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The Case of the Slave-Child, Med Free Soil in Antislavery Boston / Karen Woods Weierman.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Weierman, Karen Woods, 1971- author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- African Americans--Legal status, laws, etc--Massachusetts.
- African Americans.
- Slavery--Massachusetts--History.
- Slavery.
- Antislavery movements--Massachusetts--Boston.
- Antislavery movements.
- Free African Americans--Massachusetts--Boston--Biography.
- Free African Americans.
- Med (Slave), 1830-1838.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource
- Place of Publication:
- Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 2019.
- Summary:
- "In 1836, an enslaved six-year-old girl named Med was brought to Boston by a woman from New Orleans who claimed her as property. Learning of the girl's arrival in the city, the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS) waged a legal fight to secure her freedom and affirm the free soil of Massachusetts. While Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled quite narrowly in the case that enslaved people brought to Massachusetts could not be held against their will, BFASS claimed a broad victory for the abolitionist cause, and Med was released to the care of a local institution. When she died two years later, celebration quickly turned to silence, and her story was soon forgotten. As a result, Commonwealth v. Aves is little known outside of legal scholarship. In this book, Karen Woods Weierman complicates Boston's identity as the birthplace of abolition and the cradle of liberty, and restores Med to her rightful place in antislavery history by situating her story in the context of other writings on slavery, childhood, and the law"-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Introduction: The said Med
- Before Med : James Somerset and Phillis Wheatley
- Slaves cannot breathe in Boston
- All girls are bound to someone
- Maria Sommersett, the American Stewart, and Dred Scott
- Free soil fictions
- Conclusion: Sarah, Ruby, and Med.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on print version record.
- ISBN:
- 1-61376-718-8
- OCLC:
- 1121453209
- Access Restriction:
- Open Access Unrestricted online access
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