AbolitionAfrican AmericansNew FieldsWest Boston A print of a group of white men in top hats kidnapping a Black man.

The Fugitive Slave Laws in Boston: Part 1, 1641–1849

This article, part 1 in a two-part series, explores the documentary history of the legalization of slavery in the United States, and the creation of federal laws prioritizing the rights of slaveholders over basic human rights. Part 1 surveys Massachusetts’ legalization of slavery in 1641; its abolishment of slavery in 1783; the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793; and how abolitionist organizations in Boston defied the Fugitive Slave Laws in order to help escaped enslaved people defend their freedom.

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African AmericansNew FieldsWorld History A colored engraving of enslaved African peoples cutting sugar cane in a Caribbean setting.

Rum, Molasses, and Slavery in Boston

Boston’s rapid development in the seventeenth century would not have been possible without the labor of enslaved Africans, which allowed the construction of an integrated political economy linked primarily to markets of the West Indies. Boston served as a center of the slave trade and port of entry for enslaved Africans. By the early 1700s, the New England Colonies were deeply involved in an economic alliance with the sugar-producing West Indies, driven by the abduction and enslavement of Africans and the trade of raw materials, molasses, and rum.

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