Primary Source: Manumission and Legal Freedom
Event Details:
Following the American Revolution, many Black Americans found themselves in a newly free country, despite not being free themselves. In 1799, New York passed "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery," which freed anyone born after July 4,1799 born to enslaved parents. Redefining the existing slavery as "indentured servitude," the act left many in limbo. They turned to the courts.
The writ de homine replegiando predates the Magna Carta (1215), but it had a long reach through time and space. Records held at the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library show that the law was being used as a legal tool throughout New York in the late 1700s and early 1800s prior to the abolition of slavery in New York. Join historian Sarah Gronningsater as she sits down with curator Anne Garner to discuss how antislavery lawyers and enslaved people resurrected this medieval writ across courts in the North, and how the archives at the Klingenstein Library support efforts to recover the histories of Black Americans before emancipation.
Signed books will be available for purchase before the program starting at 6 pm in the Reading Room
Sarah Gronningsater is an associate professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses on the history of American law, the American Revolution, African American politics, and the sport of baseball. Her first book, The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom, was published in 2024, and has received five book prizes.
Primary Source is a series of public programs exploring how the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library at The New York Historical supports new research and historical inquiry. Join us in our renowned Reading Room for behind-the-scenes conversations about New York's past and present, deeply grounded in the Library's rich collections.
Location:
Patricia D. Klingenstein Library Reading Room, The New York Historical, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024
Ticket Instructions:
Online: Click the button above. If you need assistance, email libraryprogram@nyhistory.org
Chairman's Council: Email chairmanscouncil@nyhistory.org.
