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| General
Information & Mission Statement |
The
African American Heritage Trail of Marthašs Vineyard is a physical
entity comprised of 16 sites dedicated to the formerly unrecognized
contributions made by people of African descent to the history of
the island. At each of these sites a descriptive plaque has been
placed.
There is also a non-profit corporation, the African American Heritage
Trail History Project, which is dedicated to the research and dissemination
of the history of the African American people of Marthašs Vineyard.
The History Project serves as a source of participative community
education and celebration. The sophomore history classes at the
Marthašs Vineyard Regional High School are involved as research
assistants in the work of the Trail and also act as tour guides,
site maintenance staff, mural painters, web site developers, and
musicians.
The Mission
of the Trail is to continue to research and publish previously undocumented
history and to involve the Island community in the identification
and celebration of the contributions made by people of color to
the island of Marthašs Vineyard. The expense of building the Trail
is considerable and some income is generated through the sale of
our book: available from this site. Contributions to the Heritage
Trail are gratefully accepted and used to to further develop the
Trail. Presently, the Trail is anxious to acquire the former home
of the Island's only African American Whaling Captain, William
A. Martin.
MVRHS
students provide a primary source for energy, research, and study
of the Trail.
Please send any contributions to:
The African American Heritage Trail, P.O. Box 234, West Tisbury,
Mass. 02575.
Your gift will be tax deductible, and your name will be placed on
a monument of remembrance.
Further information is available about the Heritage Trail from board
members who can be reached via Email:
Elaine Cawley Weintraub,
Carrie Camillo Tankard, Joseph
C. Carter, John Budris. |
| More
information regarding Slavery & Martha's Vineyard |
Martha's
Vineyard is a relatively large island (approximately 26 x 14 miles,
depending on the tides) and is located 2.5 miles off the southern
coast of Cape Cod, on the northeast seaboard of the USA. It is steeped
in the history of whaling and maritime business, and its people
have been sailors since the earliest times when the Native American
people knew it as "Noepe". It is perhaps not coincidental
that the story of the African-American people of Martha's Vineyard
has two common themes: spirituality and maritime expertise.
Evidence
is readily available showing that human beings were bought, sold
and probated as property on Martha's Vineyard. Research at the Vineyard
Museum uncovered a copy of a bill of sale from Zacheus Mayhew (1684-1760)
of Edgartown to Ebenezer Hatch of Falmouth. The sale in question
relates to Peter, a ten year old "Negro boy"to "have
and to hold to the life of the S e Eben r Hatch, his heirs, executors,
administrators and assigns for ever." (Vineyard Museum archives)
The date of the bill of sale is June 19, 1747.
Governor Thomas Mayhew's grandson, Samuel Sarson, who died August
24, 1703, included in his estate "a Negro woman valued at twenty
pounds." In 1734, the estate of Ebenezer Allen of Chilmark
included "Negroes" valued at 200 pounds along with two
beds for servants, glasses, one pound five shillings, knives and
forks at 18 shillings and 600 pair of sheep at 510 pounds and 17
shillings." Jane Cathcart of Chilmark, in June 1741, willed
her "molato (mulatto) servant, Ismael Lobb, now in the service
of Captain Timothy Daggett of Edgartown .. his freedom during life
after he shall arrive at age 30." Cornelius Bassett's personal
estate at the time of his death in 1779 included "one Negro
boy, Pero, 33 pounds. One Negro woman, Chole (Chloe?) 27 years ...
150 pounds. One garl (girl), Nancy 7 years ... 180 pounds."
Samuel Bassett of Chilmark owned land in both Chilmark and Edgartown.
His will, probated in 1770 details his property listing "one
Negro woman, two boys ... sixty pounds .. pitchforks, scythes, rakes."
Puritan Massachusetts' ambivalent attitude toward the enslavement
of African people is best illustrated by the anti-slavery tract:
"The Selling of Joseph", written by Reverend Samuel Sewall
in 1770. "Liberty," he states, "is the real value
into life, and one ought not part with it themselves or deprive
others of it but upon mature consideration." (Higginbotham,
p. 61). The Reverend Sewall's statement was the first public anti-slavery
statement, even though enslaved Africans had been brought to Massachusetts
Bay Colony since 1638. Mr. Sewell made several visits to Martha's
Vineyard.
It has been widely suggested that the puritan settlers found slavery
repugnant, but there is clear evidence that the Massachusetts Bay
Colony settlers were deeply involved in the trade and by the 1700's
New England was the most active slave trading area in America. It
is to be expected that Martha's Vineyard would be similarly involved
in the trading of enslaved people, and much documentation exists
that enslaved people were a part of the life of the island.
Despite the institution of enslavement, a significant development
emerged in Massachusetts. At no time during its history did people
of color lose the right to use the courts to challenge their status.
Nor did they lose the right to inherit property in certain circumstances.
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