Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Banky. The seaside
Speaker 1: town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a quaint place about an
Speaker 1: hour north of Boston. Today, tourists flocked to the area
Speaker 1: to enjoy the famous clams in Crane Beach in the
Speaker 1: late sixteen and early seventeen hundreds, though life there was
Speaker 1: very different. Early settlers made a living farming, fishing, and
Speaker 1: operating mills. Larger ships that needed deeper ports passed the
Speaker 1: town in favor of Boston, Salem, and Plymouth, keeping ips
Speaker 1: which is trade and population small. At first, settlers struggled
Speaker 1: to survive. The weather was less than hospitable and winters
Speaker 1: proved to be brutal, but the ocean brought fish, the
Speaker 1: marsh was perfect for growing hey, and the rivers supplied
Speaker 1: water for drinking and running the mills, and the effort
Speaker 1: and hard work were worth it. Starting over in a
Speaker 1: new world was better than the tyranny they had suffered
Speaker 1: in England. In the America's settlers could almost smell freedom
Speaker 1: in the salt air. Life wouldn't be easy, but then
Speaker 1: one worth living never was, and some people took that
Speaker 1: saying the heart long before it became mainstream. Jenny Slew
Speaker 1: was born in Ipswich in seventeen nineteen as the daughter
Speaker 1: of a free white woman and an enslaved black man.
Speaker 1: According to state law, such children inherited their white mother's
Speaker 1: status and were allowed to live as free people. However,
Speaker 1: children bor into enslaved women fathered by white men did
Speaker 1: not inherit the same privilege. Though the state didn't legally
Speaker 1: recognize her parents union, Jenny insisted her parents were married
Speaker 1: and they lived together. When she herself became an adult,
Speaker 1: she married twice, both times two enslaved men, but Jenny
Speaker 1: remained free until seventeen sixty two, when she was kidnapped
Speaker 1: and forced into slavery. The kidnapper was a prominent citizen
Speaker 1: within the community. John Whipple Jr's ancestors had been one
Speaker 1: of the town's founding families, had been a respected military officer.
Speaker 1: He was wealthy, too, and with that wealth came status
Speaker 1: and a large fourteen room estate he had inherited from
Speaker 1: his father. He already owned several enslaved people, including a
Speaker 1: Native American boy he had kidnapped during the genocide committed
Speaker 1: in King Philip's war. He needed more servants for his
Speaker 1: large home and happened upon Jenny walking along the road
Speaker 1: one day. Being a woman, and especially one of color,
Speaker 1: her legal status was inconsequential. Not willing to give up
Speaker 1: her freedom, forty three year old Jenny sought out an
Speaker 1: attorney willing to hear her case. Now, in most of
Speaker 1: the colonies, enslaved people had no right to counsel. Massachusett
Speaker 1: was different, though, and permitted them to bring civil suits
Speaker 1: to court. Despite this, it still took her three years
Speaker 1: to find an attorney willing to hear her out. Attorney
Speaker 1: Benjamin Kent filed her case with the court on January
Speaker 1: seventeen sixty two. Whipple was furious. He believed she had
Speaker 1: no right to sue him for any reason. For starters,
Speaker 1: she was married and being a man's property, he argued
Speaker 1: that she had no identity of her own, therefore, without
Speaker 1: her husband's permission, she had no right to sue, and
Speaker 1: the courts agreed. They reasoned that because she wasn't a spinstress,
Speaker 1: she had no rights in court. In short, enslaved people
Speaker 1: could bring a case to court, but married women of
Speaker 1: any color or status could not. The judge didn't even
Speaker 1: address the kidnapping. Kent was a shrewd lawyer, though, and
Speaker 1: so he called into question the validity of Jenny's marriages.
Speaker 1: You see, he knew that the law provided an fortunate loophole,
Speaker 1: since enslaved people were not legally allowed to marry. Both
Speaker 1: of her marriages were void on account of her partner's
Speaker 1: status is no matter what her own. It took another
Speaker 1: four years before the Essex Superior Court of Judicature in
Speaker 1: Salem agreed to hear her case. Now Jenny the spinstress
Speaker 1: had been granted a trial by Jerry. Just as Jenny
Speaker 1: couldn't provide a birth certificate, Whipple couldn't provide a bill
Speaker 1: of sale. So Kent reminded the court of the state's
Speaker 1: anti miscegenation statute that made his client a free woman
Speaker 1: by her white mother. In closing, he told the court,
Speaker 1: I shall not enter into the right of some men
Speaker 1: to slave others. The judge himself owned several enslaved people. However,
Speaker 1: the jury ruled in Jenny's favor, ordering her immediate release
Speaker 1: and awarding her damages. Whipple didn't face any charges of kidnapping.
Speaker 1: Jenny became the first person in the colony's history to
Speaker 1: be granted her freedom in a court March five of
Speaker 1: seventeen sixty. She walked out of the courtroom a free woman.
Speaker 1: Her liberation came at a time when citizens in Massachusetts
Speaker 1: began to rise up against England for their own independence.
Speaker 1: A close and prominent friend of Kent's who had attended
Speaker 1: the trial, stated that liberty had been restored to Jenny
Speaker 1: slu Kent went on to represent other such cases over
Speaker 1: the next several years. He encouraged his high profile friend
Speaker 1: to include a declaration in the Massachusetts state Constitution that
Speaker 1: all men are born free and equal. That friend was
Speaker 1: John Adams. I'm Lauren Bogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. Records
Speaker 1: don't show exactly where in Virginia he was born. The
Speaker 1: births and deaths of enslaved African or Native Americans were
Speaker 1: rarely registered as of eighteen forty. What the records do
Speaker 1: show is that as an adult, Madison Washington appeared to
Speaker 1: have been an enslaved cook who kept his eyes on
Speaker 1: freedom for himself and his wife, Susan. When the opportunity
Speaker 1: presented itself one night, they took the chance to slip away. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: while Washington escaped, his wife didn't quite make it off
Speaker 1: the property. He stuck to the plan, though, determined that
Speaker 1: he'd eventually figure out how to free her. He trusted
Speaker 1: the abolitionists who operated safe houses to help him make
Speaker 1: a safe journey north. They supplied him with forged papers,
Speaker 1: and the occasional stranger provided food and the place to
Speaker 1: sleep at night. Mostly, though, he relied on luck, and
Speaker 1: perhaps miraculously, he made it to Canada, a Britain had
Speaker 1: abolished slavery years before, and since Canada was under British rule,
Speaker 1: Washington became a freeman once he stepped foot across the border.
Speaker 1: Before he left Virginia, he and his wife had made
Speaker 1: a pact if only one of them made it to Canada,
Speaker 1: they'd work until they had enough money to buy the
Speaker 1: other's freedom. And so Washington found steady work with a
Speaker 1: farmer called Mr. Dixon. He earned a fair wage and
Speaker 1: saved what he could, but the price set for his
Speaker 1: wife proved too high for him to afford. At his
Speaker 1: current pace, he figured it would take nearly five years
Speaker 1: to save up the money. By then, anything could happen.
Speaker 1: She might be sold off, or fall ill, or be
Speaker 1: killed before he could buy her. For Washington, freedom meant
Speaker 1: nothing without his Susan. Dixon tried to talk him out
Speaker 1: of leaving. Had been lucky to escape, luckier still to
Speaker 1: have made it to Canada. He warned Washington of the severe,
Speaker 1: if not fatal, consequences if he were caught. Washington thanked
Speaker 1: him for the job, but left in eighteen forty one
Speaker 1: and headed back south. When he reached Rochester, New York,
Speaker 1: he met with one Lindley Murray Moore, the president of
Speaker 1: the Rochester Anti Slavery Society. The More family was also
Speaker 1: part of the Underground Railroad, a network of paths and
Speaker 1: safe houses foreign slaved African Americans trying to escape. While
Speaker 1: staying with the Moors, Washington tried to hire a slave
Speaker 1: steeler to rescue his wife, but none took the job.
Speaker 1: Without another option, he'd have to risk returning to Virginia
Speaker 1: to free her himself. With donations from other abolitionists, Washington
Speaker 1: collected enough money to help make his trip easier. From
Speaker 1: New York, he made it to Virginia, but that's where
Speaker 1: his luck ran out. He made it back to the
Speaker 1: plantation and was captured and re enslaved. He expected the
Speaker 1: usual violent physical punishment, such as a whipping, but his
Speaker 1: owner decided on a different path. He chose to sell Washington.
Speaker 1: If he whipped him, he'd leave scars, a telltale signed
Speaker 1: future owners of a rebellious nature. He sold Washington to
Speaker 1: a slave trader, Thomas Macargo, frequently purchased large numbers of
Speaker 1: enslaved people and sold them to other parts of the
Speaker 1: country or as part of the Atlantic Slave t aid
Speaker 1: the human trafficking was of lucrative business, and ma Cargo
Speaker 1: had plans to sell Washington and twenty six others had
Speaker 1: purchased at the auction blocks in New Orleans. In late
Speaker 1: October of eighteen forty one, Washington was loaded onto the
Speaker 1: ship Creole. The ship, along with the one hundred and
Speaker 1: nine enslaved people aboard, belonged to the Johnston Epperson Company
Speaker 1: of Richmond, Virginia. Along with the human cargo, the ship
Speaker 1: carried tobacco, plus eight additional enslaved persons belonging to the traders,
Speaker 1: and a paid crew, ringing the total to a hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty five people on board. The captain, Robert Answer,
Speaker 1: felt confident enough that his human cargo was docile that
Speaker 1: he brought along his wife, four year old daughter, and
Speaker 1: fifteen year old niece. It was a bold move, conditions
Speaker 1: for even the paid sailors aboard such cargo ships weren't
Speaker 1: exactly the best, and the conditions the human cargo were
Speaker 1: subjected to could understandably make them anything but docile. Washington
Speaker 1: was assigned to the job of head cook for the
Speaker 1: enslaved persons, allowing him to stay on deck most of
Speaker 1: the day while he supervised his crew, He also had
Speaker 1: the opportunity to talk to the sailors. He got to
Speaker 1: know their routines and who was who in the hierarchy.
Speaker 1: Slave traders considered their cargo no better than live stock.
Speaker 1: They'd been bought as cheaply as possible, kept in crowded conditions,
Speaker 1: and fed just enough to insure top dollar the auction block.
Speaker 1: To Washington's shock, he learned that his wife had been
Speaker 1: sold too, and was in the cargo hold, though he
Speaker 1: wasn't permitted to see her. Slave ships, like the Creole
Speaker 1: were either built specifically or converted for transporting human cargo,
Speaker 1: and often referred to as guinea men. Such a ship's
Speaker 1: worth was determined by how many trafficked people it could carry.
Speaker 1: The holes were divided into holes, one for men and
Speaker 1: another for women. Transatlantic ships usually shackled people to the
Speaker 1: hole's planks, though the creole didn't chain it's human cargo.
Speaker 1: The cell doors of the overcrowded hold remained locked. The
Speaker 1: conditions were unhygienic. Disease was common, leading to a roughly
Speaker 1: fifteen percent mortality rate. The fasterest ship made it to
Speaker 1: its destination, the better. At night, some of the ship's
Speaker 1: officers selected women to take to their quarters, returning them
Speaker 1: to the holding area the next morning. Not all enslaved
Speaker 1: people were kept in the holds, though some, like Washington,
Speaker 1: were allowed above deck. Being the cook, he and a
Speaker 1: handful of others were permitted to move about the ship
Speaker 1: to perform their duties. Usually they were watched closely, but
Speaker 1: as he began to notice, usually didn't mean always. Before long,
Speaker 1: Washington had formed a dangerous idea. He began to feel
Speaker 1: out fellow captives who also had deck privileges, and some
Speaker 1: of them he had met before being sold. Others were
Speaker 1: new to him, and soon enough, nineteen others agreed to
Speaker 1: his plan in a plan for mutiny. It almost didn't
Speaker 1: happen when William Merritt, one of the slave traders, went
Speaker 1: down into the hold where the women were kept on
Speaker 1: November seven, eight forty one. He was surprised to find
Speaker 1: Washington there. He demanded the cook take himself above deck immediately.
Speaker 1: Washington initially did as asked, but he didn't disclose the
Speaker 1: weapon had confiscated earlier. After the two men reached the deck,
Speaker 1: Washington shoved Merit to the ground. The two struggled, and
Speaker 1: Washington managed to take the slave trader's pistol from him.
Speaker 1: At some point, another enslaved man, Elijah Morris, joined the
Speaker 1: fray and one. Another member of the crew saw what
Speaker 1: was going on and raised the alarm. Morris shot him.
Speaker 1: When nut shot rang out, Washington called out to the
Speaker 1: others that their mutiny had begun, and the rest of
Speaker 1: the mutineers throughout the ship extinguished all of the lamps,
Speaker 1: throwing the decks below into darkness. They surrounded the staterooms
Speaker 1: and overpowered the crewmen, taking their weapons. A couple of
Speaker 1: mutineers went after the slave traders, first killing one by
Speaker 1: throwing him overboard. One of the mutineers was seriously injured
Speaker 1: in the fight and later died in scuffle, the captain
Speaker 1: was wounded. His wife, daughter, and niece remained unharmed but
Speaker 1: kept under guard. A couple of the mutineers were also
Speaker 1: injured but would survive. Washington called out to not kill
Speaker 1: anyone else, and with the situation under control, the men listened.
Speaker 1: During the confusion, the first mate, Gifford and the wounded
Speaker 1: captain had vanished. Eventually, one of the mutineers found the
Speaker 1: two hiding on the main masts platform. One of the
Speaker 1: enslaved men shouted for them to come down or had
Speaker 1: shoot them both. Gifford descended, where one of the ringleaders
Speaker 1: placed a musket to his chest. By one am, Washington
Speaker 1: had control of the Creole. They had gotten this far,
Speaker 1: but had no idea what to do next. One of
Speaker 1: the mutineers suggested the Bahamas, since they were under British
Speaker 1: rule and had outlawed slavery. By morning, they forced first
Speaker 1: Mate Gifford to steer toward Nassau. Early on November ninety one,
Speaker 1: the Creole sailed into Nassau Harbor. When quarantine officers boarded,
Speaker 1: Gifford reported the mutiny. Since the captain was injured and
Speaker 1: Gifford had taken over as acting commander. He requested the
Speaker 1: ship be watched while the crew went ashore for medical treatment.
Speaker 1: He also asked for guards to prevent their human cargo
Speaker 1: from leaving the ship. If an enslaved person stepped on
Speaker 1: the shore, they'd be free. The quarantine officers obliged as
Speaker 1: a temporary measure, and Gifford would need to speak with
Speaker 1: the proper authorities before the ship would be allowed passage
Speaker 1: on to New Orleans. The first mate up with Counsel
Speaker 1: John Bacon. The mutiny and the human cargo were unusual circumstances,
Speaker 1: and the matter was taken to Colonel Sir Francis Cockburn,
Speaker 1: the governor. Instead of giving an answer straight away, he
Speaker 1: required paperwork and reports in order to proceed with an investigation.
Speaker 1: Keeping the ship just offshore meant wasted time. The longer
Speaker 1: the ordeal took, the more of the Creole's cargo would die,
Speaker 1: and to Gifford that amounted to a loss of money.
Speaker 1: He tried a plea bargain. He asked that the authorities
Speaker 1: detained the mutineers and allow him to continue onward to
Speaker 1: New Orleans. Cockburn refused. Nassau had no jurisdiction regarding the mutiny.
Speaker 1: And then he ordered everyone on the ship detained until
Speaker 1: the Secretary of State in London weighed in. Meanwhile, they
Speaker 1: would proceed with their own investigation. The hired crew of
Speaker 1: the Creole found themselves unwelcome among the black population in Nassau.
Speaker 1: Not surprising really, most have been enslaved before it and
Speaker 1: outlawed it. Even white members of the community would mutter
Speaker 1: under their breath, there goes another one of the damned
Speaker 1: pirates and slavers. Depositions were set to start the following Monday,
Speaker 1: but due to Captain Ensore's injuries, were called off on Thursday.
Speaker 1: The Creole's crew testified that the mutineers had acted savagely,
Speaker 1: trying to kill any white person they could. Meanwhile, through
Speaker 1: all this, the ship remained guarded more to prevent the
Speaker 1: crew from sailing off in the middle of the night
Speaker 1: than to prevent anyone from stepping ashore. No matter how,
Speaker 1: Gifford and the others argued that the people aboard were
Speaker 1: as much cargo as the tobacco. The Nassau government remained unmoved.
Speaker 1: Considering the potential loss of the valuable cargo. Gifford convinced
Speaker 1: his counsel Bacon, to help him release the ship. The
Speaker 1: plan entailed taking weapons from two other American ships in
Speaker 1: the port and sneaking them onto the Creole. Gifford had
Speaker 1: already gained approval from one of the other ship's captains.
Speaker 1: Once the weapons were aboard, the Creole's crew would overpower
Speaker 1: the Bahamian and British guards, forced them off the ship,
Speaker 1: and the Creole would be on her way. Of course,
Speaker 1: the British soldiers would send a ship after them, but
Speaker 1: Gifford knew the Creole was fast. Slave ships had to
Speaker 1: quickly transport their human cargo, not only to prevent disease
Speaker 1: and death, but to avoid pirates. And pirates sometimes freed
Speaker 1: enslaved people or took them on his crew, and Gifford
Speaker 1: knew that pirates who had once been enslaved were bad
Speaker 1: news for traders. But he thought that all the Creole
Speaker 1: had to do was sail to the small island of
Speaker 1: Indian Key off the coast of Florida, where he hoped
Speaker 1: to find an American warship that would protect them. A
Speaker 1: suspicious Bahamian guard watched the activity aboard the neighboring American ship.
Speaker 1: Men loaded weapons onto a small boat and concealed them
Speaker 1: in a flag. When they headed toward the Creole, he
Speaker 1: alerted British officers. Twenty four British soldiers pointed their muskets
Speaker 1: at the approaching boat and ordered them to turn back.
Speaker 1: A major incident had been avoided. Had the crew of
Speaker 1: the Creole used force against the Bahamian and British guards,
Speaker 1: it could have caused a diplomatic conflict between the United
Speaker 1: States and Britain. Boards spread throughout the island about the
Speaker 1: fate of the people held aboard the Creole. Bahamians freed
Speaker 1: during the eighteen thirty three British Abolition Act took the
Speaker 1: small boats and surrounded the ship. In protest. They loudly
Speaker 1: demanded the men, women and children held on board be released.
Speaker 1: As soon as the crew of the Creole had maneuvered
Speaker 1: out of one dangerous situation, they found themselves dropped right
Speaker 1: into another. The attempted escape and the growing crowd demanding
Speaker 1: the captive's freedom forced the governor to make a quick decision.
Speaker 1: He didn't want to risk dissent among his people on
Speaker 1: top of the situation at hand with the Americans. He
Speaker 1: canceled the remaining depositions and ordered everyone removed from the
Speaker 1: Creole and brought ashore for Washington. The moment was bitter sweet,
Speaker 1: and technically he and his cohorts were free. His wife,
Speaker 1: if she were still alive in the cargo hold, would
Speaker 1: live as a free woman. For himself and the other uprisers, however,
Speaker 1: there was the matter of mutiny and murder. Guards took
Speaker 1: Washington and eighteen of his co conspirators into custody. British
Speaker 1: soldiers began escorting those left in the holds to shore,
Speaker 1: granting them their freedom. Five turned down the offer, choosing
Speaker 1: to stay aboard the ship, perhaps fearing a trick or
Speaker 1: preferring the devil they knew. With that the ship's captain
Speaker 1: and his crew were finally free to leave Nassau. The
Speaker 1: Creole arrived in New Orleans on December two. When financially
Speaker 1: interested parties found out there were only five trafficked people
Speaker 1: on board, they were outraged and demanded the others be
Speaker 1: returned to the States. The tension between the United States
Speaker 1: and Britain row The U s Secretary of State at
Speaker 1: the time, Daniel Webster, declared the Nassau Governor's act violation
Speaker 1: of the Law of Nations and the u s Minister
Speaker 1: to Great Britain contended that per the Constitution, enslaved people
Speaker 1: were the property of the United States, and thus that
Speaker 1: Nassau authorities had seized American property. British officials disagreed, since
Speaker 1: they no longer recognized slavery. They argued that the US
Speaker 1: had no power to hold the formerly enslaved people from
Speaker 1: the Creole without criminal charges. Despite American officials demand to
Speaker 1: return their cargo and contended property, Nassau refused. Britain and
Speaker 1: America had no extradition treaties between them. Southerners called for
Speaker 1: Britain to compensate them for their losses. When even that
Speaker 1: request was denied, relations between America and Britain were further strained.
Speaker 1: It's estimated that the average cost for an enslaved person
Speaker 1: was between eight hundred and fifteen hundred dollars, With the
Speaker 1: number of people aboard, that was about a hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars total, a considerable amount of money for
Speaker 1: the time. Two people who had been held aboard the
Speaker 1: Creole died shortly after their release. Without extradition laws, the
Speaker 1: rest of the men, women, and children from the ship
Speaker 1: were welcome to stay in Nassa or go wherever they wished.
Speaker 1: Most chose to stay, though about fifty set off for Jamaica.
Speaker 1: Either way, they were free and no longer in reach
Speaker 1: of the slave traders. Washington and the other mutineers remained
Speaker 1: in jail until the trial. The United States claimed that
Speaker 1: because the crime had been committed on an American ship,
Speaker 1: the trial should take place in the States. London saw
Speaker 1: it differently and stated that the trial would be held
Speaker 1: in Nassau. In response, American President John Tyler released the
Speaker 1: Bahamian Council's deposition to the newspapers. New Orleans plantation owners
Speaker 1: raged that the British had, in their eyes, robbed them
Speaker 1: in their compatriots of US property. Now they waited with
Speaker 1: anticipation for what would become of the mutineers. The Secretary
Speaker 1: of State Daniel Webster demanded Nassau's government to return the
Speaker 1: men to the United States on charges of mutiny and murder,
Speaker 1: and he said the Bahamian government had no right to
Speaker 1: interfere with an American ship, citizens, or cargo. It would
Speaker 1: have been a death sentence for Washington and the others. Remember,
Speaker 1: in the States, enslaved people weren't allowed to speak in
Speaker 1: their own defense, to hire counsel or to even be questioned.
Speaker 1: This naturally limited their ability to tell their side of
Speaker 1: the story. NASA, though didn't have the same laws in place.
Speaker 1: Anyone standing trial, was allowed to speak on their behalf
Speaker 1: a question, accusers or witnesses, and signed depositions before the trial,
Speaker 1: which was scheduled for April, though two of the collaborators died,
Speaker 1: one from wounds sustained during the battle and the other
Speaker 1: from natural causes. On April sixteenth of eighteen forty two,
Speaker 1: the Nassau Court debated the case of the remaining seventeen mutineers.
Speaker 1: After some discussion about jurisdiction and the legal location of
Speaker 1: the events, Washington and the others were informed of the
Speaker 1: court's decision. It has pleased God, The Chief Justice told them,
Speaker 1: to set you free from the bonds of slavery. May
Speaker 1: you hereafter lead lives of good and faithful subjects of
Speaker 1: Her Majesty's government. The men were free and could choose
Speaker 1: what to do with their lives. All seventeen stayed in Nassau.
Speaker 1: The captives on the Creole hadn't been the first the
Speaker 1: Bahamian government had freed from American ships four slaving brigs
Speaker 1: had found themselves shipwrecked in their territory. However, the Creole
Speaker 1: contained the largest number of trafficked people, and its cruise
Speaker 1: mutiny had been the most successful uprising among enslaved people
Speaker 1: in American history. Back in the States, insurance companies initially
Speaker 1: refused to pay the claims that Louisiana slave owners filed
Speaker 1: for lost property. Several lawsuits emerged against the companies over
Speaker 1: financial losses stemming from the revolt. The majority of those
Speaker 1: cases were consolidated, much like class action lawsuits of today.
Speaker 1: Eventually that case went before the Louisiana Supreme Court. The
Speaker 1: two countries involved ultimately reached an agreement in eighteen forty two.
Speaker 1: The British repaid the losses the following year, totaling roughly
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars. And what happened to Washington? His wife,
Speaker 1: Susan had stayed on the island awaiting her husband's fate.
Speaker 1: While no one really knows what became of them afterward,
Speaker 1: some believed the couple was finally able to live the
Speaker 1: free life they had always dreamed of. It might not
Speaker 1: have played out how they envisioned it. Back in Virginia,
Speaker 1: but ultimately their plan worked. He was born on the
Speaker 1: eastern shore along the Chesapeake Bay. There were rumors that
Speaker 1: his father was the plantation owner. As you might imagine,
Speaker 1: this didn't go over well with the plantation owner's wife,
Speaker 1: so Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was sent to another plantation
Speaker 1: twelve miles away to live with his maternal grandparents. Bailey's
Speaker 1: mother was allowed to visit, but only on rare occasions.
Speaker 1: She managed to see her son just a handful of
Speaker 1: times before her death when he was seven years old.
Speaker 1: After that, his life took another turn when his owner
Speaker 1: sold him to the Wye House plantation. Then he was
Speaker 1: sold again to the Old family, who taught him to
Speaker 1: read and write. Unusual for most enslaved people, this didn't
Speaker 1: stop him from trying to escape. Though considered too defiant,
Speaker 1: the old sold him yet again. Bailey's continued efforts to
Speaker 1: free himself caused him to be sold or even given
Speaker 1: away several times more. When he turned twenty one in
Speaker 1: eight thirty eight, he ran again, hiding away on a
Speaker 1: northbound train heading to New York City. This time he
Speaker 1: was successful and found his way to a safe house
Speaker 1: soon afterward. Anna, a woman had known while he was enslaved,
Speaker 1: followed his route and the two married. Bailey and his
Speaker 1: new wife moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he assisted
Speaker 1: in the abolitionist movement prominent in the area. He changed
Speaker 1: his name on the suggestion of a friend who had
Speaker 1: read a novel by Sir Walter Scott. He became a
Speaker 1: preacher and a writer, and used his new professions to
Speaker 1: shed light on human injustices. He believed that all people,
Speaker 1: no matter their race, color, sex, were equal, and as
Speaker 1: an avid reader, he came across the story of Madison Washington.
Speaker 1: During a speech in Orc, Ireland in eighteen forty five,
Speaker 1: he praised Washington for his passion for freedom. His words, writings,
Speaker 1: and speeches on slavery caught the attention of the Rochester
Speaker 1: Ladies Anti Slavery Society. They planned on publishing a short
Speaker 1: story collection entitled Autographs for Freedom and asked if he
Speaker 1: would consider writing a piece for it. The Adventures of
Speaker 1: Madison Washington would be his only fictional work, although he'd
Speaker 1: go on to write other biographical narratives. The NAVELA was
Speaker 1: published in eighteen fifty two, ten years after Washington had
Speaker 1: won his freedom. The story, although mostly true, had an
Speaker 1: almost playlike quality to it, opening with the scene that
Speaker 1: Washington might have had with the Canadian farmer. Eventually, the
Speaker 1: work found its way to the newspapers as a three
Speaker 1: part serial, coming out shortly after Harriet Beecher Stowe's uncle
Speaker 1: Tom's cabin. The Navelo was met with acclaim and people
Speaker 1: clamored for more. Did have to wait, though, as the
Speaker 1: preacher continued his work for equality in freedom for a
Speaker 1: few more years. Later, during the Civil War, he fought
Speaker 1: for black men's rights to serve in combat, and after
Speaker 1: the war ended, he wrote his autobiography, which was published
Speaker 1: just three years before his death. You've heard of it,
Speaker 1: The Life and Times of Frederick Douglas. There's more to
Speaker 1: this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor break to
Speaker 1: hear all about it. He started young. By the age
Speaker 1: of just thirteen, William was being hired out, a common
Speaker 1: experience for enslaved black people. As of eight seven, and
Speaker 1: most of William's work was aboard steamboats on the Missouri River.
Speaker 1: His owner was a St. Louis physician named Dr. John Young,
Speaker 1: who also owned the boy's mother, Elizabeth. William had six
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, but his father had been white, and
Speaker 1: he had a lighter skin color than his siblings. His
Speaker 1: father was the cousin of Doctor Young. This cousin was
Speaker 1: a planter on a nearby plantation. The man acknowledged William
Speaker 1: as his son and asked Young to never sell him.
Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty two, William and his mother tried to escape,
Speaker 1: only to be caught and returned to doctor Young. So
Speaker 1: seeing the pair is too much trouble and believing he
Speaker 1: no longer needed their services, doctor Young sold them, but
Speaker 1: while Elizabeth was purchased by a slave trader working out
Speaker 1: of New Orleans, William's destination ended up being fairly local.
Speaker 1: Not long after, he was sold again, this time to
Speaker 1: a riverboat captain, but on January one of eighteen thirty four,
Speaker 1: he made a break for freedom while the boat was
Speaker 1: docked in Cincinnati, Ohio. A short while later, he found
Speaker 1: assistance through a Quaker man by the name of Wells Brown.
Speaker 1: Brown gave him clothes, money, and food, and also eventually
Speaker 1: taught him to read and write. Ever, thankful for the
Speaker 1: Quaker's kindness, William added the man's name to his own, and,
Speaker 1: after moving on to make a life for himself. He
Speaker 1: stuck with his writing, almost as though trying to make
Speaker 1: up for all the years he hadn't been able to. Later,
Speaker 1: William found work on a steamboat on Lake Erie, but
Speaker 1: when he wasn't working he helped enslaved people as a
Speaker 1: member of the Underground Railroad. By eighteen forty two had
Speaker 1: helped sixty nine people reach Canada, and that was also
Speaker 1: how he met Elizabeth Schooner, and the two soon married
Speaker 1: and started a family. Over time, William became an avid
Speaker 1: abolitionist and prolific writer, publishing work on causes such as abolition, temperance,
Speaker 1: women suffrage, and prison reform. But part of his work
Speaker 1: involved giving speeches, which meant a lot of travel. All
Speaker 1: this time away took a toll on his marriage, and
Speaker 1: by a forty seven it fell to pieces. In the aftermath,
Speaker 1: he gained custody of their two daughters, and the three
Speaker 1: moved to Boston, where he continued to write. His first
Speaker 1: short story sold ten thousand copies within just a couple
Speaker 1: of years, becoming almost as popular as those written by
Speaker 1: Frederick Douglas. By eighteen forty nine, William and his daughters
Speaker 1: were living in England. He spent most of his time
Speaker 1: lecturing and writing, and remained quite prolific during his time there.
Speaker 1: His most famous, or perhaps most infamous work, was the
Speaker 1: novel Clotel, which was something of a scandal. The story
Speaker 1: centered around two fictional daughters born to Thomas Jefferson and
Speaker 1: a fictional woman he enslaved. It was inspired by the
Speaker 1: former president's real life relationship with Sally Hemmings, whom he owned.
Speaker 1: The Clotel is considered the first full length novel published
Speaker 1: by an African American, finding success in Britain before being
Speaker 1: printed in America in eighteen fifty The Fugitives a law
Speaker 1: passed in the United States making it unsafe for William
Speaker 1: to return. In eighteen fifty three, a British couple paid
Speaker 1: for his freedom, ensuring that whenever he did return to
Speaker 1: the States he would be safe. The couple had also
Speaker 1: purchased freedom for another man a few years earlier, Frederick Douglas.
Speaker 1: William returned to the States in eighteen fifty four and
Speaker 1: returned also to the tour circuit. He finally found love
Speaker 1: again in eighteen sixty at the age of forty four,
Speaker 1: marrying twenty two year old Anna Elizabeth Gray. The couple
Speaker 1: settled into a comfortable life and welcomed to children of
Speaker 1: their own. Sadly, cholera would take the life of their
Speaker 1: son just a few years later, and their daughter passed
Speaker 1: away due to typhoid fever. To ease the pain from
Speaker 1: the losses, William found time to help the Union recruit
Speaker 1: men for enlistment during the Civil War, and while the
Speaker 1: conflict raged, he published another book on the history of
Speaker 1: black soldiers and their fight to help the Union against
Speaker 1: the Confederacy. Like Frederick Douglas, he also wrote about Madison Washington,
Speaker 1: though his version was more of a historic biography. Over
Speaker 1: the years, William Brown wrote in multiple genres, anything from
Speaker 1: travel articles to fiction, to biographies to a play, and
Speaker 1: it's clear from the life he lived that Brown, just
Speaker 1: like Douglas and Washington before him, understood the powerful thing
Speaker 1: about freedom. It gave a person the chance to make
Speaker 1: their own stories heard. American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum.
Speaker 1: This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed,
Speaker 1: and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mackey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick To learn
Speaker 1: more about the show, visit grim and mild dot com.
Speaker 1: From more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. M