Synopses & Reviews
In the spring of 1848 seventy-six slaves from the nation's capital hid aboard a schooner called the
Pearl in an attempt to sail down the Potomac River and up the Chesapeake Bay to freedom in Pennsylvania. When inclement weather forced them to anchor for the night, the fugitive slaves and the ship's crew were captured and returned to Washington. Many of the slaves were sold to the Lower South, and two men sailing the
Pearl were tried and sentenced to prison.
Recounting this harrowing tale from the preparations for escape through the participants' trial, Josephine Pacheco provides fresh insight into the lives of enslaved blacks in the District of Columbia, putting a human face on the victims of the interstate slave trade, whose lives have been overshadowed by larger historical events. Pacheco also details the Congressional debates about slavery that resulted from this large-scale slave escape attempt. She contends that although the incident itself and the trials and Congressional disputes that followed were not directly responsible for bringing about an end to the slave trade in the nation's capital, they played a pivotal role in publicizing many of the issues surrounding slavery. Eventually, President Millard Fillmore pardoned the operators of the Pearl.
Review
"Pacheco's story of the Pearl is riveting. (Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University)"
Review
"Pacheco's story of the Pearl is riveting. (Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University)"
Review
"Josephine Pacheco has written a superb book that takes us back to Washington, D.C., in 1848. It conveys a tactile sense of how the institution of slavery degraded our nation's capital, how fevered the South's defense of slavery became, how sputtering and fragmented the North's attack on it was, and how the sounds of a splintering nation rent the air. It is just a splendid piece of work. (Roger Wilkins, George Mason University)"
Synopsis
The dramatic story of a group of Washington, D.C.,-area slaves who attempted to escape slavery in 1848 by sailing up the Chesapeake, but were apprehended and returned to Washington. Pacheco's narrative illuminates the lives of enslaved and free blacks in the nation's capital.
Synopsis
"[An] important book. . . . Every serious student of history should read this book. Pacheo's compelling narrative and graceful prose make it easily accessible to lay audiences and specialists alike."
-- NC Historical Review "A thorough treatment and a good place to start for anyone interested in the Pearl."
-- Journal of the Early Republic "Pacheco's story of the Pearl is riveting. (Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University)" "Josephine Pacheco has written a superb book that takes us back to Washington, D.C., in 1848. It conveys a tactile sense of how the institution of slavery degraded our nation's capital, how fevered the South's defense of slavery became, how sputtering and fragmented the North's attack on it was, and how the sounds of a splintering nation rent the air. It is just a splendid piece of work. (Roger Wilkins, George Mason University)"
About the Author
Josephine F. Pacheco is Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at George Mason University, where she was director of the Center for the Study of Constitutional Rights. She has coauthored, edited, or coedited six previous books, including Three Who Dared: Prudence Crandall, Margaret Douglass, Myrtilla Miner: Champions of Antebellum Black Education.