Lot 1103
Slave Manumission -- 1821 Maryland Certification That a Former Slave is Free. Slave manumission, one page, 11 x 8", on laid paper, Charles County, Maryland, Oct. 30, 1821. Document signed by John Barnes, Clerk of Charles County, certifying that "Thomas Crack the bearer hereof a Black man about Forty four years of age five feet six inches high having a large Black mole near the corner of his left eye, is a free person, and was liberated by a certain Eliza Winter of Charles County, by deed manumission bearing date on or about the twenty fifth date of October in the year of our one thousand eight hundred and twenty one…and I further certify that the said Thomas Crack was born and raised in Trinity Parish in the county and state aforesaid." With seal affixed at lower left. Overall toning. Very good condition. A freed slave needed to carry papers with him/her to protect against being abducted and re-sold into slavery.
After the Revolutionary War, Maryland repealed a 1753 law prohibiting individual slave manumission. In 1815 the Methodists and Quakers formed the Protection Society of Maryland to protect the increasing number of free blacks living in the state. Maryland was not included in the Emancipation Proclamation because it remained in the Union. By the time of the Civil War, 49.1% of Maryland blacks were free. Both Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were born in Maryland, Douglass in 1818 and Tubman in 1821. Estimated Value $300 - UP
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| Realized $550 |
