Breaking chains : slavery on trial in the Oregon Territory / R. Gregory Nokes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nokes, R. Gregory.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slavery--Law and legislation--Oregon.

Slavery.

Enslaved persons--Legal status, laws, etc--Oregon.

Enslaved persons.

Slaveholders--Legal status, laws, etc--Oregon.

Slaveholders.

Social conditions.

Slaveholders--Legal status, laws, etc.

Enslaved persons--Legal status, laws, etc.

Slavery--Law and legislation.

Oregon--Social conditions--19th century.

Oregon.

Physical Description:

xvi, 224 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Corvallis, OR : Oregon State University Press, [2013]

Summary:

When they were brought to Oregon in 1844, Missouri slaves Robin and Polly Holmes and their children were promised freedom in exchange for helping develop their owner's Willamette Valley farm. However, slaveholder Nathaniel Ford, an influential settler and legislator, kept them in bondage until 1850, even then refusing to free their children. Holmes took his former master to court and, in the face of enormous odds, won the case in 1853. In Breaking Chains, R. Gregory Nokes tells the story of the only slavery case ever adjudicated in Oregon courts-Holmes v. Ford. Drawing on the court record of this landmark case, Nokes offers an intimate account of the relationship between a slave and his master from the slave's point of view. He also explores the experiences of other slaves in early Oregon, examining attitudes toward race and revealing contradictions in the state's history. Oregon was the only free state admitted to the union with a voter-approved constitutional clause banning African Americans and, despite the prohibition against slavery, many in Oregon tolerated it, and supported politicians who were pro-slavery, including Oregon's first territorial governor. Told against the background of the national controversy over slavery, Breaking Chains sheds light on a somber part of Pacific Northwest history, bringing the story of slavery in Oregon to a broader audience. Book jacket.

Contents:

First slaves

The good life in Missouri

Lure of Oregon

On the trail

Freedom delayed

Oregon's Dixie

Land and more land

The Applegate trail

Oregon's "lash law?"

The Cockstock affair

Gold miners and slaves

"My children held as slaves?"

Holmes vs Ford, day-by-day

Ford's secret strategy

Enter Judge Williams

Reuben Shipley

They weren't alone

An army slave

The free state letter

Let voters decide

The great slavery non-debate

Consecrate!!!

Oregon for whites

Voters do decide

A voice for equality

Reuben and Mary Jane

Who was Reuben Ficklin

Mary Jane's final trial

Slaveholders' last stand

Moving on.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-214) and index.

ISBN:

9780870717123

087071712X

9780870717130

0870717138

OCLC:

816318426