Freedom at Risk: The Kidnapping of Free Blacks in America, 1780-1865

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Overview

Kidnapping was perhaps the greatest fear of free blacks in pre-Civil War America. Though they may have descended from generations of free-born people or worked to purchase their freedom, free blacks were not able to enjoy the privileges and opportunities of white Americans. They lived with the constant threat of kidnapping and enslavement, against which they had little recourse. Most kidnapped free blacks were forcibly abducted, but other methods, such as luring victims with job offers or falsely claiming free ...
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Overview

Kidnapping was perhaps the greatest fear of free blacks in pre-Civil War America. Though they may have descended from generations of free-born people or worked to purchase their freedom, free blacks were not able to enjoy the privileges and opportunities of white Americans. They lived with the constant threat of kidnapping and enslavement, against which they had little recourse. Most kidnapped free blacks were forcibly abducted, but other methods, such as luring victims with job offers or falsely claiming free people as fugitive slaves, were used as well. Kidnapping of blacks was actually facilitated by numerous state laws, as well as the federal fugitive slave laws of 1793 and 1850. Greed motivated kidnappers, who were assured high profits on the sale of their victims. As the internal slave trade increased in the early nineteenth century, so did kidnapping. If greed provided the motivation for the crime, racism helped it to continue unabated. Victims usually found it extremely difficult to regain their freedom through a legal system that reflected society's racist views, perpetuated a racial double standard, and considered all blacks slaves until proven otherwise. Fortunate was the victim who received assistance, sometimes from government officials, most often from abolitionists. Frequently, however, the black community was forced to protect its own and organized to do so, sometimes by working within the law, sometimes by meeting violence with violence. Mining newspaper accounts, memoirs, slave narratives, court records, letters, abolition society minutes, and government documents, Carol Wilson has provided a needed addition to our picture of free black life in the United States.
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Raises important questions." -- Slavery and Abolition

"Makes a significant contribution not only to the history of slavery but also to the history of free Black Americans before the Civil War. Many historians of slavery had already touched on the author's topic of kidnapping and enslaving free Black Americans, but none had made a serious study of that subject." -- Journal of American History

Booknews
The author mined newspaper account, memoirs, slave narratives, court records, abolition society minutes, and government documents to study the kidnapping of free blacks to supply the slave market, a practice motivated by greed and perpetuated by the legal system. Abolitionist groups offered some assistance as did the black community working both within and outside the law. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780813192970
  • Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
  • Publication date: 11/1/2009
  • Pages: 184
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.40 (h) x 0.60 (d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction 1
1 "From Their Free Homes into Bondage": The Abduction of Free Blacks into Slavery 9
2 "The Legitimate Offspring of Slavery": Kidnappers Who Operated within the Law 40
3 "Leave No Stone Unturned": Government Assistance to Free Blacks 67
4 "The Thought of Slavery Is Death to a Free Man": Abolitionist Response to Kidnapping 83
5 "An Almost Sleepless Vigilance": Black Resistance to Kidnapping 103
Conclusion 117
Notes 121
Bibliography 146
Index 166
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