September 11-17, 2003

city beat

Book Marks

Humans as merchandise: these records catalogue the age and sex of slaves as well as their punishments.

Recently discovered documents offer a fresh look at slavery in the region.

by Deborah Bolling

While Pennsylvania is credited as being the first state to abolish American slavery in the late 1700s, a cache of slave court cases and ownership records of slaves held through 1822 have been restored for the public after being discovered in a Delaware County courthouse.

The 20-plus pages of handwritten, yellowed parchment offer a chilling peek into how human beings were coldly viewed as commodities at a time when America was declaring itself the home of the free and the brave.

The Delaware County Bar Association recently refurbished the deteriorating papers, called the Slave Court books, at a cost of around $7,000. Considered a historical treasure, the papers were originally donated to the courts in 1941 by attorney Alexander Geary, but remained untouched for nearly 50 years. Officials will display the Slave Court books in the Media courthouse but also plan to move the exhibit throughout the county.

"For God's sake, whoever would think there were documents like these around these days?" asks O. Warren Higgins, a semiretired Delaware County attorney and chairman of the bar's historical records committee.

Higgins says that two years ago, a county courthouse librarian brought the dockets to his attention, pointing out that they had been stored in an office for at least a decade. A history buff, Higgins was intrigued. After raising funds for conservation, Higgins oversaw completion of the task a few weeks ago.

"I love history because it's so indicative of human behavior and how things evolve," he says. "We can learn so much about past mistakes."

Criminal incidents involving slaves prior to the American Revolution were tried in a court separate from that of whites. While the jury system was in use throughout the colonies, slave courts were presided over by two judges who, at the time, were still in the service of the king of England.

The papers detail an array of punishments, including public whippings, iron brandings and even death but there are no details of any evidence to support criminal charges, only the testimony of witnesses.

"The punishment that really stands out to me was the one for the theft of a few menial household articles," Higgins says. "That one resulted in hanging."

The restored docket is divided into two sections: one detailing the legal dispositions of slaves, the other listing the names, ages and sex of slaves owned and freed by Chester County township officers. Higgins explains that in 1780, the Pennsylvania legislature passed the Act of Gradual Abolition. Compliance with the law mandated listing the children of already owned slaves. Those children, according to the law, would be freed at the age of 28. After passage of the act, if a slave owner failed to record his slaves, those slaves would immediately be declared free. Charles Blockson, an African-American studies scholar, author and curator of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University, says neither the Act of 1780 nor the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 did much to affect slavery.

"Those laws did not free a single slave," Blockson says. "The law was only on paper and a lot of the slave owners did not honor it. The Act of 1780, like the Emancipation Proclamation, was merely a promise -- not a guarantee."

Blockson says that while the Quakers have been credited with spearheading the abolition of slavery in this area, most early Quakers were slave owners. That includes William Penn who, Blockson says, was known to have enslaved at least 10 Africans.

Blockson welcomes the historical value of the books and says he hopes they are brought to Philadelphia.

"At one time, Delaware County was part of Philadelphia County. For that reason, it is imperative that [the records] be exhibited here, as well," he says.

Blockson points out that for African Americans who are the descendants of slaves, tracing one's genealogy has often been impossible. He says that the documents will prove an excellent source.

"Some of the slave descendants are still living in these areas," he says. "I think it would be more than proper that they be exhibited at the African American Museum, so that not just African Americans can view them, but all interested Philadelphians, as well."

Diane Turner, curator of the African American Museum in Philadelphia, agrees.

"One of the issues in the African-American community is the power to define ourselves and having access to information about ourselves," she says. "It would be critical to have [the Slave Court books] here at the museum because given our audience and our focus this is where they belong. It would be a great opportunity to learn about our history, which I think would be wonderful."