Guide to the Letter to James H. Reid regarding the enslavement of a group of African Americans, May 22, 1850
Letter to James H. Reid regarding the enslavement of a group of African Americans C0362
Published by George Mason University Libraries
Contact Information:
Fenwick Library (2FL)
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444
USA
Phone: (703) 993-2220
Fax: (703) 993-8911
Email: speccoll@gmu.edu
URL: http://sca.gmu.edu
Historical Note
The enslavement of individuals of African descent - as well as other peoples of color - was legalized in the United States in 1641, with African Americans being the majority of enslaved individuals around 1708. The demand for enslaved individuals to work on southern plantations in the U.S. began in 1694, which only increased over time. In 1861 the Civil War erupted, one of the key issues of the war being states' rights as they related to the institution of slavery. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclimation, which declared all enslaved peoples in Confederate states free, but this did not end slavery entirely. Two years later on December 18, 1865, slavery in the United States was officially abolished with the 13th Amendment. Despite the legal freedom of African Americans post-Amendment, the racist treatment and oppression of African Americans did not wane, resulting in Jim Crow law and eventually catalyzing the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
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Scope and Content
Letter to James H. Reid regarding the enslavement of a group of African Americans, written on May 22, 1850. The letter's writer is concerned with the transportation of the group from one location to another at the hand of Reid.
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Arrangement
This is a single item collection.
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Restrictions
Access Restrictions
There are no access restrictions.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from Letter to James H. Reid regarding the enslavement of a group of African Americans must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
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Related Material
The Special Collections Research Center also holds other collections related to the topic of slavery in the United States, including the George Mason letters to John Augustine Washington III, the Deed of gift for an enslaved woman by Maynadier Mason, and the Adam Bell notice for escaped enslaved man.
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Index Terms
Subjects:
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Administrative Information
Alternative Form Available
A digitized version of the letter can be found here: Letter to James H. Reid regarding the enslavement of a group of African Americans.
Preferred Citation
Letter to James H. Reid regarding the enslavement of a group of African Americans, C0362, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Acquisition Information
The donor is unknown.
Processing Information
Processing completed by Amanda Brent in June 2019. EAD markup completed by Amanda Brent in June 2019. This collection used to be a part of the Virginia historical documents collection, C0034.
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Bibliography
"Causes of the Civil War." PBS. https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/causes-of-the-civil-war/ (accessed June 26, 2019).
"A History of Slavery in the United States." National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/slavery-united-states/ (accessed June 26, 2019).
Urofsky, Melvin I. "Jim Crow law." Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law (accessed June 26, 2019).