January 1783

Belinda Sutton, enslaved for over fifty years by Isaac Royall Jr., petitioned Massachusetts in 1783 for a pension from Royall's confiscated estate, describing her capture in West Africa as a child. The legislature granted her fifteen pounds twelve shillings annually — the first reparations payment to a formerly enslaved person in American history. The pension was granted for only one year; she had to re-petition repeatedly.

Abolitionist Granville Sharp learned of the Zong massacre and pressed the Crown to prosecute Captain Collingwood for murder. Lord Mansfield — the same judge who decided Somerset — ruled that insurers must pay the claim, treating the killing as a commercial dispute rather than murder. No criminal charges were brought. But the case galvanized British abolitionism: Sharp publicized it widely, it directly inspired Thomas Clarkson's research, and Olaudah Equiano brought it to Sharp's attention.

Belinda Sutton, enslaved for over fifty years by Isaac Royall Jr. of Medford, Massachusetts, petitioned the state legislature in 1783 for a pension from Royall's confiscated estate. Her petition described her capture in West Africa as a child and a lifetime of unpaid labor. The legislature granted her an annual pension of fifteen pounds and twelve shillings — the first reparations payment to a formerly enslaved person in American history. The pension was granted for only one year; Sutton had to

At the end of the Revolutionary War, British forces evacuated approximately 3,000 Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia, recorded in a document called the Book of Negroes — a registry of formerly enslaved people who had reached British lines. Most settled at Birchtown near Shelburne, Nova Scotia, the largest free Black settlement in North America at the time. They faced severe discrimination: given smaller and less fertile land grants than white Loyalists, barred from many trades, and subjected to viol

The Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783) recognized American independence. It contained a clause requiring Britain to withdraw 'without carrying away any Negroes' — an American demand that British forces not take enslaved people. Britain evacuated thousands of Black Loyalists anyway, citing prior promises of freedom. American slaveholders demanded compensation for 'property' lost. The dispute over whether formerly enslaved people constituted property that could be legally evacuated showed the tre

Chief Justice William Cushing instructed the jury in Commonwealth v. Jennison that slavery was incompatible with the Massachusetts Constitution's declaration that 'all men are born free and equal.' The jury acquitted Nathaniel Jennison of assaulting Quock Walker, confirming that Walker was free. The earlier civil suit brought by Walker, and the parallel freedom suit of Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett) in 1781, together effectively ended chattel slavery in Massachusetts. This made Massachusetts the first U.S. state where slavery was judicially abolished.

The Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783) required Britain to withdraw 'without carrying away any Negroes.' Britain evacuated thousands of Black Loyalists anyway, honoring prior freedom promises. American slaveholders demanded compensation for 'property' lost. The dispute revealed that treaty authors had no conception of Black people as rights-bearing persons.