Where can a 15−minute walk from the Tufts campus bring you? You might head down Broadway and get some scrumptious stuffed French toast at Sound Bites. You could stroll over to Davis Square and splurge on a $10 savory sandwich from Dave's Fresh Pasta. Or you could take a trip down College Avenue, turn right onto George Street and stop at a large half−brick edifice on your left.
You would have arrived at the Royall House, believed to be the only extant Slave Quarters in the northern United States. It might make your stomach churn in an entirely different way.
The Royall family and 27 of their slaves came to Boston in 1737, Isaac Royall Sr. having made his fortune in the lucrative sugar trade in Antigua. Slavery began in Massachusetts in the 1640, and the Royalls were among the richest and largest slaveholders in Massachusetts.
Sugar has a history that is anything but sweet.
Prior to the flourishing of sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean, sugar was a luxury product. But enslaving the indigenous people of Santo Domingo proved to be a profitable endeavor, and once the native population had been depleted due to savage cruelty, deadly and dehumanizing working conditions and the flourishing of diseases, African slaves were brought to replace them. This new source of forced, unpaid labor was considered heartier and, in being an ocean away from family, home and culture, less likely to succeed in organized rebellion.
At first there was not a wide market for sugar, as it had for centuries been conceived of as a luxury product reserved for the wealthy. But Britain began to aggressively market sugar to create a demand for the vast quantities it was producing in its Caribbean colonies. It became an act of patriotism to consume cups of tea sweetened with this newly affordable commodity harvested by slaves.
New England flourished as a result of its involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. In an arrangement commonly referred to as the triangle trade, the Caribbean sent the raw materials of sugar and molasses to Europe and New England, where it was distilled into rum and shipped to Africa, where people were captured and sent on the infamous Middle Passage to the Americas as slaves.
Isaac Royall Sr. made his fortune on a sugar plantation in Antigua before settling in Massachusetts. New England's economy remained reliant on the slave trade and production of rum, with Medford acting as a major production center. In 1770, 75 percent of all New England exports were tied to the slave trade in some way.
Slavery had a firm foothold in the heart of Medford. The Slave Census of 1754 from Charles Brooks' "History of the Town of Medford" records that "there were in Medford 27 male and seven female slaves and 15 Free Blacks; total 49 blacks in Medford." In 1744−45, a resolution was passed to enforce a curfew for slaves in Medford by pain of whipping in the marketplace, "not exceeding 10 stripes."
Census and probate records preserve the names of 63 persons enslaved by the Royalls. A woman named Belinda stands out among these, having successfully petitioned for a pension from the Royall Estate in 1783.
Although slavery became illegal in Massachusetts in 1783, profiting from the labor of the enslaved did not. Belinda, a former slave of the Royall family, successfully petitioned for restitution for her years of unpaid servitude. It is speculated that she may have written the petition with the help of the active leader and also formerly enslaved Prince Hall or, alternately, with the help of famed poet and former Royall House slave Phyllis Wheatley.
While we are able to piece together a bit about Belinda from her petition, it is difficult to comprehend the situation of the remaining people enslaved by the Royall family. They are reduced to names on a paper. For this reason, a visit to the Slave Quarters is highly recommended. An archaeological excavation undertaken by a Boston University team a decade ago unearthed many artifacts belonging to both the Royall family and the people whom they enslaved. Examining a child's marble found in the Slave Quarters makes the people who lived there more tangible to us. Here, a mother watched her child play, filled with the knowledge that her own child could be sold upon the owner's whim or be brutally beaten or raped.
Next time you are stirring a packet of sugar into your coffee, reflect. Your college campus is not just a 20−minute T ride from Boston. It is also only a 12−minute walk away from the only extant Slave Quarters above the Mason−Dixon Line. Make it a goal to pay it a visit at some point during your four years at Tufts. It is important to remember that this country was founded upon slavery. The reminders and scars it has left are not only in the South, but also within a short walk away from our campus.
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