In Shaw (an historically gentrified blog): Ten Days of Truxton- Slavery

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Ten Days of Truxton- Slavery

I've heard of an objection to Truxton's name because he was a slaveholder. The whole city is named for a big old slaveholder. Worse yet, we've got a big phallic symbol on the Mall in honor of Washington, not far from that other memorial from another slaveholder, Jefferson, who also owned a number of humans.
The big biography by Eugene S. Furguson has very little to say about Commodore Thomas Truxton and slavery. Just one paragraph speaking of a period of then Captain Truxtun's life when he was a on financially shaky ground and his family was growing with 6 girls and two boys. And the family seemed to split their time between Cranbury, New Jersey and Philadelphia:

Their Negro servant, Hannah, was still with the family; but Captain Truxtun, influenced by his late friend Franklin's stand on slavery, had set her free on condition that he never be called upon to support her, should she leave his employ. Apparently she had chosen to stay on.

The Franklin mentioned is Benjamin Franklin.
Then the question is why did Hannah choose to stay. A couple factors might explain, she's a woman, possibly alone with no family, possibly no supportive Afro-American community in Cranbury, her age may've played a factor, and it's 1794-95.
So Truxtun's sin was owning at least one woman who didn't leave when the opportunity to do so was presented. For some that's unforgivable and puts him in the same league as worse transgressors such as Washington and Jefferson. Others may not count it against him in light of what he has given to fledgling US Navy.

Next Ten Days of Truxton- Commodore's Background

Labels: history, Truxton Circle

1 Comments:

At 10/01/2009 12:30 PM, Scenic Artisan said...: the date eludes me in terms of laws.
what rights would a freed slave woman have had in new jersey at the time if she accepted her "freedom"?

was it even possible? or was there a strong awareness of what was possible?

Massachusetts was pretty progressive for instance, but new jersey was definitely not.

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History, me complaining, history, stuff about the immediate hood (Truxton Circle) and the surrounding neighborhood (Shaw), gentrification, demographics, and some more history.

: Name: Mari; Location: Washington, D.C., United States

In Shaw (now with more gentrification) is about the changes going on in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC. Mainly the eastern section of the neighborhood that is still "transitional". Topics range from horrid community meetings, to culture clashes, to remodeling and the unromantic view of living in an old house. This Old House, bite me! Please note that this is a personal blog and does not represent anyone else's opinion except my own, not my employer, not my universities, not that of my family, church, friends or neighbors. Just me, so I retain the right to post or not to post any irresponsible tripe that comes into my head.

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