As the decennial U.S. Federal Census for 1850 was enumerated in Franklin County, Kentucky, young William Wright, age 14, was listed as chattel in the property inventory of John Wilcox Russell.

The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850, which was supposed to stave off civil war. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they had escaped to a free state ...

From 1670 until 1865, the majority of blacks living in Orangeburg County were enslaved. The life that they lived covered multifaceted conditions. Descriptions of their circumstances would vary from ...

Prologue -- Mesopotamia versus Mount Airy : the demographic contrast -- Sarah Affir and her Mesopotamia family -- Winney Grimshaw and her Mount Airy family -- "Dreadful idlers" in the Mesopotamia cane ...

Satisfying the demand for laboring people, 1500-1850 -- The British East India Company and the trade in stout coffree men, 1621-1804 -- Satisfying the constant demand of the French, 1670-1810 -- ...

The 1850s were a decade caught between tradition and the promise of a new era. On one hand, you still had horse-drawn carriages and gas-lit streets; on the other, steam engines, telegraphs, and ...

This recent painting by Lee Herring of Fort Worth is called "Britt Johnson's Last Stand." It's owned by a California collector. Courtesy of Lee Herring/Prellop Fine Art Gallery I set a personal goal.