1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. As we mentioned in our episode on Sarah 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: Bradley Fulton and the Daughters of Liberty, our main source 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: of information on her comes from local historian Helen T. Wild. 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: Wilde's other projects included working with the Daughters of the 5 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:21,319 Speaker 1: American Revolution to purchase and preserve Royal House now the 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: Museum Royal House en Slave Quarters. Our episode on Belinda Sutton, 7 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: who was enslaved at Royal House, came out on December fourteenth, 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, and that is today's Saturday Classic. In this episode, 9 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: we mention Isaac Royle Junior's bequest to Harvard University and 10 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: the professorship at Harvard Law that was named for him. 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: The Royal Professorship in Law was retired in twenty twenty two. 12 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: Also in this episode, we talk about recording some videos 13 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: for the website House Stuff Works. Our podcast is not 14 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: affiliated with that website anymore, but you can still see 15 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: the video on YouTube and will put a link in 16 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: the description of today's episode. Only look at the comments 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: on that video if you want to see a lot 18 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: of people asking, but what about the Irish slaves? Other 19 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: than that, enjoy welcome to stuff you missed in history class. 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: A production of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. 21 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy B. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. This October, Holly, 22 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: you and I had a pretty exciting time on the 23 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: podcast because you came to visit me. I did. I 24 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: brought camera and sound people, you did. I make it 25 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: sound like this was like just a trip for funzies, 26 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: but no, it was a trip to basically go on 27 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: a video recording extravaganza field trip with two of our 28 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 1: House Stuff Works video crew, Casey and Paul, and the 29 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: four of us spent a lot of time over three 30 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: days interviewing people and recording videos and seeing amazing historical sites. 31 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: It was both fun and exhausting, super exhausting, but super 32 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: super fun. Yeah. I think even more exhausting for Casey 33 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: and Paul. They did so much of the heavy lifting 34 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: by nature of being the video and sound people. Yes, 35 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: both literally and figuratively, they did a lot of heavy lifting. Yes, yes, 36 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 1: you and I helped carry whenever we could, But you know, 37 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: we can't be in front of the camera and also 38 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: holding it. That doesn't really work with our setup. So 39 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: the first stop that we made was at the Royal 40 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: House and slave quarters in Medford, Massachusetts, and the Royal 41 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: House was home to Isaac Royle and his family during 42 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: the eighteenth century, and the Royals were the largest slave 43 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: slave owning family in Massachusetts, and they had an enslaved 44 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: workforce both at their Medford home and on sugar plantations 45 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:51,239 Speaker 1: in Antigo, which is a big part of how the 46 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,119 Speaker 1: Royals made all that money. There is already a video 47 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: on our website that tells more of the story of 48 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: the Royals and their enslaved worked workforce and how those 49 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: lives intertwined together on the property, and we're going to 50 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: put a link to it in the show notes and 51 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: on our social media and all of that kind of 52 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: stuff when this episode comes out. There are also some 53 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: more videos already out and coming soon from that trip, 54 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: which we are really excited about, and we'll also be 55 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: sharing on our website and social media as those are ready. 56 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: Today's episode of the podcast is also inspired by our 57 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: trip to the Royal House Museum. There's a lot that 58 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 1: we don't know about the people who were enslaved when 59 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: it was still a home, and there's documentation for about 60 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: sixty enslaved people over two generations of Royal ownership there 61 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: on the Massachusetts property, but the actual number was probably 62 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: quite a lot higher. One enslaved woman in particular stands 63 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: out Belinda Sutton, who successfully petitioned for compensation for her 64 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: years of enslaved labor on the royal property. And by 65 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: the time Belinda pattis for compensation, the Royal family was 66 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: already incredibly wealthy. And just for clarity, I feel like 67 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: we should point out that when we say the Royals again, 68 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: it's roy All, it's a proper name. Even though you 69 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: mentioned that his name was Isaac Royal. We just want 70 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: to make entirely clear they were not actual royalty and 71 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 1: this family was by this point incredibly wealthy, but they 72 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: did not start out incredibly wealthy. Isaac Royal Senior born 73 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: sixteen seventy two came from a New England family of 74 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: relatively modest means, but that changed after he purchased a 75 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: sugar plantation in Antigua. This was during the era of 76 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: the Triangle trade, that interconnected trading system that relied on 77 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: enslaved Africans crops like sugar and cotton, and products made 78 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: from those crops like rum and cloth, by trading mainly 79 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: in rum sugar and enslaved Africans, Isaac Royal Senior became fair, 80 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,599 Speaker 1: very wealthy. It's a common misperception that in North America 81 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: only the southern economy relied on slavery, but in reality, 82 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: a lot of the wealth in New England and other 83 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: northerly areas was connected directly to the slave trade and 84 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 1: on industries that relied on slave labor. For a time, 85 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: the Royal family actually lived in Antiga, but in seventeen 86 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: thirty seven, Isaac Senior decided to relocate back to New England, 87 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,480 Speaker 1: and his reasons for doing so were not specifically recorded, 88 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: but we do know that the year before, a series 89 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: of gruesome executions had been carried out on Antigua in 90 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: response to the threat of a slave revolt. Whether this 91 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: revolt really was in the works continues to be the 92 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: subject of some historical debate, and it certainly would not 93 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: have been the first occurrence of a slave resistance effort 94 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: on the island. If it was. An enslaved man known 95 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,720 Speaker 1: as Prince Class confessed to having planned a massive uprising 96 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: that would not only have overthrown the island planters, but 97 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: also would have massacred its white population. However, there isn't 98 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: much physical evidence to support the idea that such a 99 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,600 Speaker 1: vast uprising was really imminent, So while some historians are 100 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: completely convinced that it was, others suspect that the white 101 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: slave owners and the court, who were vastly outnumbered by 102 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: the island's enslaved population, exaggerated what was actually a much 103 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,119 Speaker 1: smaller threat, possibly as a product of their own fear. 104 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:34,039 Speaker 1: The executions, however, were definitely real, with five people being 105 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: broken on a wheel, six gibbeted, and seventy seven burned 106 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: at the stake. One of the royals enslaved overseers was 107 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: among those burned at the stake, and another was reprieved 108 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,720 Speaker 1: at the stake in exchange for information he had so it. 109 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: While it's not written down anywhere exactly what prompted them 110 00:06:55,480 --> 00:07:00,160 Speaker 1: to go back to New England, it's pretty reasonable to 111 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: suspect that the royals went back because they feared for 112 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: their safety. To prepare for the family's arrival back in Massachusetts, 113 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: Isaac Royal Senior bought a piece of property in Medford 114 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: Is called ten Hills Farm, and this was a five 115 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: hundred acre property that housed a colonial farmhouse which was 116 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: expanded into a three story Georgian mansion. Along with barnes 117 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: and other outbuildings. There was also a slave quarters, which 118 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: still stands today and is the only free standing slave 119 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: housing still left in the North. The structure that became 120 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: the slave quarters started out as an out kitchen or 121 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: a separate kitchen that would allow people to cook in 122 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: hot weather without heating up the house, and that was 123 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: standing before the rest of the quarters were added on 124 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: to it. The museum on the property today includes both 125 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: the mansion and the slave quarters, and when the royals 126 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: took up residence there at ten Hills Farm, they had 127 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: at least twenty seven in slaved Africans with them. Isaac 128 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: in seventeen thirty nine, and Isaac Junior, one of his 129 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: two surviving children, inherited most of the estate. At this point, 130 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: the Royals were one of the wealthiest families in Massachusetts, 131 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: and Isaac Junior and his wife Elizabeth were very prominent 132 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,119 Speaker 1: in society, living a life of absolute luxury and holding 133 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: lavish parties and for Isaac's part, also holding public office. 134 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: With the approach of the Revolutionary War, Isaac Junior fled Massachusetts, 135 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: leaving his mansion most of his physical property and more 136 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:35,719 Speaker 1: than twenty enslaved people behind. Apparently he had some sympathies 137 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: with the cause for independence, but he also had a 138 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: lot of financial reasons to stay loyal to the crown. 139 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: He tried to get passage back to Antigua, but he 140 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: couldn't and instead he went to Nova Scotia just before 141 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: the Battle of Lexington in seventeen seventy five. A year later, 142 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: he joined his daughter's families in England, and he died 143 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,559 Speaker 1: there of smallpox in seventeen eighty one. In his will, 144 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 1: Isaac Junior left money to Harvard, which was used to 145 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:06,080 Speaker 1: endow the university's first law professorship. The shield of Harvard 146 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:09,480 Speaker 1: Law School was for this reason originally modeled after the 147 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: royal family coat of arms. The Royal Professorship still exists, 148 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: but the Law school agreed to retire the shield and 149 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: replace it with a new one in March of twenty sixteen, 150 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: and as part of the same protests that led to 151 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: this decision, students actually also occupied a lounge on campus 152 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:29,439 Speaker 1: and renamed it Belinda Hall after Belinda Sutton, who we 153 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,360 Speaker 1: will be talking more about it a moment. Basically now 154 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: is the moment we would be talking more about her 155 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: the moment has arrived. Belinda was mentioned in Isaac Junior's 156 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: will as well, saying quote, I do also give unto 157 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: my said daughter, my negro woman, Belinda, in case she 158 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: does not choose her freedom. If she does choose her freedom, 159 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: to have it, provided that she gets security that she 160 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 1: shall not be a charge to the town of Medford. 161 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: And he also instructed his executor to pay Belinda thirty 162 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 1: pounds for three years. However, by the time of his death, 163 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: Isaac Junior actually no longer had a lot of his 164 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: property in Massachusetts. A lot of it had been confiscated 165 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: during the war, and some of the people who had 166 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,959 Speaker 1: been slaved there had been enslaved there had been freed, 167 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,599 Speaker 1: and others had been sold elsewhere. In later documents, Belinda, 168 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: who was referenced in his will, is called Belinda Sutton 169 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: a widow, but we don't actually know who her husband 170 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: was or when she married him. Some of the earliest 171 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: documents that reference her present her last name as royal, 172 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: but it was common for enslaved people to be given 173 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: their owner's surnames. Belinda had at least two children, a 174 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: son named Joseph and a daughter were guessing on the 175 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,960 Speaker 1: pronunciation of whether it's prime or Primey, but it's Prine 176 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: who were baptized in Medford in seventeen sixty eight, and 177 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,319 Speaker 1: it appears that her son was sold away from her, 178 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: possibly at the same time that she was freed. Although 179 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: the Commonwealth Health did manument Belinda along with at least 180 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 1: some of the other people who were confiscated from the 181 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: royal estate, they didn't really make provisions for her survival afterward, 182 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:11,679 Speaker 1: and we will talk about how that led to her 183 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 1: petition after a quick word from a sponsor. When Belinda 184 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,080 Speaker 1: was freed, she and her daughter made their way to 185 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: Boston to try to start a new life among the 186 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 1: free black people living there. But by this point Belinda 187 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: was elderly and her daughter was also not well. Because 188 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: she had spent most of her life working for no pay, 189 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: Belinda had essentially nothing to live on and no way 190 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: to support herself and her daughter. On February fourteenth, seventeen 191 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: eighty three, Belinda presented a petition to the Massachusetts General Court. 192 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: It began quote Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the Honorable the 193 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:59,839 Speaker 1: Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled the 194 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: petition of Belinda and African humbly shows that seventy years 195 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: have rolled away since she on the banks of the 196 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:12,599 Speaker 1: Rio Devlta received her existence. The mountains covered with spicy forests, 197 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: the valleys loaded with the richest fruits spontaneously produced. Joined 198 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: to that happy temperature of air to exclude excess, would 199 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: have yielded her the most complete felicity, had not her 200 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 1: mind received early impressions of the cruelty of men whose 201 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: faces were like the moon, and whose bows and arrows 202 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:34,679 Speaker 1: were like the thunder and the lightning of the clouds. 203 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: The Rio Devlta is what's called the Volta River today 204 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,680 Speaker 1: and what was at that point known as the Gold Coasts, 205 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: and it's now Ghana. That was where Belinda had lived 206 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: until about the age of twelve, where as she described 207 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: in the petition, she was in a sacred grove with 208 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 1: her parents, paying devotions to Arica and quote. An armed 209 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: band of white men, driving many of her countrymen in chains, 210 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: ran into the hallowed shade. Referring to herself in the 211 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: third person, she goes on quote, she was ravished from 212 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: the bosom of her country, from the arms of her friends. 213 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:14,000 Speaker 1: While the advanced age of her parents, rendering them unfit 214 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 1: for servitude, cruelly separated her from them forever after. She 215 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: describes her passage across the Atlantic and her arrival on 216 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:25,199 Speaker 1: a new continent. She states that she worked for fifty 217 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: years for Isaac Royle until after the war, before concluding quote, 218 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,480 Speaker 1: the face of your petitioner is now marked with the 219 00:13:32,559 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: furrows of time, and her frame feebly bending under the 220 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 1: oppression of years, while she, by laws of the land, 221 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: is denied the enjoyment of one morsel of that immense wealth, 222 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: a part whereof has been accumulated by her own industry, 223 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: and the whole augmented by her servitude. Wherefore, casting herself 224 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: at the feet of your honors as to a body 225 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 1: of men formed for the extirpation of vassalage, for the 226 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: reward of virtue and the just return of honest industry, 227 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,480 Speaker 1: she prays that such allowance may be made her out 228 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: of the estate of Colonel Royal, as will prevent her 229 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: and her more infirmed daughter from misery in the greatest 230 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: extreme and scatter comfort over the short and downward path 231 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: of their lives. And she will ever pray so. In 232 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: five paragraphs, Belinda describes her childhood in Ghana, her capture, 233 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: the middle passage, her arrival, and the fact that she 234 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 1: spent most of her life helping to build the wealth 235 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 1: of the royal family, when she herself was not allowed 236 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: any portion of that wealth or even to own any property. 237 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: And she ends by asking for reparations, a payment of 238 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: damages for having been wronged, specifically to be taken out 239 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: of the estate of the man she worked for without 240 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 1: being compensated for all that time. Some of the petition's 241 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: passages aren't necessarily meant to be read completely literal. For example, 242 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,400 Speaker 1: the word Aricha is Yoruba, and it's a word that 243 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: means deity. But Yoruba was spoken a little farther west 244 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: than the Gold Coast, where Belinda would have been from, 245 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: so it's not entirely clear where Belinda, or perhaps the 246 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: person who helped her write this petition might have learned 247 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: it or how they might have used it. The description 248 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 1: of Belinda's capture also specifies that her captors were white. However, 249 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,640 Speaker 1: it's far more likely that she was initially captured by 250 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: other Africans further inland before being taken to the coast 251 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: and sold to white slave traders. You can learn more 252 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: about this aspect of the slave trade in our past 253 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: podcasts on Dajome and the Royal Palaces of Abome. Describing 254 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: her abductors as white may have been an intentional effort 255 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: to appeal to the moral sensibilities of the white judges, 256 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: or to resist attempts to shift the blame for slavery 257 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: onto Africans who captured the slaves rather than on the 258 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: Europeans who created the demand for them. You will still 259 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 1: see people trying to make this argument on the internet today. 260 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: Most likely Belinda herself was illiterate. Her signature on this 261 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: and other petitions is an ex and her most likely 262 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: assistant in creating this petition was a man named Prince Hall. 263 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 1: He had been enslaved from birth around seventeen thirty five, 264 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: and then he had been freed in seventeen seventy. After 265 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 1: becoming freed, he became an activist and an abolitionist in Boston, 266 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 1: where he was also the founder of an African Masonic lodge. 267 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: He helped author at least two petitions for a general 268 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: manumission in Massachusetts, and we will talk a little bit 269 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:42,080 Speaker 1: more about these other petitions that were also presented during 270 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: Belinda's life and around the same time a little bit 271 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: later in the show, Belinda's petition also quickly became part 272 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: of a growing body of anti slavery literature. Quaker abolitionists 273 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: distributed copies, and the New Jersey Gazette reprinted it in 274 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: its entirety on June eighteenth of seven, seventeen eighty three. 275 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 1: Soon this petition was being reprinted in other newspapers and 276 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:09,159 Speaker 1: anti slavery journals on both sides of the Atlantic. In 277 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 1: at least one British case, there were quite a number 278 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: of creative liberties, basically rewriting this legal petition into a 279 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: slave narrative in the first person. In terms of the ruling, 280 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: Belinda's petition was successful when seventeen eighty three, the court 281 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: awarded her and her daughter an annual pension of fifteen 282 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 1: pounds twelve shillings to be paid out of the profits 283 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: of the Royal Estate. However, the estate only paid this 284 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:40,040 Speaker 1: pension for a year and then ignored Belinda's repeated requests 285 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: for it. In seventeen eighty seven, Belinda went back to 286 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: court to try to force the Royal Estate to pay 287 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: the pension as ordered, and the court once again found 288 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 1: in her favor. The estate did make its payments for 289 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: three years before stopping again, leading Belinda back to court 290 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:00,280 Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety and after payments stopped once again, she 291 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: had to submit yet another petition in seventeen ninety three, 292 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: and once again the ruling was in her favor. From there, 293 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: there's really no record of her until Willis Hall, who 294 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,959 Speaker 1: had been the executor of Isaac Royal Junior's estate, requested 295 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: that he be granted the rest of the money in 296 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: the state treasury, saying, quote, two family servants who were 297 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:23,920 Speaker 1: left behind end quote had then died. Presumably one of 298 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:26,719 Speaker 1: the people he is talking about was Belinda, And that 299 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: was in seventeen ninety nine. And Belinda's petition was by 300 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: far not the first nor the only petition connected to 301 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:37,639 Speaker 1: slavery to be presented in Massachusetts courts. As we mentioned 302 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 1: just a moment ago, and we're going to talk more 303 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,360 Speaker 1: about this topic after we first paused for a word 304 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: from one of our fantastic sponsors. Belinda's petition was part 305 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,720 Speaker 1: of ongoing legal efforts of enslaved and formerly enslaved people 306 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: to advocate for themselves through Massachusetts courts. A lot of 307 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: these were petitions for freedom. There were enough of those 308 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: that there are definitely sources that missed report Belinda's petition 309 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: as being one for her freedom, which it was not. 310 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: The anti slavery petitions Massachusetts Data Verse at Harvard has 311 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: a huge collection of anti slavery and anti segregation documents, 312 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:26,680 Speaker 1: including Belinda's petitions online. As early as seventeen seventy individual 313 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:30,200 Speaker 1: enslaved people in Massachusetts were suing their owners in court 314 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: for their own freedom, or for compensation for their labor, 315 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 1: or for both, and some of these suits were in 316 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: fact successful. Petitions for general freedom for all people enslaved 317 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: in Massachusetts started before the Revolutionary War as well. Enslaved 318 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: people submitted six different petitions for general emancipation between seventeen 319 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:53,560 Speaker 1: seventy three and seventeen seventy seven alone. Prince Hall, who 320 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: probably helped Belinda craft her petition, had submitted two of 321 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: these in the late seventeen seventies, asking for a general emancipation, 322 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: protection against being kidnapped back into slavery, financial help for 323 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: former slaves who wanted to settle in Africa, and public 324 00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 1: education access for black students. Many of these early petitions 325 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: were connected directly to the language the Patriot Cause was 326 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: using to frame the Revolutionary War and the wish for 327 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: the colonies to be freed from British rule. They called 328 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: on the courts to recognize that the inalienable right to 329 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: freedom was not limited only to white people. These seventeen 330 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: seventies petitions prompted one bill to abolish slavery in Massachusetts, 331 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:38,760 Speaker 1: although it was ultimately unsuccessful. Some of the petitions also 332 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: drew from the Bible, citing Old Testament passages requiring the 333 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:45,160 Speaker 1: freedom the freeing of slaves every seven years, with those 334 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:49,679 Speaker 1: freed slaves being compensated. In one case, petitioners submitted a 335 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,199 Speaker 1: pamphlet by James Swan, who was a member of the 336 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 1: Sons of Liberty and a participant in the Boston Tea Party, 337 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:59,480 Speaker 1: which attacked slavery from numerous angles, including the biblical one. 338 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: It's possible that Belinda's petition was patterned after or inspired 339 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: by the petition of Anthony Vassal of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He 340 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 1: had submitted a petition in seventeen eighty one requesting the 341 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,680 Speaker 1: title to land owned by his former owner, John Bassel 342 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 1: as compensation for his years of unpaid labor before being 343 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: enslaved under John Vassel. Anthony and his wife had lived 344 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,200 Speaker 1: in Medford, where they had been owned by Isaac Royal 345 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: Junior's sister, Penelope Vassal. John Vassel was a loyalist who 346 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,639 Speaker 1: had been exiled and whose estate had been confiscated, and 347 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 1: Anthony successfully argued that he was owed reparations for having 348 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: worked on that land where his wife and their children 349 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,160 Speaker 1: had also been enslaved. Although he wasn't awarded the title 350 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: to the land that he asked for, he was granted 351 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,399 Speaker 1: an annual pension of twelve pounds out of the proceeds 352 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,359 Speaker 1: of the estate. It was in fact court rulings that 353 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 1: would eventually end slavery in Massachusetts. In seventeen eighty one, 354 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:02,439 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Freeman, then known as Mom Bett, successfully sued her 355 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 1: owner for freedom under the grounds that the newly adopted 356 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:09,840 Speaker 1: Massachusetts Constitution forbade it in article one quote, all men 357 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, 358 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: and unalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right 359 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 1: of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, that of acquiring, possessing, 360 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,879 Speaker 1: and protecting property in fine, that of seeking and obtaining 361 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: their safety and happiness, that same year, an enslaved man 362 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: known as Kwak Walker escaped from Nathaniel Jennison, and when 363 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:37,120 Speaker 1: Jennison found Walker, he beat him, leading Walker to sue 364 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,160 Speaker 1: him for assault and battery. This led to a series 365 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:45,200 Speaker 1: of countersuits, ending with Commonwealth versus Jennison in seventeen eighty three. 366 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: During the instructions to the jury, Chief Justice Cushing stated, quote, 367 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: and upon this ground, our constitution of government, by which 368 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: the people of this Commonwealth have solemnly bound themselves, sets 369 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: out with declaring that all men are born free and equal, 370 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: and that every subject is entitled to liberty and to 371 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 1: have it guarded by the laws, as well as life 372 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: and property. And in short, is totally repugnant to the 373 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 1: idea of being born slaves. This being the case, I 374 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: think the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our own 375 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: conduct and constitution. There can be no such thing as 376 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: perpetual servitude of a rational creature unless his liberty is 377 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 1: forfeited by some criminal conduct, or given up by personal 378 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:39,200 Speaker 1: consent or contract. Commonwealth versus. Jennison effectively ended slavery in Massachusetts, 379 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,879 Speaker 1: although there continued to be some people enslave for some time. Afterward, 380 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:49,119 Speaker 1: particularly under the guise of indentured servitude that is Belinda's petition. 381 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: There are a lot of people and articles that describe 382 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:59,439 Speaker 1: Belinda's first petition as the first petition for reparations for 383 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: slavery to exist in the United States. I think that's 384 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:09,560 Speaker 1: a little oversimplified, not to fault anybody in that a 385 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,879 Speaker 1: lot of these petitions were really difficult to access until 386 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 1: that big Harvard database that we talked about a little 387 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,640 Speaker 1: bit earlier was online and it became a lot easier 388 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,120 Speaker 1: to search through them. It made those documents a lot 389 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:28,200 Speaker 1: more accessible to people. But Belinda's petition definitely is part 390 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: of a much greater legal effort that was ongoing in 391 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,920 Speaker 1: Massachusetts for years to try to, at least on an 392 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:42,959 Speaker 1: individual basis, compensate some previously enslaved people for basically the 393 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,439 Speaker 1: damage that was done to them by having them be 394 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: part of building their owner's wealth while forbidden to accumulate 395 00:24:52,280 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 1: any wealth or possessions of their own. Thanks so much 396 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode is 397 00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:06,359 Speaker 1: out of the archive, if you heard an email address 398 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: or a Facebook RL or something similar over the course 399 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 1: of the show that could be obsolete now Our current 400 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: email address is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You 401 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,159 Speaker 1: can find us all over social media at missed Dhistory, 402 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, 403 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:28,160 Speaker 1: Google podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, and wherever else you listen 404 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: to podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class is a 405 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. 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