My post from March 23, 2021, looked at Mary Moore Easter’s excellent book of poetry, Free Papers. The poems in it reveal the trials and obstacles of a woman–Eliza Winston–determined to obtain her freedom in a society groomed to deprive her of it. The title refers to the manumission papers that would declare an end to Eliza’s enslavement.

Some time after I wrote the piece, the light bulb came on: I have my own Eliza, and I have a copy of her actual manumission document–her “free papers.” This Eliza was my great great grandmother, Eliza Howard Pratt. Her original owner sold her to Samuel Howse, who gave her to his daughter, Sarah, as a wedding present. Sarah manumitted her on March 2, 1849. The document reads as follows:

To all whom it may concern, let it be known that I, Sarah Griffith of Montgomery County in the state of Maryland, for diverse good causes and considerations me thereunto moving, have released from slavery, liberated, manumitted and set free, and by these presents do hereby release from slavery, liberate, manumit and set free my negro woman named Eliza Platt (sic) being of the age of twenty-eight years and able to work and gain a sufficient livelihood and maintenance and her the said negro woman named Eliza Platt (sic) I do declare to be henceforth free, manumitted and discharged from all manner of service or servitude to me, my executors or administrators forever, and in like manner, I do hereby liberate, manumit and set free my negro child named Mary, daughter of said Eliza when she shall arrive at the age of eighteen years, she being at this time six months old, and should the said Mary have issue previous to said age I also declare it to be free when it arrives at the age of eighteen as aforesaid, and until the issue of the said Eliza Platt (sic) arrives at the age of eighteen years, I hereby agree that they may remain in (the) possession of their parents until legal age and the said parents be entitled to their services free and discharged from all manner of servitude to me, my heirs, executors or administrators forever. In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my seal this second day of March, one thousand, eight hundred and forty-nine.

Note that, although Eliza was freed, her six-month-old daughter, Mary, was still to be enslaved until she reached the age of eighteen. And, according to the decree, if Mary were to have a child before reaching eighteen, that child would be enslaved until it also turned eighteen. “One hand giveth…”

Eight years after Eliza Pratt obtained freedom, Congress passed the Dred Scott decision. In the case Scott vs Emerson, Dred Scott, on behalf of himself, his wife, Harriet, and their two daughters, (ironically, one was also an Eliza), and Lizzie, with the help of an abolitionist lawyer, sued his owner, John Emerson for freedom. The case had been adjudicated several times before getting to the Supreme Court. The main parts of the Court’s final decision, declared that:

African Americans were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, had no right to sue in federal court

Slaves were property, and Congress could not deny citizens the right to their property anywhere in the nation

The Missouri Compromise legislation was unconstitutional; therefore, Congress had no power to prevent the spread of slavery

On the basis of that decision, one of Eliza’s nephews, who lived on a neighboring plantation in Maryland, seeing no hope for freedom in his native land, decided to put his faith in the underground railroad. He made it to Canada and two years later, one of his brothers joined him. They established a branch of the family in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada. We knew nothing of them until 1984, when a chance encounter of people doing genealogical research brought historians from the two sides together.

Since that time, we have, until COVID, held reunions every two years, alternating venues in Maryland and Ontario. Relatives come from various US states, Canada, and The United Kingdom. I’m sure the brothers would be astounded and pleased to see what their bravery has wrought.