Cory James Young
@coryjamesyoung.bsky.social
assistant professor of history at UIowa | personal account | northern slavery, legal history, Black America | i ♥️ WNY
Doing some work today in LancasterHistory's digitized Black History Collection. This 1789 doc reveals that while a woman named Ruth was emancipated in 1780 "for want of Being Recorded," her former enslaver claimed her daughter as his property anyway.
Gradual abolition preserved logics of slavery.
Gradual abolition preserved logics of slavery.
![Screenshot of a yellowed eighteenth-century document with neat-if-slanty black cursive script:
I David Breading of the Township of Little Britain
in the County of Lancaster yeoman do hereby return
(That to the Best of Knowledge) Jane a Negro Famale
Child Daughter of Ruth Formerly a Famale Negro Slave
but now Liberated for want of Being Recorded was
Born on the twentieth Day of June in the year of our
Lord one thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty three
And that the afforsaid Negro Child is to be registered
pursuant to an Act of General Assembly of Pennsylvania
For the Gradual Abolition of Slavery and which Child
is my property and Liable by the Act aforesaid
to serve untill she arrive to the age of twenty
Eight years -- Witness my hand this
Second Day of March one thousand seven
Hundred Eighty Nine 1789
To John Huble Esqr
Clerk of the peace for
the County of Lancaster
David Breading
[text obscured by LancasterHistory watermark]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rwzl23zkrni3ee7j7qngpm7u/bafkreifszbezqjshfgwjb67zve2crsyz7jsd2jygzclndxqxty6v7oxfeu@jpeg)
November 13, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Doing some work today in LancasterHistory's digitized Black History Collection. This 1789 doc reveals that while a woman named Ruth was emancipated in 1780 "for want of Being Recorded," her former enslaver claimed her daughter as his property anyway.
Gradual abolition preserved logics of slavery.
Gradual abolition preserved logics of slavery.
People incarcerated in Iowa state prisons earn between 28 and 95 cents per hour according to the ACLU. This is legal because the Iowa state constitution still permits slavery for people convicted of crimes.
You used to be able to learn about this history in the materials the state is disappearing.
You used to be able to learn about this history in the materials the state is disappearing.
October 7, 2025 at 1:21 PM
People incarcerated in Iowa state prisons earn between 28 and 95 cents per hour according to the ACLU. This is legal because the Iowa state constitution still permits slavery for people convicted of crimes.
You used to be able to learn about this history in the materials the state is disappearing.
You used to be able to learn about this history in the materials the state is disappearing.
They sure got it in 1865!
"Yet, by all the rules of moral measurement, Benedict Arnold was not half so perfidious and criminal as [Robert E.] Lee."
"Yet, by all the rules of moral measurement, Benedict Arnold was not half so perfidious and criminal as [Robert E.] Lee."
August 29, 2025 at 1:43 PM
They sure got it in 1865!
"Yet, by all the rules of moral measurement, Benedict Arnold was not half so perfidious and criminal as [Robert E.] Lee."
"Yet, by all the rules of moral measurement, Benedict Arnold was not half so perfidious and criminal as [Robert E.] Lee."
It's decently well known that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence.
Less well known is that two people James Monroe enslaved, George and Phebe, sought their freedom the same day, disappearing before dawn on the 4th.
Less well known is that two people James Monroe enslaved, George and Phebe, sought their freedom the same day, disappearing before dawn on the 4th.
August 22, 2025 at 2:19 PM
It's decently well known that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence.
Less well known is that two people James Monroe enslaved, George and Phebe, sought their freedom the same day, disappearing before dawn on the 4th.
Less well known is that two people James Monroe enslaved, George and Phebe, sought their freedom the same day, disappearing before dawn on the 4th.
Apropos of everything, here’s my cat screaming at me about something.
July 14, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Apropos of everything, here’s my cat screaming at me about something.
This 2017 painting by Criselda Vasquez is evocative and belongs to an artistic tradition of appropriating Grant Wood’s 1930 portrait.
Gordon Park’s poignant 1942 photograph of Ella Watson, a domestic worker in DC, is another example, and one I share with my students in Iowa.
Gordon Park’s poignant 1942 photograph of Ella Watson, a domestic worker in DC, is another example, and one I share with my students in Iowa.
July 11, 2025 at 11:29 PM
This 2017 painting by Criselda Vasquez is evocative and belongs to an artistic tradition of appropriating Grant Wood’s 1930 portrait.
Gordon Park’s poignant 1942 photograph of Ella Watson, a domestic worker in DC, is another example, and one I share with my students in Iowa.
Gordon Park’s poignant 1942 photograph of Ella Watson, a domestic worker in DC, is another example, and one I share with my students in Iowa.
Laura Sanford concluded her 1894 revised history of Erie County with this anecdote. It is the only place the volume directly mentions slavery.
July 2, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Laura Sanford concluded her 1894 revised history of Erie County with this anecdote. It is the only place the volume directly mentions slavery.
Today I read abolitionist and emigrationist Mary Shadd Cary, who published these words in the Provincial Freeman this week in 1856.
Cary left the United States for Canada after Congress passed the 1850 fugitive slave act. She returned during the Civil War to recruit Black soldiers for the Union.
Cary left the United States for Canada after Congress passed the 1850 fugitive slave act. She returned during the Civil War to recruit Black soldiers for the Union.
June 30, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Today I read abolitionist and emigrationist Mary Shadd Cary, who published these words in the Provincial Freeman this week in 1856.
Cary left the United States for Canada after Congress passed the 1850 fugitive slave act. She returned during the Civil War to recruit Black soldiers for the Union.
Cary left the United States for Canada after Congress passed the 1850 fugitive slave act. She returned during the Civil War to recruit Black soldiers for the Union.
On this day in 1856, mere weeks after John Brown and his allies murdered 5 enslavers near Pottawatomie, the New York Tribune reported that several Iowa women sent money to Susan B. Anthony's brother, Daniel, in my hometown of Rochester, to support the Kansas Free-Staters.
Take care of one another.
Take care of one another.
June 27, 2025 at 3:48 PM
On this day in 1856, mere weeks after John Brown and his allies murdered 5 enslavers near Pottawatomie, the New York Tribune reported that several Iowa women sent money to Susan B. Anthony's brother, Daniel, in my hometown of Rochester, to support the Kansas Free-Staters.
Take care of one another.
Take care of one another.
Maurice Wheeler toured in the 1950s as a dancer and "impersonator." Here is an advertisement for their act in a New Orleans newspaper from 1959. Tell me moreeeeee.
June 26, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Maurice Wheeler toured in the 1950s as a dancer and "impersonator." Here is an advertisement for their act in a New Orleans newspaper from 1959. Tell me moreeeeee.
Instead of writing my book, I've spent the last hour entranced by Teenie Harris' photographs of female impersonators in Pittsburgh in the 1950s. I *need* to know more about the person on the right, who might be Maurice Wheeler.
collection.carnegieart.org/objects/fe36...
collection.carnegieart.org/objects/fe36...
June 26, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Instead of writing my book, I've spent the last hour entranced by Teenie Harris' photographs of female impersonators in Pittsburgh in the 1950s. I *need* to know more about the person on the right, who might be Maurice Wheeler.
collection.carnegieart.org/objects/fe36...
collection.carnegieart.org/objects/fe36...
The Galveston Daily News reported the attack. The coroner’s report suggests the unnamed Black man was killed because he dared stand his ground on the sidewalk.
Emancipation was a threat to white supremacy, which proponents continued to enforce by violence.
Emancipation was a threat to white supremacy, which proponents continued to enforce by violence.
June 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
The Galveston Daily News reported the attack. The coroner’s report suggests the unnamed Black man was killed because he dared stand his ground on the sidewalk.
Emancipation was a threat to white supremacy, which proponents continued to enforce by violence.
Emancipation was a threat to white supremacy, which proponents continued to enforce by violence.
The enslaver, Carrol Hammond, asked that anyone with information about Daniel and Peter Palm "please write a letter every week until I come or send, as the letter may be mislaid or fall into the hands of some dishonourable postmaster, which has been the case heretofore" (2/3).
June 5, 2025 at 3:27 PM
The enslaver, Carrol Hammond, asked that anyone with information about Daniel and Peter Palm "please write a letter every week until I come or send, as the letter may be mislaid or fall into the hands of some dishonourable postmaster, which has been the case heretofore" (2/3).
But now I have the original return, which reveals that Lawson's father was a man named William Lawson--a white man from a neighboring county. This is according to the oath of Lawson's mother, whom her enslaver, William Thompson, does not name. (3/5)
May 27, 2025 at 4:42 PM
But now I have the original return, which reveals that Lawson's father was a man named William Lawson--a white man from a neighboring county. This is according to the oath of Lawson's mother, whom her enslaver, William Thompson, does not name. (3/5)
Until today, I knew from the Chester County clerk's record book that mixed-ancestry boy named Lawson was born in New London on Independence Day in 1794.
William Gibbons chose to preserve this information, which is what Pennsylvania's gradual abolition legislation demanded of him. (2/5)
William Gibbons chose to preserve this information, which is what Pennsylvania's gradual abolition legislation demanded of him. (2/5)
![A black and white scan of loopy cursive handwriting reading:
(20)
William Thompson of the Township of New London Chester County Miller returns to the Clerk of the Peace for the said County the Name and Age of his Mulatto Boy, to wit a Mulatto Boy named Lawson -- born the fourth day of July Anno Domini 1794. William Thompson on his solemn Oath according to Law doth depose and say that the above return so by him Made is Just and true according to the best of his Knowledge & beleif [sic]. Sworn & Subscribed Aug. 22d 1794 Before William Gibbons Clk. William Thompson.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rwzl23zkrni3ee7j7qngpm7u/bafkreicsvid3y4vwnxtumuhxqixtojrkhteomzgizbg2y7pazf53o3qhfu@jpeg)
May 27, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Until today, I knew from the Chester County clerk's record book that mixed-ancestry boy named Lawson was born in New London on Independence Day in 1794.
William Gibbons chose to preserve this information, which is what Pennsylvania's gradual abolition legislation demanded of him. (2/5)
William Gibbons chose to preserve this information, which is what Pennsylvania's gradual abolition legislation demanded of him. (2/5)
Hell yeah. We did it. Making Independence Day great again.
May 23, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Hell yeah. We did it. Making Independence Day great again.
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
April 15, 2025 at 1:45 AM
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
Iowa's Higher Education Committee chairs have requested that the Board of Regents prevent prospective university applicants from declaring a gender identity other than "male" or "female," which would appear to violate the Iowa Civil Rights Act's explicit protection of gender identity at school.
![On Iowa Statehouse letterhead, which has a picture of the five-domed state capitol building at the top:
State of Iowa
Ninety-first General Assembly
STATEHOUSE
Des Moines, Iowa 50319
Members of the Board of Regents,
As part of President Trump's Restoring American Sanity Agenda, he has made it the official policy of the United States that there are only two genders - male and female.
Recently, I have been made aware that our regent universities use contrary practices and policies. For example, for Iowans applying for admissions to the University of Iowa, at least seven different genders are listed as options.
That is why today I am requesting the board adopt the same policy outlined by President Trump - that there are only two genders.
If we have recognized anything since the last election, Americans and Iowans are ready for a return to sanity, and that begins with recognizing this basic biological reality.
Sincerely,
[Signature]
Senator Lynn Evans
Chair, Committee on Education
[Signature]
Representative Taylor Collins,
Chair, Committee on Higher Education](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rwzl23zkrni3ee7j7qngpm7u/bafkreihvpergyi2piianwgm2svilbemsil7y3kfdkaq5wjm4dz5iumnal4@jpeg)
February 13, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Iowa's Higher Education Committee chairs have requested that the Board of Regents prevent prospective university applicants from declaring a gender identity other than "male" or "female," which would appear to violate the Iowa Civil Rights Act's explicit protection of gender identity at school.
If you need me, I'll be hanging out with Sheriff Hamilton Dad Pole.
February 9, 2025 at 1:47 AM
If you need me, I'll be hanging out with Sheriff Hamilton Dad Pole.
I'm struggling with how to read this ad from an 1820s Pennsylvania newspaper. Whether sardonic or not, it seems to me that George was offering to allow whomever located Nelly to whip her--that the reward was the opportunity to mete out "40 Lashes."
Have any #skystorians seen something like this?
Have any #skystorians seen something like this?
January 31, 2025 at 7:05 PM
I'm struggling with how to read this ad from an 1820s Pennsylvania newspaper. Whether sardonic or not, it seems to me that George was offering to allow whomever located Nelly to whip her--that the reward was the opportunity to mete out "40 Lashes."
Have any #skystorians seen something like this?
Have any #skystorians seen something like this?
Might get these printed for my students.
November 7, 2024 at 9:01 PM
Might get these printed for my students.
How old are you in internet years without telling your age?
October 1, 2024 at 7:31 PM
How old are you in internet years without telling your age?
TIL that Ronald Reagan's eldest son, Michael, is a Newsmax opinion columnist who traffics in racial resentment.
Anyway, if you want to learn about the actual history of slavery and California, I recommend the scholarship of Sally Gordon, Jean Pfaelzer, Kevin Waite, and Charnan Williams.
October 1, 2024 at 3:46 PM
TIL that Ronald Reagan's eldest son, Michael, is a Newsmax opinion columnist who traffics in racial resentment.
Anyway, if you want to learn about the actual history of slavery and California, I recommend the scholarship of Sally Gordon, Jean Pfaelzer, Kevin Waite, and Charnan Williams.