Enslaved to a U.S. Founding Father, She Sought Freedom in France
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on November 25, 2021
Abigail had been bound to the Jay family since at least 1776, though nothing in that year’s Declaration of Independence changed her status. The New York Slavery Records Index reports how John Jay’s father and grandfather invested in the slave trade to New York, and John Jay himself held at least 17 people over his lifetime. In 1779, Abigail found herself along on a journey that intersected . . .
