Existing comment:
Harpers Ferry:
1850-1860
Total African-American Population: 302
Free Black Male: 79
Free Black Female: 68
TOTAL FREE BLACK: 147
Slave Male: 54
Slave Female: 101
TOTAL SLAVE: 155
Total White Population: 2,499
White male: 1,285
White female: 1,214
Slaves:
- Most slaves in Harpers Ferry were women and children who worked as laundresses, cooks, nurses, housekeepers, and servants.
- One-third of the slave population was male. Most slave men were laborers but some acquired special skills like carpentry and quarry work.
- Many slaves in Harpers Ferry were hired out on an annual basis. In the 1850s, owners could rent their most valuable human property for more than $100 a year.
- Slaves usually lived with their owner or the person that rented them, sometimes in an outbuilding or attic. Some owners may have boarded their slaves with a free black family. Occasionally, slaves were permitted to live with free black relatives.
- Early in the 19th century, some local slave owners allowed slaves to hire their own time, collect wages, and eventually purchase their own freedom. A number of owners emancipated their slaves. As the value of slaves grew, however, and the moral question of slavery became more divisive, such opportunities became rare for slaves in Harpers Ferry. |