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Ports Of Slavery, Ports Of Freedom: How Slaves Used Northern Seaports’ Maritime Industry To Escape And Create Trans-Atlantic Identities, 1713-1783, Charles Foy

Charles Foy

This dissertation examines and reconstructs the lives of fugitive slaves who used the maritime industries in New York, Philadelphia and Newport to achieve freedom. It focuses on slaves during the period between 1713, the end of Queen Anne’s War, and 1783, the end of the American Revolution. While the study’s primary focus is on slavery in three port cities, it employs a broad geographic approach to consider how enslaved individuals in rural areas surrounding New York, Philadelphia and Newport, as well as slaves in more distant regions, used the maritime industry in northern port cities to escape slavery. Maritime work …