Free Black Community in Boston: Early Property Ownership

By 1700, colonial Boston had a documented free Black community with some members owning property and operating small businesses. Tax and probate records from Boston and other New England towns document free Black men and women who owned homes, kept shops, and participated in the local economy. These records demonstrate that a small but real class of free Black property owners existed in northern colonies before the Revolution, navigating a society rapidly constructing racial barriers.