Enslaved & Free African Americans in Antebellum Frederick, Maryland

This dataset contains information about 2,280 people who lived in Frederick, Maryland (including Frederick City) between 1785 to 1841. The information about enslaved, freed, or liminal status persons is drawn from the family records, deeds of manumission, bills of sale, and runaway advertisements of three prominent slave owning families: the McPhersons, the Potts, and the Murdochs. Information about free persons is drawn from the 1832 Census of Free Negroes in Frederick County conducted by the Maryland Colonization Society (hereafter referred to as “the 1832 Census”). Data pulled from the 1832 Census constitutes the majority of this dataset. This preeminence of free African Americans, whose freedom status before and after 1832 is unknown, documents Frederick County’s significant free Black population. By including enslaved, liminal status, and free people in one place, this dataset spotlights Frederick County’s diverse African American population and demonstrates the fluidity of Black freedom in antebellum Maryland.