A wealth of stark and startling documents are among the Schlesinger Library’s collections. This one stands alone: Acquired by the Library in 2012, it is a bill of sale for a 23-year-old “Negro wench” identified as “Thankfull,” who was sold for $200 to Daniel Tooker by John Youle in 1803, in New York. Could anything make the dehumanizing reality of slavery more vivid than a signed and sealed bill of sale for a young woman?

Bill of Sale of John Youle, Schlesinger Library

Catalog record:

http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/013225058/catalog

Learn more:

In the video below, Marlin Kann—an AP US history teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School who wants to broaden his students’ understanding of history—marvels at the creased and weathered document from 1803 that held the fate of a 23-year-old woman.

In this first installment of Unboxing History, Marlin Kann-an AP US history teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School who wants to broaden his students' understanding of history-marvels at a creased and weathered document from 1803 that held the fate of a 23-year-old woman.

In 2017, the Radcliffe Institute hosted a conference to explore the relationship between slavery and universities, across the country and around the world.

View the complete proceedings of the event:

WELCOME Lizabeth Cohen, Dean, Radcliffe Institute, and Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies, Harvard University OPENING REMARKS (12:07) Drew Gilpin Faust, President and Lincoln Professor of History, Harvard University KEYNOTE (15:51) Ta-Nehisi Coates, Journalist; National Correspondent, the Atlantic: Author, Between the World and Me (Spiegel & Grau, 2015) and The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood (Spiegel & Grau, 2008) Conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates and Drew Gilpin Faust (34:37)

SLAVERY AND UNIVERSITIES NATIONALLY James T. Campbell (4:12), Edgar E. Robinson Professor in United States History, Stanford University Adam Rothman (13:43), Professor of History, Georgetown University Craig Steven Wilder (23:47), Barton L. Weller Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Moderator: Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Victor S.

POETRY READING Natasha Trethewey RI '01 (4:15), Former United States Poet Laureate; Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing, Emory University Introduced by: Vincent Brown RI '06, Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University

SLAVERY AND HARVARD Sven Beckert (3:05), Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University Alexandra Rahman '12 (15:47), Student Contributor, Harvard and Slavery: Seeking a Forgotten History Daniel R. Coquillette (25:19), J. Donald Monan, S.J.

SLAVERY AND UNIVERSITIES GLOBALLY Max Price (5:06), Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town Christiane Taubira (17:31), Former Minister of Justice (France) Hilary Beckles (36:55), Vice-Chancellor, University of the West Indies Moderator: Alejandro de la Fuente (1:09), Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics; Professor of African and African American Studies and of History; Director, Afro-Latin American Research Institute, Harvard University PANEL DISCUSSION (58:17) CONCLUDING REMARKS (1:27:09) Daniel Carpenter, Faculty Director of the Social Sciences Program, Radcliffe Institute; Allie S.

Objects

Bill of sale for Thankfull, 1803