Human beings should treat one another with love and kindness. Humanity should not practice or legalize inhumane acts such as slavery since justice and equality should be for all. Imagine if a human being trading or selling a fellow human being into captivity or auctions a person to the highest bidder. And while in captivity, another human being possesses the person and treats him or her as property. This is something that has happened even though it might look wired at the moment.
This is an unimaginable situation. However, it was the case with slavery or the enslavement of black people. Slaveowners would subject slaves to torture and make them work for free under the cruelest conditions. Black slaves worked without compensation, and the worst of it all, those who were enslaving them made slavery be a way of life for the blacks and never allowed them to own anything.
Slavery in Africa was rampant during the transatlantic slave trade. Slave traders transported millions of Africans from West and Central Africa to the Americas for labor. It was through slavery that African-Americans, the ethnic group of Americans, or Afro-Americans rose. The history of slavery in Africa is fascinating. We learn how strong our ancestors were and how they planned their rebellions or escapes during slavery to attain their freedom.
In this article, we will chronologically discuss various events during the enslavement of black Americans to their emancipation.
Slavery in the District of Columbia
In 1791, officials selected the District of Columbia as the spot for the United States of America’s capital. They formed it through land that Virginia and Maryland, 2 slave-holding states of the Chesapeake area, surrendered to the federal authority. The District of Columbia, which included Georgetown, Washington City, and Washington County, became a place for slave trade and slavery.
Slavery was an economic, legal, and social establishment. Legally, it meant that certain people had the right to buy and possess other people as goods. These people could benefit or profit from the labor of the people they possessed. Slavery was an economic system that permitted the US to grow and develop as it did.
Limits on Liberation
Robert Brent, the mayor and the Board of Aldermen, the forerunner to the Council of the District of Columbia, allowed the 1st set of Black Codes in 1808. These rules made it illegal for black people to be on the city streets after 10 pm. The authority could fine free black people who disobeyed the curfew.
The enslaved black Americans had to depend on their masters to pay for the fine. The punishment for not paying the fines was a lashing. Free black Americans had to register with the native authority and carry their documents of liberation every time. Later, the free black Americans contested the rules.
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Turning Point During the Act of Slavery
In the late 1820s, protestors or abolitionists planned for a movement to request the Congress to stop slavery in the capital. The effort to send the abolitionists’ requests to Congress strengthened in the middle of the 1830s when many requests filled the House of Representatives. In response, some Congressmen, particularly the southern ones, established the Gag Rule in 1836 prohibiting the introduction of bills relating to slavery.
The Nat Turner Revolt of 1831
In 1831, Nat Turner, a black American slave, led an uprising in Virginia. Nat’s revolt began the night he killed the family that possessed him before attacking other whites. As he went, more black American slaves joined him, and they murdered over 45 whites.
The Snow Riot of 1835
In August 1835, the native white-possessed newspapers claimed that Arthur Bowen, a black American slave, tried to kill Anna Thornton, a rich white widow who owned Bowen. When the authorities apprehended and jailed Arthur Bowen, a white crowd of Irish mechanics crowded at the city jail and threatened to lynch Arthur.
The mechanics’ fury also pointed at white protestors who worked to get the Congress to stop slavery in the District. Dr. Reuben was the major target in this case. The association assumed him to be guilty, and the police force investigated Dr. Reuben’s office and got antislavery posts. The authority apprehended him on charges of incitement to an uprising.
The crowd asked for hanging as a punishment for Arthur and Reuben and wished to impose the punishment themselves. The police force prevented the mob from getting to Bowen and Reuben, and they redirected their fury toward Snow’s restaurant. They destroyed furniture and broke bottles of alcohol, forcing Beverly Snow, a free black man, to run away from the District.
The Pearl Escape of 1848
On April 15th, 1848, over 70 enslaved people from Georgetown and Washington sought liberation on the Pearl. Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayres, who were white men, facilitated the escape.
The following day, the white families that possessed the slaves or fugitives found out about the escape and formed a group to catch them. Over 25 white men traveled by a steamboat, reached the Pearl and returned all aboard to the capital (Washington).
The DC Compensated Emancipation Act
In December 1861, Henry Wilson launched a Congress bill to stop slavery and the slave trade in DC. Despite opposition, the bill successfully went through. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved the bill on April 3rd and April 12th, 1862. Lincoln, the Head of State, signed the legislation on April 16th, the same year.
It freed over 3000 women, children, and men who were still slaves in 1862. The Act permitted the compensation of slaveowners ($300) for each person they had legitimately possessed. Besides, newly freed black Americans could get more than $98 if they moved to another state.
After Emancipation-Emancipation Celebrations and Parades
The black Americans responded to the DC Emancipation Act and the Emancipation Proclamation. The 1st Emancipation Parade occurred in 1866, and it was a large and joyous event that brought out half of the city’s black American population. The DC Emancipation marches continued from 1866 to 1901. The tradition of Emancipation Celebrations came back to life in 1991.
