“Brought to this City”: Enslaved Saint-Dominguans, Mobility, and Freedom-seeking in Philadelphia, 1791–1810

Abstract: Between 1791 and 1794, an estimated 3,000 people, of whom over 800 were enslaved, arrived Philadelphia from revolutionary Saint-Domingue. Although a majority of enslaved Saint-Dominguans were reclassified by their enslavers as indentured servants, a significant minority continued to be enslaved, held in contravention of Pennsylvania abolition law by enslavers who were determined to retain their property in people. This article uses the records of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS) to examine how illegally enslaved Saint-Dominguans sought legal freedom in Philadelphia. It finds that Saint-Dominguan freedom-seekers used social connections to gain legal knowledge and access networks of support for freedom-seekers. These networks, comprising Black abolitionists, the PAS, and ordinary Philadelphians, were quick to welcome Saint-Dominguans into an existing culture of legal aid. The struggles of Saint-Dominguan freedom-seekers to access local abolition law and the willingness of Philadelphia residents to aid them, and the acceptance of their cases by the PAS demonstrate the readiness of all three groups to make Philadelphian abolition law open to freedom-seekers from across the Atlantic world. This article also finds that struggles over mobility were central to enslaved Saint-Dominguans’ efforts to seek legal freedom in the Philadelphia. Freedom-seekers sought legal aid in response to the threat of forced movement, and they sought control of their own mobility in order to access legal resources and escape their enslavers. The resulting legal struggles were long and complex; they did not always begin with contacting the PAS, nor did they necessarily end with a legal ruling. Rather, they played out in multiple venues, from lodging houses to prison cells, ships’ holds to alleyways, as enslaved and enslavers alike sought control over enslaved persons’ movements in order to control their legal status.