Primary and secondary references for the Trans-Atlantic Human Trade in
Kittery, Maine
Annotated Bibliography
Disclaimer:
The content of these documents provides details of the Middle Passage, specific vessels transporting captive Africans, the arrival of these people, and the ubiquity of slavery. The following resources may include racist language as well as references to violence, dehumanization, and the enslavement of Africans. The language contained in the following documents may be upsetting to some readers.
Table of Contents
Books and Literature
Colonial Documents
Bill of lading for an African woman, 1719 | Maine Historical Society
Benjamin Bullard to Sir William Pepperell on human trafficking, Barbados, 1720 | Maine Historical Society
William Pepperrell receipt for purchase of enslaved man, 1718
Will of Charles Frost, 1724
Maps
Map of New Netherlands (Nova Belgica) and New England (Anglia Nova), ca. 1635
English Colonies 17th-Century North America
Videos
Additional Reading
“About the Wabanaki Nations” | Abbe Museum
“Art in the Wake: Reckoning and Re-membering” | Atlantic Black Box
“People, Land, Refuge” | Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People
Slavery and Maine: Updated Source Labels (2020) | Maine State Museum
“Slavery and Law in 17th Century Massachusetts” | National Park Service
“The Story of Black Will” | Black Heritage Trail New Hampshire
“In Kittery, a glimpse at the region’s forgotten slave history” by Gillian Graham
Indigenous Cultural Heritage in New Hampshire
“The Adverts 250 Project: An Exploration of Advertising During the Era of the American Revolution”
A Brief History of Kittery, Maine | Kittery Historical and Naval Society
The Prince Project Database | Northeast Slavery Records Index (NESRI)
Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America, ed. Elizabeth Donnan
“Culture & History” | Passamaquoddy Tribe
“A Historical and Cultural Inventory of Portsmouth, New Hampshire's Waterfront” by James Russ
“Cotton Town Reveals Maine’s Links to the Slave Trade” by Rebecca Goldfine
"Mainers in the Sugar Trade" by Cipperly Good
"Peopling Maine" | Maine History Online
“Teaching Maine’s Relationship to Global Slavery with Primary Sources” | Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History & Culture Maine Department of Education and Maine State Museum
"The Pennacook Tribe of New England" by Kathy Weiser-Alexander
“Nathaniel Gordon: Man on the Gallows” by Ron Soodalter
"The Voyage of the Clotilda – Part 1" by Sheritta Bitikofer
J.B. Brown's Portland Sugar House, Portland, ca. 1850
Social Media