed slaves of the Napoleon Bonaparte Byrne family which traveled from Missouri to California overland (a six-month journey) in 1859, leaving the farm in Missouri and bringing six adults (including Pete & Hannah), the four Byrne children and a herd of cattle and settling in
Berkeley, California. Pete and Hannah are considered the first blacks living in Berkeley and among the first African-Americans in California.[173][174]
Petronia Justa, a woman in
Herculaneum who sued her owner claiming to have been born after her mother's emancipation; the records of the lawsuit were preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius.[175]
Phaedo of Elis, captured in war, enslaved in
Athens and forced into prostitution,[176] became a pupil of
Socrates who had him freed, gave his name to one of Plato's dialogues, Phaedo and became a famous philosopher in his own right.
Phillis, a Massachusetts woman enslaved by Captain John Codman. Convicted in the successful plot to poison her owner as she and her fellow enslaved "found the rigid discipline of their master unendurable",[150] Phillis was burned to death in 1755.
Phoebe, an enslaved woman who sued for her freedom in Tennessee, along with her sons Davy and Tom, claiming to be the descendants of an enslaved Indian woman whose sister and other relatives had proven that they were wrongly enslaved.[177]
Philocrates, enslaved by 2nd-century BCE Roman reformer
Gaius Gracchus. He remained at his master's side when Gracchus was fleeing from his enemies, forsaken by everybody else. Arriving at a grove sacred to the
Furies, Philocrates first assisted Gracchus in his suicide before taking his own life, though some rumors held that Philocrates was only killed after he refused to let go of his master's body.
Phormion, an enslaved Athenian man and banker.[45] Late in life, he received the rare honor for a freedman of citizenship.[167]
Pierre d'Espagnac, sometimes Pierre d'Espagnal (1650–1689) was a French
Jesuit missionary, enslaved by the Siamese.
Pope Pius I, the
Bishop of Rome from about 140 to about 154, during the reign of Roman emperor
Antoninus Pius. He was the brother of the freedman
Hermas and therefore likely to have been a former slave himself, though that is not mentioned explicitly in the scant records of his life.
Polly, the subject of the 1820 Indiana Supreme Court case Polly v. Lasselle, which resulted in all slaves held within Indiana to be freed.
Politoria, the subject of a lead curse tablet in ancient Rome; it was a curse on Clodia Valeria Sophrone, that she should not get Politoria into her power. She appears to have been a slave-courtesan who feared being sent to the brothel.[178]
Primus (1700–1791), enslaved by Daniel Fowle of
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Primus operated the press for the New Hampshire Gazette which is the American newspaper in longest continuous print.
Prince was the slave of a
Choctaw man named Richard Harkins. Angered that his owner failed to give his slaves a Christmas celebration, Prince brutally murdered him and then unceremoniously dumped the body into the river in 1858.[179][180]
Prince Boston (born 1750), sued for and won his freedom in a 1773 U.S. jury trial
Prosper, a slave murdered in 1807 in
Virgin Islands by his owner
Arthur William Hodge, for which Hodge was tried and executed in 1811, the first (and virtually only) such case ever recorded.
A pregnant
Thrall whose name is not preserved, who was fleeing for her life in 11th-century Oslo, was given refuge on the boat of
Hallvard Vebjørnsson, who tried to shield her but was killed together with her by the attackers' arrows, for which he was canonised and became the
patron saint of
Oslo.[181]
Publilius Syrus (fl. 85 – 43 BCE), a Latin writer best known for his sententiae. He was a Syrian who was brought as a slave to Italy.
Quock Walker, also known as Kwaku or Quok Walker, sued for and won his freedom in 1781 in a case citing language in the new
Massachusetts Constitution (1780) that declared all men to be born free and equal.
Rachel of Kittery, Maine (died 1695), enslaved woman murdered by her owner whose case set a legal precedent in New England.
Rachel Knight (died 1889), initially enslaved by the grandfather of
Newton Knight, the well-known Southern Unionist who during the
American Civil War defied the Confederacy in the rebellion known as the
Free State of Jones. After the war, Rachel was emancipated along with the other slaves. By the mid-1870s, Knight had separated from his wife, Serena, and married Rachel. In this period, Knight's grown son, Mat (from his first wife), married Rachel's grown daughter, Fannie, from a previous union. Knight's daughter, Molly, married Rachel's son, Jeff, making three interracial families in the community. Newton and Rachel Knight had several children before her death in 1889.
Rebecca Huger, an enslaved woman who was freed by General
Benjamin F. Butler in
New Orleans, and described in a Harper's Weekly article as being to all appearance white, and having come to a school for emancipated slaves in Philadelphia.[48]
Redoshi (c. 1848 – 1937), also known as Sally Smith, the next-to-last surviving victim in the United States of the
Transatlantic slave trade. Transported upon the slave ship Clotilda.
Robert Blake, earned the Medal of Honor as a sailor during the American Civil War, after becoming a "contraband" (i.e. a slave freed by Unionist forces) and enlisting.
Robert Drury (1687 – between 1743 and 1750), an English sailor who was shipwrecked on the island of
Madagascar in 1702, and remained enslaved there until 1717.
Robin and Polly Holmes, the plaintiffs in the 1853 Holmes v. Ford court case in the
Oregon Territory that freed their children. The decision re-affirmed that slavery was illegal in the territory as outlined in the
Organic Laws of Oregon that were continued once the region became a U.S. territory.
Rosina Downs, an enslaved woman who was freed by General
Benjamin F. Butler in
New Orleans, and described in a Harper's Weekly article as being to all appearance white, and having come to a school for emancipated slaves in Philadelphia.[48]
Sabuktigin (c. 942 – 997), full name Abu Mansur Sabuktigin, captured and sold into slavery at a young age, rose to become a general and eventually a king and the founder of the
Ghaznavid Empire in medieval Iran.
Safiye Sultan (c. 1550 – c. 1619), an enslaved Albanian woman who was placed in the harem of the Ottoman sultan
Murad III and became the mother of sultan
Mehmed III.
Sally Hemings (1773–1835), a mixed-race woman enslaved by
Thomas Jefferson believed by many to have had six children with him, four of whom survived to adulthood.
Sally Miller or Salomé Müller (born c. 1814), an enslaved American woman whose freedom suit in Louisiana was based on her claimed status as a free German immigrant and indentured servant.[184]
Sally Seymour (died 1824), American pastry chef and restaurateur, an enslaved woman who was manumitted and became a slave owner herself.
Sambo (died 1736), an enslaved boy who arrived at Sunderland Point, near Lancaster, England, around 1736 from the West Indies in the capacity of a servant a ship's captain. He is buried in an unconsecrated grave in a field near the small village of
Sunderland Point,
Lancashire, England.
Sambo, a black captive of Tiger King, a
Lower Creek, who told the traveler
William Bartram that Sambo was his family property.[185]
Samuel Benedict (1792–1854), born an African-American slave, later became free and emigrated to Liberia, where he became a politician and judge.[186]
Samuel Green (c. 1802 – 1877), an enslaved man who bought his freedom and freedom for his loved ones, was involved with the
Underground Railroad, and was jailed in 1857 for carrying a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Sara Forbes Bonetta (1843–1880), an
Egbado princess of the
Yoruba who was orphaned in intertribal warfare, sold into slavery as a child, was rescued by Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the
Royal Navy and taken to the United Kingdom where she became a goddaughter to
Queen Victoria.
Sarah Johnson (1844–1920) whose life at the first president's plantation was published in the book Sarah Johnson's Mount Vernon.
Satrelanus, from Gaul, sold by Ermedruda to Toto in Milan in 725.[188]
Scipio Vaughan (c. 1784 – c. 1840), was captured from his homeland in Africa at a young age and sold into slavery in the United States. He became a skilled artisan in
Camden, South Carolina; gained his freedom and inspired a movement among some of his descendants.
Septimus Clarke (1787–1859), formerly enslaved, he became a successful farmer and community leader in Nova Scotia.
Servius Tullius, ancient
King of Rome said to have started life enslaved (though this was disputed, among both Romans and modern historians).
Solomon Bayley (1771–1839), wrote a book in 1825 about his life as a slave.
Solomon Northup (1807 –
c. 1863),[190][191] a farmer, professional violinist, and free-born black man from New York who was lured to
Washington, D.C., where slavery was legal, kidnapped, and sold in the South. He remained enslaved in Louisiana from 1841 until he was rescued and liberated in 1853. Author of Twelve Years a Slave.
Solomon Flores, enslaved man from northern
Alabama.
Sosias the Thracian, an enslaved Athenian man, and later freedman, enslaved by Nicias, who later leased him a thousand slaves for his mining operation.[45]
Stefan Holnicki (died after 1797), Polish serf and Royal Ballet Dancer, donated to the king of Poland by will and testament.[193]
Stephen Bishop (c. 1821 – 1857), an enslaved mixed-race man in Kentucky known for being one of the first explorers and guides of
Mammoth Cave.
Sue, a black woman enslaved by James Brown, who was captured along with several members of the Brown family and other slaves by
Chickamaugas. When the warrior who had captured her threatened another captive, the other captor threatened to kill Sue in retribution.[194] James' son Joseph later kidnapped Sue and her children and grandchildren—eight in all—in retribution for his captivity.[195]
Sumayyah bint Khayyat (550–615), a woman enslaved in
Mecca and one of the first seven converts to
Islam made by the Prophet
Muhammad in his early career. She was tortured and killed by enemies of the new faith, becoming the first Muslim
Shahid.
Squanto (1585–1622), also known as Tisquantum, a Native American of what is now coastal Massachusetts who was captured by English pirates and sold as a slave. He was later freed and returned to
New England, where he met the
Pilgrims of the Mayflower in 1621.
Subh of Cordoba (940–999), an enslaved concubine of a Caliph and mother and regent of the next Caliph of Cordoba in the 10th century.
Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861): The most prominent Ukrainian poet, artist and illustrator was born in a family of serfs. His artist friends bought his freedom in 1838.
Tatyana Shlykova (1773–1863), Russian serf ballerina and opera singer.
Thumal, administrator of justice to the eighteenth Abbasid Caliph
al-Muqtadir.
T. Aelius Dionysius, a freedman of the late Roman Empire, who created a stela for himself, his wife, and Aelius Perseus, his fellow freedman, and their freedman and those who came after them.[197]
T. Claudius Dionysius, a freedman whose freedwoman wife Claudia Prepontis erected a funerary altar to him. Their clasped hands, depicted on it, show the legitimacy of their marriage, possible only once they obtained their freedom.[49]
Terence (c. 195/185 – c. 159 BCE), full name Publius Terentius Afer, Roman playwright and comic poet who wrote before and possibly after his freedom.
Tomás Ortega, an enslaved man in colonial Mexico who attempted to marry Leonor de Mendoza, a woman enslaved by another master. When that man imprisoned Tomás, Leonor appealed to a church court for assistance, and it threatened excommunication if he did not free Tomás.[128]
Titus Kent (1733–18??), enslaved by the Samuel Kent family in
Suffield Connecticut. He was owned by Samuel Kent, who lived 1698–1772; Samuel Kent's 1772 probate recorded that Titus was bequeathed Samuel Kent's son, Elihu Kent.
Revolutionary War records indicate that Titus served in different regiments from 1775–1783.
Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743–1803), a freedman who led the slave revolt that led to the independence of
Haiti.
Turgut Reis (1485–1565), also known as Dragut, a well-known admiral of the
Ottoman Navy of the 16th century who was captured by the
Genoese at
Corsica and forced to work as a
galley slave for nearly four years. He was finally rescued by his fellow admiral
Barbarossa, who laid siege to Genoa and secured Turgut Reis' release for the prodigious ransom of 3,500 gold ducats. Thereupon, Turgut Reis resumed his naval career (which included the enslavement of various other people).
Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (1705–1775), also known as James Albert, a freedman turned writer whose autobiography is considered the first published by an African in Britain.
Venture Smith (1729–1805), an African captured as a child and transported to the
American colonies as a slave. When an adult, he purchased his freedom and that of his family – his wife Meg and their children Hannah, Solomon and Cuff. His history was documented and published by a schoolteacher, to whom he talked in his old age.
The Vestmenn ("West Men" in
Old Norse, referring to the Irish) were a group of Irish slaves brought to
Iceland by
Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson, one of the early Norse settlers there. He treated them badly, and they killed him and escaped to a group of offshore islands.
Ingólfur Arnarson, Hjörleifur's
blood brother, tracked the escaped slaves and killed them all. Though their individual names are unknown, their memory lives on in Icelandic geography, the islands where they sought refuge being known up to the present as "
Vestmannaeyjar": "Islands of the West Men" (i.e. of the Irish).
Vincent de Paul (1581–1660), a French priest who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. He was taken captive by Turkish pirates, sold into slavery, and freed in 1607.[201]
Vindicius, an ancient Roman slave who discovered Tarquin's plot to regain power.
Vibia Calybeni, a
freedwoman of the late Roman Empire who unusually named herself as a madam on her tombstone.[202]
Virginia Boyd, an enslaved American woman whose letter to R.C. Ballard, pleading not to be sold with her children among strangers, has been preserved. Ballard had undertaken to have her sold at the request of Judge Samuel Boyd, the children's father, to hide her existence from his family.
Violet Ludlow, an American woman sold into slavery several times despite her claims to be a free white woman.[48]
Virginia Demetricia (1842–after 1867), an enslaved
Aruban known as a heroin of resistance against enslavement.
Vitalis, ancient Roman slave. An epigraph describes an enslaved boy, Iucundus, as the son of Gryphus and Vitalis.[81]
William Ansah Sessarakoo (c. 1736–1770), African prince who became a victim of the transatlantic slave trade, was freed, and then became a slave trader himself.
William Ellison (1790–1861), an enslaved man of
mixed race who, after gaining his freedom, became a slaveholder himself, producing cotton.
William Gardner (born 1759), a man enslaved by
James Madison who Madison sold into indentured servitude for seven years before becoming emancipated and working as a merchant's agent.
William (1824–1900) and Ellen Craft (1826–1891), a married enslaved couple from
Macon, Georgia, whose daring escape to the North in 1848 made them among the most famous fugitives from slavery in the country.
William D. Gibbons (1825–1886), enslaved domestic servant; became African Baptist minister after emancipation.
William Dorsey Swann (1860–1925), born a slave in Maryland, later became an LGBT activist and the first known person to self-identify as a drag queen.[204]
William Jones was an enslaved man who was acquired by
Ulysses S. Grant from his father-in-law in 1858. Jones was thirty-five years old at the time.[205][206] Although Grant was not an
abolitionist, he was not considered a "slavery man", and could not bring himself to force a slave to do work.[207] In March 1859, Grant freed William by a manumission deed, potentially worth at least $1,000, when Grant needed the money.[208][209] The case of William Jones received much attention from historians, and is used in debates on Grant's attitude to slavery.
Wilson Chinn African American featuring in an 1863 photograph as "branded slave"
Wulfstan, a man enslaved in
Anglo-Saxon England, and his two sons and stepdaughter. They were freed by his mistress Æthelgifu's will.[64]
Wu Rui (吳瑞), a 15th-century enslaved
eunuch in what is now
Vietnam. He was the youngest of thirteen Chinese men from
Wenchang whose ship was blown off course and who were subsequently enslaved by the
Lê dynasty. As recorded in the
Ming Shi-lu, his companions were made agricultural laborers while
Wu Rui was
castrated and became an attendant at the
Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. After years of service, he was promoted at the death of the Vietnamese ruler in 1497 to a military position in northern Vietnam. A soldier told him of an escape route back to China and Wu Rui escaped to
Longzhou. The local chief planned to sell him back to the Vietnamese, but Wu was rescued by the
Pingxiang magistrate and then was sent to
Beijing to work as a eunuch in the palace.
Xing was the primary primary spouse of
Gaozong, the brother of
Qinzong, Chinese Emperor of the
Song Dynasty. In 1127, the capital of
Kaifeng was captured by the
Jurchen during the
Jin–Song Wars, and Xing was among more than 3000 people captured and exiled to Manchuria in what was called the
Jingkang Incident. Xing was among The Imperial consorts, concubines, palace women and eunuchs who were captured, and distributed among the Jurchen as slaves.[211] Xing's husband Gaozong, who avoided capture, became the new Emperor and declared Xing Empress in absentia, but was unable to get her free. She remained in captivity where she was coveted by her captors, attempted suicide to escape abuse but failed, and she died in captivity in 1139.[212]
Y
Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), an Arab biographer and geographer known for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. He was sold into slavery in 12th-century
Syria and taken to
Baghdad, but was provided with a good education and later freed.
Yasār, a 7th-century Christian man who had been captured in a campaign of
Khalid ibn al-Walid, a companion of Muhammad. Yasār was taken to
Medina and became the slave of Qays ibn Makhrama ibn al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn Quṣayy. He accepted Islam, was manumitted and became his mawlā, thus acquiring the
nisbat al-Muṭṭalibī. He had three sons – Mūsā, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and Isḥāq. His grandson,
Ibn Ishaq, became an important early Arab historian.
Yasuke, a 16th century African man who travelled to Japan in the service of Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano. Given to
Oda Nobunaga, Yasuke became a confident of the daimyō and given official status as a trusted retainer.
Zalmoxis, a
Dacian who was enslaved by
Pythagoras on the island of
Samos, according to
Herodotus. Zalmoxis learned philosophy from his owner and other wise Greeks. Eventually he was liberated, gathered huge wealth and went back to his homeland, where he converted the
Thracians to his beliefs, was greatly venerated for his wisdom and in later generations became worshiped as a god.[213]
Zayd ibn Haritha (c. 581–629), given to Muhammad's wife
Khadijah, freed, adopted, and became known as Zayd ibn Muhammad.
Ziryab (789–857), also known as Abul-Hasan Alí Ibn Nafí, a Muslim singer, musician, and polymath known for introducing the crop
asparagus to Europe.
Zofia Potocka (1760–1822), a Greek-Ottoman enslaved courtesan who ended up as a Polish countess by marriage.
Zumbi (1655–1695), enslaved in
Portuguese Brazil, he escaped and joined the
Quilombo dos Palmares, the largest ever settlement of escaped slaves in colonial Brazil, becoming its last and most famous leader.
Zunairah al-Rumiya (
Arabic: زنيرة الرومية, Zaneerah the
Roman) (other transliterations include Zaneera, Zannirah, Zanira or in some sources Zinra or Zinnirah) was a
companion of the Prophet
Muhammad.
^Timothy Hugh Barrett (1989).
Singular listlessness: a short history of Chinese books and British scholars. Wellsweep. p. 33.
ISBN0-948454-04-0. Retrieved November 4, 2011. This man, who as far as we know was the first interpreter to try to impart a knowledge of Chinese to Englishman, was one of a number of black slaves from Macao who managed to escape into Chinese territory2. Presumably Antonio and Mundy(the University of Michigan)
^Ariela J. Gross (2008), What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America, p. 31,
ISBN978-0-674-03130-2
^Fantham, et al.,Women in the Classical World pp. 319–20
^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain: Fournet, Pierre August (1907).
"St. Bathilde". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Fantham et al., Women in the Classical World, p. 268
^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain: Kirsch, Johan Peter (1907).
"St. Blandina". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Williams, Emily Allen (2004). The Critical Response to Kamau Brathwaite. Praeger Publishers. p. 235.
ISBN0-275-97957-1.
^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain: Chapman, Henry Palmer (1908).
"Pope Callistus I". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^
abcdTenzer, Lawrence R. (October 2001).
"White Slaves". The Multiracial Activist. Archived from
the original on November 9, 2011.
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abElaine Fantham, Helene Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy, H. A. Shapiro, Women in the Classical World pp. 320–1,
ISBN0-19-509862-5
^Laurence Vidal, Los Amantes de Granada, Ed. EDHASA, 2006, 359 pages, (
ISBN978-8-43501742-8)
^Afnan, Abul-Qasim (1999), Black Pearls: Servants in the Household of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p. 27,
ISBN1-890688-03-7
^Afnan, Abul-Qasim (1999), Black Pearls: Servants in the Household of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p. 30,
ISBN1-890688-03-7
^'Abdu'l-Baha (1982). Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by Abdu'l Baha during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912. Bahai Publishing Trust, 2nd Edition. p. 426.
ISBN978-0877431725.
^Ariela J. Gross, What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America, pp. 24–5,
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^Hutton, Michael (June–December 1889).
"The Negro on the Stage". Harper's Magazine. 79. Harper's Magazine Co.: 131–145. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
^Mary Deborah Petite, "1836 Facts about the Alamo and the Texas War for Independence",
ISBN978-1-882810-35-2, Savas Publishing Company, Mason City, IA, 1999, p. 128
^Wright, Donald R. (1981). "Uprooting Kunta Kinte: On the Perils of Relying on Encyclopedic Informants". History in Africa. 8: 205–217.
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^Andrews, William L.; Foster, Frances Smith; Harris, Truder (February 15, 2001).
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Oxford University Press. p. 250.
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^"Louis Hughes". American Literature. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
^Daniel Odgen, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts In The Greek and Roman Worlds, p. 166,
ISBN978-0-19-538520-5
^Fantham, et al., Women in the Classical World, pp. 319–20
^Daniel Ogden "Binding Spells" p. 70 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome, edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark
ISBN0-8122-1705-5
^Slavery & South Asian History. Chatterjee, Indrani., Eaton, Richard Maxwell. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2006.
ISBN978-0-253-11671-0.
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^Talmage, T. De Witt, ed. (July 1885).
"The Rev. Moses A. Hopkins, A.M."Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine. 18 (1). New York: Frank Leslie's Publishing House: 556.
^Afnan, Abul-Qasim (1999), Black Pearls: Servants in the Household of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, Kalimat Press, p. 5,
ISBN1-890688-03-7
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abAssociation of Muslim Social Scientists; International Institute of Islamic Thought (2008). The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences. Vol. 25. American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences. p. 56.
OCLC60626498.
^Ariela J. Gross, What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America, p. 120,
ISBN978-0-674-03130-2
^Elaine Fantham, Helene Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy, H. A. Shapiro, Women in the Classical World pp. 114–5,
ISBN0-19-509862-5
^Bogues, Anthony (2003). Black Heretics, Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals. New York: Routledge. pp. 25–46.
^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain: Moran, Patrick Francis (1911).
"St. Patrick". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Pettitt, George A. Berkeley: The Town and Gown of It. P. 34, 37.
^Wollenberg, Charles (2002).
"Berkeley, A City in History". berkeleypubliclibrary.org. Archived from
the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015. Berkeley's black heritage goes back to the arrival of Pete and Hannah Byrne in 1859, but the African American population remained small for the rest of the nineteenth century.
^Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, p. 197,
ISBN0-8052-1030-X
^Ariela J. Gross, What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America, pp. 25–6,
ISBN978-0-674-03130-2
^Daniel Ogden "Binding Spells" pp 67–8 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome, edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark
ISBN0-8122-1705-5