Item #6295 [”Seaman’s protection” form African-American man]. No. 47217. H., Harbeson.

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H. [?] Harbeson.

[”Seaman’s protection” form African-American man]. No. 47217

District and Port of Philadelphia, 15 November 1859. Printed certificate (12” x 9.25”), completed in ms. An eagle and Federal shield above text. Docketed at verso panel, “Thomas Ashton.”.

A scarce example of a government-issued “seaman’s protection” form or “free paper” for an African American seaman, this copy carried by a twenty-eight year-old black man born in Portland, Maine. Frederick Douglass famously acquired such a form from a retired black seaman and used it during his escape from slavery, as noted in his Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, in which he provides an excellent account of the use, both authorized and unauthorized, of these and related forms:

It was the custom in the State of Maryland to require of the free colored people to have what were called free papers. This instrument they were required to renew very often, and by charging a fee for this writing, considerable sums from time to time were collected by the State. In these papers the name, age, color, height and form of the free man were described, together with any scars or other marks upon his person which could assist in his identification. This device of slaveholding ingenuity, like other devices of wickedness, in some measure defeated itself—since more than one man could be found to answer the same general description. Hence many slaves could escape by impersonating the owner of one set of papers; and this was often done as follows: A slave nearly or sufficiently answering the description set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire them till he could by their means escape to a free state, and then, by mail or otherwise, return them to the owner. The operation was a hazardous one for the lender as well as for the borrower. A failure on the part of the fugitive to send back the papers would imperil his benefactor, and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man would imperil both the fugitive and his friend. It was therefore an act of supreme trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to put in jeopardy his own liberty that another might be free. It was, however, not infrequently bravely done, and was seldom discovered. I was not so fortunate as to sufficiently resemble any of my free acquaintances as to answer the description of their papers. But I had one friend—a sailor—who owned a sailor's protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers—describing his person and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor. The instrument had at its head the American eagle, which at once gave it the appearance of an authorized document [italics ours]. This protection did not, when in my hands, describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start.

The example offered here reads in full: “I Joseph B. Baker Collector of the District of Philadelphia, do hereby certify that Thomas Ashton a colored Seamen, aged Twenty eight years or thereabouts, of the height of five feet, ten & one/fourth inches, black complexion, black hair, black eyes, born in Portland in the State of Maine has this day produced to me satisfactory proof, and I do hereby certify that the said Thomas Ashton is a native of the United States of America. In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of Office, this fifteenth day of November 1859, by the collector. H. [?] Harbeson.”

“In the event of capture or impressment, sailors needed to have documents on file to verify that they were citizens of the United States. For this reason the government provided seamen's protection certificates for those who served at sea, including thousands of African American seamen.”—loc.gov

A good example of the sort of “free paper” carried by African American sailors, many of which were loaned to runaway slaves to assist them in their flight to freedom.

REFERENCES: Douglass, Frederick. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Written by Himself. (Boston, 1892), pp. 245-246; The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship at loc.gov

CONDITION: Short separations along old folds, no losses to the text.

Item #6295

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