Recounting this harrowing tale from the preparations for escape through the participants' trial, Josephine Pacheco provides fresh insight into the lives of enslaved blacks in the District of Columbia, putting a human face on the victims of the interstate slave trade, whose lives have been overshadowed by larger historical events. Pacheco also details the Congressional debates about slavery that resulted from this large-scale slave escape attempt. She contends that although the incident itself and the trials and Congressional disputes that followed were not directly responsible for bringing about an end to the slave trade in the nation's capital, they played a pivotal role in publicizing many of the issues surrounding slavery. Eventually, President Millard Fillmore pardoned the operators of the Pearl.
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Book Description
In the spring of 1848 seventy-six slaves from the nation's capital hid aboard a schooner called the Pearl in an attempt to sail down the Potomac River and up the Chesapeake Bay to freedom in Pennsylvania. When inclement weather forced them to anchor for the night, the fugitive slaves and the ship's crew were captured and returned to Washington. Many of the slaves were sold to the Lower South, and two men sailing the Pearl were tried and sentenced to prison.
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Editorial Reviews
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"[An] important book. . . . Every serious student of history should read this book. Pacheo's compelling narrative and graceful prose make it easily accessible to lay audiences and specialists alike."
-- NC Historical Review
"A thorough treatment and a good place to start for anyone interested in the Pearl."
-- Journal of the Early Republic
"Pacheco's story of the Pearl is riveting. (Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University)"
"Josephine Pacheco has written a superb book that takes us back to Washington, D.C., in 1848. It conveys a tactile sense of how the institution of slavery degraded our nation's capital, how fevered the South's defense of slavery became, how sputtering and fragmented the North's attack on it was, and how the sounds of a splintering nation rent the air. It is just a splendid piece of work. (Roger Wilkins, George Mason University)"
-- NC Historical Review
"A thorough treatment and a good place to start for anyone interested in the Pearl."
-- Journal of the Early Republic
"Pacheco's story of the Pearl is riveting. (Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University)"
"Josephine Pacheco has written a superb book that takes us back to Washington, D.C., in 1848. It conveys a tactile sense of how the institution of slavery degraded our nation's capital, how fevered the South's defense of slavery became, how sputtering and fragmented the North's attack on it was, and how the sounds of a splintering nation rent the air. It is just a splendid piece of work. (Roger Wilkins, George Mason University)"
From the Inside Flap
The dramatic story of a group of Washington, D.C.,-area slaves who attempted to escape slavery in 1848 by sailing up the Chesapeake, but were apprehended and returned to Washington. Pacheco's narrative illuminates the lives of enslaved and free blacks in the nation's capital.
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This review is from: The Pearl: A Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac (Hardcover)
Amazing story about America's early years! Hard to believe this is the same country. Book was a great deal.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
In the spring of 1848 watermen Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayres undertook to lead one of the largest slave escape attempts in the United States. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
antislavery enthusiasts, antislavery members, domestic slave trade, antislavery papers, stealing slaves, slave pen, antislavery newspaper, human bondage, southern members Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, District of Columbia, National Era, New Orleans, Anti-Slavery Bugle, Gerrit Smith, Congressional Globe, North Star, Daniel Drayton, Horace Mann, Emily Edmondson, Mann Papers, Frederick Douglass, National Archives, The Aftermath, Congress Confronts Slavery, National Anti-Slavery Standard, Gamaliel Bailey, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Personal Memoir, Negro Universities Press, African Americans, House of Representatives, Joshua Giddings New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In the spring of 1848 watermen Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayres undertook to lead one of the largest slave escape attempts in the United States. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
antislavery enthusiasts, antislavery members, domestic slave trade, antislavery papers, stealing slaves, slave pen, antislavery newspaper, human bondage, southern members Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, District of Columbia, National Era, New Orleans, Anti-Slavery Bugle, Gerrit Smith, Congressional Globe, North Star, Daniel Drayton, Horace Mann, Emily Edmondson, Mann Papers, Frederick Douglass, National Archives, The Aftermath, Congress Confronts Slavery, National Anti-Slavery Standard, Gamaliel Bailey, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Personal Memoir, Negro Universities Press, African Americans, House of Representatives, Joshua Giddings New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
- Frederick Douglass by Booker T. Washington on 11 pages
- North-Side View of Slavery by Benjamin Drew on 4 pages
- Night Watch (Tsr Books) by Robin Wayne Bailey on page 47, page 85, and page 220
- The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom by Wilbur H. Siebert on page 259, page 261, and page 263
- Men and Manners in America by Thomas Hamilton on page 251, page 256, and page 258
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