Slavery -- Georgia -- History -- 19th century

Abstract

The Berrys were a plantation- and slave-owning family from Coweta County, Georgia. This collection contains correspondence and other materials related to several Berry family members, particularly Judge Andrew J. Berry (1798-1883) and his sons William, Thomas, and Joel Berry. Materials document the family’s economic situation both before and after the US Civil War (1861-1865).

Abstract

Handwritten census records for counties in Georgia. Contains information on numbers of slaves, acres of improved and unimproved land, and value of farms. Summary information provided for some counties. Counties included (1850): Elbert, Franklin, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Greene, Gordon, Hall, Harris, Heard, Henry, and Houston. Counties included (1860): Floyd, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Glynn, Gordon, Hall, Harrid, Heard, Houston, Lowndes, and Montgomery.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of a note from Louisiana A. Boykin, acknowledging the receipt of $1500 from Thomas Boykin in payment for an enslaved man named Buck, who was about twenty-three years old, "sound and healthy in Body & mind except Hernia." The transaction took place in Columbus, Georgia.

Scope and Contents This broadside, The Injustice of Poll Taxes Broadside, authored by Henry P. Farrow, is a passionate plea against the implementation of the poll tax in Georgia during the Reconstruction era. Written at a pivotal moment while the Georgia Reconstruction Constitutional Convention was in session, Farrow’s argument articulates the economic and moral injustices of such a tax, which disproportionately affected the poor of all races and ultimately served as a...

Scope and Contents

A legal brief by Georgia attorney and state agent William Law describing the status of two cases involving seized enslaved persons, circa 1830. One case pertained to Spanish claims surrounding three vessels, the Poletena, the Tentativa, and the Syrena.