Slavery in Jamaica Plain (Event Video)

Hidden Jamaica Plain presents an overview of their research so far. The talk outlines what is known about the indigenous presence in this area. They also provide details about the 27 enslaved individuals they have discovered who called Jamaica Plain home along with discussing their enslavers. There is also a discussion of free Blacks who were associated with the First Church.

This event was held on January 28, 2024 at 2:00 p.m via Zoom (and also to an in person audience at the First Church in Jamaica Plain). Click on the triangle below to watch the presentation.  Answers to the questions posed by the online audience are included below the video.

Below are answers to questions posted into the Zoom Q&A that we did not have time to get to during the event:

Question	Answer
What specific aspects of the law gave an advantage to those individuals who sued for their freedom?	Slavery ended in Massachusetts based on Case Law, not a specific Legislative law passed by a governmental body. A series of court cases filed by enslaved people including Elizabeth Freeman ("Mum Bett") in 1781 and Quock Walker in 1783 were decided in favor of the enslaved people. They collectively became known as the Quock Walker Case and set a precedent for legal actions to be decided in favor of other enslaved people pursuing their freedom.
Where do you find records of "runaway slave" ads?	Colonial newsletters are online in various locations - the Boston Public Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society and Massachusetts State Archives
The enslaved and indentured table is missing a label on the the header row, 1st column. What might it be?	that table is here https://www.jphs.org/colonial-era/slavery-in-jamaica-plain. The first column is Enslaved
For those indivuals who escaped their bondage, did Boston have a substantial African community that allowed those indivuals to blend into that community and did that community provide cover and aid. Or did those individuals have to get many miles away from Boston?	Free Black communities existed first in the North End and later on the north slope of Beacon Hill. By the early 1800s, the free Black population of Boston numbered over 2,000. Another means of escape for men was seafaring. If they could find work on a ship or whaler, they could leave Boston quickly with little chance of capture.
...rather, meaning the table that compares enslaved to indentured. not the names table.	It is blank on purpose. The items below it refer to the areas of differences in the lives and status of enslaved versus indentured individuals.
My question is regarding JP landmarks/sites tied with slavery. Mimi spoke about the Hidden Brookline tour--broadly speaking, besides FPJP church and the Loring Greenough church, where can folks go in the JP area to walk in the footsteps of those once enslaved?	PInebank Promontory (former Perkins’ estate), Boylston and Centre St (today the site of Zestos) which was the Boylston’s estate are other locations identified. John Hancock lived near the Pond - today’s Perkins Street/Jamaicaway
Was there a distinction made in census or other records between enslaved Africans and enslaved indigenous ok ndividuals?	The first U.S. Census was in 1790. The categories included "Free White Males" with age brackets, "Free White Females" and separate columns for "All other free persons" and "Slaves." Since the Quock Walker case in 1783, in Massachusetts many enslaved people had self-emancipated and some enslavements had been converted to indentures. The categories for the 1800 Census changed to include age brackets for "Free White Females"
What is the evidence of no concept of land ownership with indigenous groups?	This is a very important question which we continue to explore. We need more time to document it thoroughly.
Thank you for all of this hard and important work. Do we know whether any enslaved/formerly enslaved/indentured people or their decendants were able to attend the Eliot School?	The Eliot School has looked into this and to date has not found evidence that Black or Indigenous students, enslaved or indentured, attended. However, more research still needs to be done.
When does your group meet to research records and how can others/non-members get involved?	please send an email to hiddenjamaicaplain@gmail.com to get involved and join in the work*We started with the First Church of JP's physical records and Eliot School's records at Mass Historical Society. We also visited the Boston City Archives, Mass State Archives and Judicial Archives. However, most of our research was done online using Family Search (Latter Day Saints database), AmericanAncestors.org, census records, the 1771 tax database at Harvard, Digital Commonwealth, JSTOR and other resources.
May be hard to access, but the rolls of Natives may be of great assistance.	Stolen Relations, Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas, is a community-based project housed at Brown University that is building a database of enslaved and unfree Indigenous people. When it becomes public, it should be an excellent resource.
Have you been able to locate any of the descendants of the enslaved people from JP, and include them in this exploration?	To date no descendants have surfaced. An effort to search for descendants of the free Black families found in the First Church records will be forthcoming. If we succeed, Hidden JP will, of course, welcome them to join us!