Slavery in Alabama
Explore early Alabama through primary sources.
Resources
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Emancipation bond for Venus, Francis, and Marguerite
TRANSCRIPT INCLUDED. From pages 122 and 123 of ACTS PASSED AT THE SIXTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA, published in 1825. Venus, Francis, and Marguerite were freed by an act of the General Assembly of Alabama on December 2, 1824.
ALCOS Social Studies Content Standard Grade(s): 4, 5, 9, 10
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Slave collar
Alabama laws prohibited slaves from leaving their master's property without a pass. This brass collar identified the wearer as the property of William T. King, a Dallas County planter. The collar discouraged slaves from running away and protected them from being mistaken for runaways.
ALCOS Social Studies Content Standard Grade(s): 4, 5, 9, 10
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Bill of sale for a enslaved woman.
TRANSCRIPT INCLUDED. Dr. Benjamin Rush Jones purchased the enslaved woman, a fifty-year-old woman named Rachel, for one dollar.
ALCOS Social Studies Content Standard Grade(s): 4, 5, 9, 10
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Deed of gift from John D. Terrell to his daughter, Alpha Neal, giving her a young slave woman "and her issue."
TRANSCRIPT INCLUDED. The deed specifically protects the gift from the control of Alpha's husband: "...the said John Thomas Neal, may have the use of the said negroe [sic] girl while he lives, as a husband to his wife and a father to his children, but that is all he shall have. This negroe is not to be subject to his sale or to his debts. In this way I do this, because a woman however industrious and careful -- sometimes cant [sic] take care of, nore defend her own property and rights."
ALCOS Social Studies Content Standard Grade(s): 4, 5, 9, 10
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Advertisement for a runaway slave in Huntsville, Alabama.
In this runaway ad, plantation owner Alexander Erskine describes the slave's appearance, disposition, and motive for escaping.
ALCOS Social Studies Content Standard Grade(s): 4, 5, 9, 10
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"Stop the Villains!"
From vol. 6, no. 42, page 4, column 4 of the Alabama State Gazette. Advertisement for the recovery of two escaped slaves.
ALCOS Social Studies Content Standard Grade(s): 4, 5, 9, 10
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Slave auction in Montgomery, Alabama.
Illustration of a slave auction in Montgomery.
ALCOS Social Studies Content Standard Grade(s): 4, 5, 9, 10
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