“Slavery Can Have No Existence in the State of Indiana:” Black Women, Slavery, and Unfreedom in Indiana
My presentation examines the rise of slavery and chattel servitude in Indiana during the territorial period and early statehood, emphasizing Black women’s use of the courts to sue for their freedom. At the center of this discussion is State v. Lasselle, the 1820 case in which Polly Strong, an enslaved woman, sued for her freedom and ultimately won a landmark Supreme Court ruling that slavery had no legal standing in Indiana under the 1816 Constitution. However, this legal victory did not end Black Hoosiers’ struggles for freedom, as courts and local authorities continued to permit slavery and unfreedom through legal loopholes and deference to slaveholders’ claims over Black women’s labor.
Speaker
Jazma Sutton is the Lloyd Lewis Fellow in American History at the Newberry and is Assistant Professor of History at Miami University. Her research focuses on the histories of slavery and freedom in the U.S., with a particular interest in African American women’s history and the Midwest. She is currently working on a book project that chronicles the lived experiences of Black women–free, enslaved, and self-liberated–who chose (or were forced) to leave the South and pursue freedom in the early Black settlements of Indiana. She is the author of several publications, including the Digital Humanities Quarterly article “Reaping the Harvest,” the recent article “Go to the Attics, the Closets, and the Basements”: Black Women’s Intergenerational Practices of Memory Keeping in Oxford, Ohio,” in the journal Genealogy, and two digital archives: Remembering Freedom and The Jennie Elder Suel and Black Women of Oxford digital collection, which features over 2,000 photographs, documents, and artifacts and twenty oral history interviews.
About Colloquium
Colloquium is a weekly series of talks featuring staff, fellows, and scholars who are working with the library’s vast collections. These events bring together experts from various fields to share their research on a wide range of topics, followed by an opportunity for the audience to ask questions and engage in conversation.
Colloquium is open to the public and offers a chance to explore fascinating ideas and new discoveries. No advance registration is required.