Sussex County, DE: 1853, 1858. [2]pp., on a single folio sheet of lined paper. Old folds, a few small breaks at crossfolds, some toning and staining to text. Overall very good. Item #13338

An uncommon manuscript indenture from antebellum Delaware in which a free African American farmer named Peter Boyce contracts with the mother of two young African American boys to teach them farming over the course of more than two decades. Carolyn Bradley turns over her two sons -- Joseph Bradley, age "two years six months and seven days" and William A. Bradley, age "one year & fifteen days as nearly as can be ascertained" -- to be apprentices to Boyce for the sum of $15, and until they are each twenty-one years of age. The term for young Joseph is defined as "eighteen years five months & twenty three days" and for his (literal) baby brother, a term of "nineteen years eleven months & sixteen days."

Boyce agrees "to teach or cause...to be taught the art trade & business of farming to the best of his skill knowledge & ability," to provide clothing, and at the end of the apprenticeship, "to pay to each of the said boys the sum of ten dollars in lieu of schooling, it being inexpedient to stipulate for education in reading & writing." The document is signed with both Carolyn and Peter Boyce's marks and two justices of the peace. Within the document, the names of both young boys, as well as those of their mother and Peter Boyce are followed by the letter "N," presumably indicating all parties were African American. 

The verso of the document is a second indenture dated October 5, 1858, executed by Peter Boyce (here described as a "free negro and master of William A. Bradley." Here, Boyce transfers William's apprenticeship ("the unexpired term of the said negro apprentice boy") to John K. Brown, also of Sussex County, for $5. 

Presumably, both Joseph and William Bradley were born free, of a free mother, given that she has the right to sell them into an apprenticeship. However, the relationship created here exhibits some of the most insidious trappings of slavery in microcosm: long-term involuntary servitude practically from birth, the separation of a mother from her children, further splitting up of brothers, and placing a monetary value on human life at all. This is the first indentured apprenticeship contract we have handled featuring African Americans on every side of the agreement.

By 1840, only 13% of the Black residents of Delaware were enslaved. On the eve of the Civil War, the Black inhabitants of Sussex County, the most southerly county in the state, totaled 1341 enslaved and 4370 free persons. Free Blacks were frequently apprenticed to learn a trade, with boys usually learning farming and girls a variety of household work. In the 1860 census in Sussex County, a nine-year-old African American named Joseph Bradley appears as part of the household of Levin B. Brown, a white farmer. This is very likely our Joseph Bradley, perhaps sold out to Brown by Peter Boyce.

Price: $2,250

Status: On Hold