1700

Historians estimate that by the early 18th century, Black sailors — both free and enslaved — make up roughly 25% of Atlantic maritime crews. Black men like Crispus Attucks worked as sailors across the Atlantic world, navigating the same routes as their white counterparts. The sea offered wages, mobility, and de facto freedom not available on land.

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.