Slaves and the courts, 1740-1860

Presents more than a hundred pamphlets and books, published between 1772 and 1889, concerning the difficult experiences of African and African-American slaves in the American colonies and the United States. The documents, most from the Law Library and the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, comprise an assortment of trials and cases, reports, arguments, accounts, examinations of cases and decisions, proceedings, journals, a letter, and other works of historical importance. All but one of the items are available both as online images and as searchable text; the exception is an unpublished handwritten slavery code of 1860 for the District of Columbia, which is available as images only.