For Black History Month, I will post a daily primary source about a Black resident of 18th-century Massachusetts.
1. Miss Betty Cooper, who was considered male by her enslavers, but was “well known” enough that they did not publish any physical description when she self-emancipated in 1771.
1. Miss Betty Cooper, who was considered male by her enslavers, but was “well known” enough that they did not publish any physical description when she self-emancipated in 1771.
Comments
#Painting. Oil on canvas.
#Artist -
@elainehindin.bsky.social
A portrait of William Duguid (1773) is one of 3 identified paintings by enslaved Boston artist Prince Demah (1745-1778).
Demah studied painting in London and painted other portraits not yet IDed (see 1774 receipt). He fought on the American side in the Revolution.
Met, NYC
Baker Lib, Harvard
https://www.themagazineantiques.com/article/prince-demah-barnes-1/
Chelor was emancipated on the death of his enslaver in 1752. He opened his own shop, making specialized woodworking tools like this plane. His planes are signed, both to advertise and to proclaim his expertise.
https://www.si.edu/object/tongue-plane-made-cesar-chelor%3Aacm_2001.5001.0001
After the British burned her house in 1775, Thomas got a job sewing and washing for George Washington's household in Cambridge. She married William Lee, Washington's enslaved valet.
https://shorturl.at/vJcQU
https://shorturl.at/WAYlB
https://shorturl.at/4je5a
Jane was enslaved by the Harvard Steward, as were her mother, 3 younger siblings, and other adults. They did the daily work of feeding Harvard students and caring for dorms and grounds.
Jane, age 22, is buried across from Harvard's main gate.
https://nrs.lib.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.arch:23824403
and a sale document for another person enslaved by the stewards (the Bordman family), witnessed by Harvard President Benjamin Wadsworth
https://nrs.lib.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.arch:23922502
How did Cuffee encounter wet paint? Was he painting? Cleaning? Wearing castoffs? It's unclear. But some of Smibert's paint is in museums and some on Cuffee's breeches.
In 1751, John Hancock and his Harvard friends were disciplined for "making drunk a Negro-man-servant belonging Mr. Sprague, & that to such a Degree as greatly indanger'd his Life."
The man was probably Jack (c.1730-1760), who froze to death on the street in Cambridge in 1760.
https://shorturl.at/IuSJX
https://www.philadelphiafed.org/education/money-in-colonial-times#:~:text=The%20most%20famous%20of%20these,trustworthy%20coin%20the%20colonists%20knew.