Jenny Slew facts for kids
Jenny Slew (born around 1719 – died after 1765) was a brave woman who made history. She was one of the first Black Americans to go to court to win her freedom. Even more amazing, she was the first person to win such a case through a jury trial!
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About Jenny Slew
Growing Up Free
Jenny Slew was born around 1719. Her mother, Betty Slew, was a free white woman. Her father was a man of African descent, who was likely enslaved. Because her mother was free, Jenny lived as a free woman in a town called Ipswich, Massachusetts. This was her life until 1762.
Her Marriages
Jenny Slew was married several times. All of the men she married were enslaved. At that time, the law in the colonies did not officially recognize marriages between enslaved people. This fact would become very important later in her court case.
A Terrible Kidnapping
In January 1762, when Jenny was 43 years old, something terrible happened. She was kidnapped from her home in Ipswich. A man named John Whipple Jr. forced her to work for him as a servant. This meant she was treated like a slave, even though she was born free.
Fighting for Freedom: Slew vs. Whipple
Three years after she was kidnapped, in 1765, Jenny Slew decided to fight back. She took John Whipple Jr. to court. She demanded her freedom and asked for 25 pounds in damages. She said Whipple had taken away her liberty, which means her freedom.
At that time, most colonies did not let enslaved people sue in court. But Massachusetts was different. It allowed enslaved people to bring civil lawsuits, which are cases about rights or money. Jenny Slew's lawyer, Benjamin Kent, argued that Jenny was free because her mother was a free white woman. In the colonies, a child's legal status came from their mother.
Jenny first filed her complaint in a court in Newburyport. But the court rejected her case. They said she used the name "Jenny Slew, Spinster." A "spinster" is an unmarried woman. The court argued that since she had been married, this name was wrong. Jenny even had to pay for the court costs!
A year later, Jenny Slew did not give up. She appealed her case to a higher court in Salem, Massachusetts. This time, her case went before a jury. The jury members were all "white Gentlemen."
Whipple argued that Jenny could not prove she was free. He also claimed he had proof that he had bought her. He also said that Jenny had no legal rights because she was married. He said she was under the control of her husband.
However, Jenny Slew was not married at the time of the trials. And as we learned, her past marriages to enslaved men were not legally recognized. So, the Superior Court decided that Jenny Slew was indeed a "spinster" in the eyes of the law. This meant she was able to sue for her freedom.
The higher court changed the first ruling. They decided that whether a child was enslaved or free depended on the mother's race. Since Jenny's mother was free, Jenny was also free. Jenny Slew won her freedom! She was also given money for her court costs and four pounds in damages.
John Adams, who later became a president of the United States, was probably at Jenny Slew's trial. Adams kept notes about the trial in his legal papers. In one of his diary entries from November 5, 1766, he wrote about a trial where a "mulatto woman" was "suing for liberty" against a white man accused of kidnapping. This sounds just like Jenny Slew's case.
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