Letters from Freedom

Because materials written by non-famous people of color from this period are scarce, the letters by twenty-two formerly enslaved students preserved at the American Antiquarian Society are rare survivors. This resource includes these letters written between 1863 and 1870 to Lucy and Sarah Chase, sisters who traveled to the South to teach in freedmen’s schools. 

The students wrote to update the sisters on family events such as deaths and marriages, sometimes describing their years of enslavement or documenting the activities of Reconstruction. Several students continued their studies at secondary schools.

The Chase family, Massachusetts Quakers, valued education, abolition, and support for people of color. Letters home to Worcester written by Sarah and Lucy provide descriptions of the schools and students. 

The Students

• Green Baker
• David Barr
• Emma Bynim
• Dennis Colmon
• Emma Colt
• Georgeanne Cook
• Celia Coonts
• Thomas Fry
• Joseph Green
• Solomon Green
• Matilda Hill
• Moses Hume
• Charlotte Ann Jackson
• Elias Fenwick Jefferson
• Jordan Johnson
• James M. Quash
• S.L. Rafe
• Abraham Rose
• Julia Anna Rutledge Kitt
• Hannah Standing
• Joseph M. Stewart
• Louis Wales

The Teachers

• Lucy Chase
• Sarah Earle Chase 

Additional Information

• The Schools
• About

Primary Source Digital Library