Black Masters a Side Light on Slavery

By: Calvin Dill Wilson

Narrated by: Warren Keyes

The Rev. Calvin Dill Wilson (1857-1946) was a Presbyterian minister and author. His book Black Masters, first published in 1904, explores the history of wealthy free African Americans who became slave-owners. According to Wilson’s research, there were around 6,200 Black slave-holders in the years before the Civil War who owned some 18,000 slaves. By owning their families, free colored men and women could protect them against oppressive local laws. The earliest documentary evidence of such a transaction dates from 1724, in Boston, Massachusetts, while most of the cases discussed here concern the states of Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

©1905 Calvin Dill Wilson (P)2021 Yashiki Audio