The People Not Property project is a collaborative endeavor between the UNCG University Libraries, North Carolina Division of Archives and Records, and North Carolina Registers of Deeds among others. Working as an addition to and evolution of the Digital Library on American Slavery, the project is leading towards a unique, centralized database of bills of sales indexing the names of enslaved people from across North Carolina.
When complete, People Not Property - Slave Deeds of North Carolina will include robust metadata, high resolution images, and full-text searchable transcripts. We hope to open the project to states beyond North Carolina, creating a central location for accessing and researching slave deeds from across the Southern United States.
What are Slave Deeds?
"Slave deeds" are property deeds - bills of sale, deeds of trust, divisions of property - registered with county courts and registers of deeds that contain information about enslaved individuals. Sometimes these individuals are listed only by number, but more often they are listed by name and age, providing invaluable historical information for historians and genealogists. The slave deed shown below from Buncombe County records the sale of a negroe woman named Rachal About twenty six years old for $375 on January 24, 1816. Rachal was sold by William Moore to Ann Ashworth. Documents like this one, along with the other components of the Digital Library on American Slavery documents like these will help to restore personal details to the history of slavery and to trace the movements of enslaved peoples over time. For genealogists, even small details like first names and approximate ages can be precious leads in reconstructing family histories. https://library.uncg.edu/slavery/deeds/
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