New Haven County Court Records: Blog

Black Governors and Kings of Connecticut

In honor of Juneteenth, we discuss the first case discovered in the New Haven County Court records involving a Black Governor—a leadership tradition that held great importance in the Black communities of New England during the colonial and early American periods.

When quoting from documents, we will use the actual spelling, including transcriptions of individual words as necessary. (For more information about colonial spelling practices, see The Standardization of American English at teachinghistory.org.) In certain circumstances, we will add missing letters to abbreviated words or substitute modern spelling in brackets to enhance reader comprehension.

Who were the Black Governors and Kings, and what did their leadership entail?

Portrait of a Man in a Red Suit by Joshua Reynolds, circa 1740-1780. Public domain image courtesy of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, via Wikimedia Commons.

According to The Hartford Black History Project, the custom of electing Black Governors originated in the Black communities of Massachusetts and subsequently spread to Connecticut and Rhode Island. These town-level elections began sometime in the eighteenth century, possibly as early as 1749. (Katherine J. Harris, “In Remembrance of Their Kings of Guinea: The Black Governors and the Negro Election, 1749 to 1780,” African American Connecticut Explored, ed. Elizabeth J. Normen, p. 35)

In Connecticut, elections for Black Governors occurred the day after white elections and were boisterous celebrations that continued for a full week afterward. Both free and enslaved Black people “dressed to the nines for the holiday. Clothes were borrowed from masters and mistresses; and the owner of the governor-elect was expected to help provide provisions, decorations, and liquor for the celebration.” As in the white community, only men were allowed to vote and serve in this role, but women were enthusiastic participants in both the lobbying and the festivities. According to William D. Piersen, “Whites seem to have gone along with these black elections because they hoped they could use the resultant black governors and kings as indirect enforcers of social propriety; moreover, since the whites saw the black elections and festivities as humorous, non-threatening imitations of white traditions, they did not perceive the celebrations as a threat to the social order.” (Black Yankees: The Development of an Afro-American Subculture in Eighteenth Century New England, pp. 118-121)

Although this was a symbolic office, it nevertheless held great social importance in the Black communities of New England, as these governors served as mediators between their communities and the white establishment. Black Governors could be free or enslaved, but regardless of their status, candidates needed to have reputations that were above reproach. In addition, “good character, commitment to the community, advocacy for educational opportunities, voting rights, and economic self-determination were among the qualities sought in these governors.” If a Black Governor acted in ways that his community did not support, he could be removed from the role. For example, “the New Haven community removed Black Governor Quash Piere in 1832 when it seemed he had violated the trust of the office. (That mistrust stemmed from an incident in which his cane was found in a chicken house; the assumption was that he had stolen chickens, though there is no evidence that he actually did so.)” (Harris, African American Connecticut Explored, pp. 38-40)

Whether Black men elected to this office were called governors or kings appears to have been a matter of regional preference. Harris broadly noted that “Black King” was more common in areas with closer ties to the British Crown (African American Connecticut Explored, p. 35), while Pierson observed, “In Connecticut and Rhode Island, where white citizens were permitted to choose their own governors in the colonial era, black rulers were elected and, like their white counterparts, usually called governors; whereas in the royal colonies of New Hampshire and eighteenth-century Massachusetts, where white governors were appointed, the elected Negro leaders were called kings” (Black Yankees, p. 118).

The tradition of electing Black governors continued until 1855 or 1856, ending just a few years before the eruption of the American Civil War. (Harris, African American Connecticut Explored, p. 35)

Here are all the currently known Black Governors and Kings of Connecticut:

Sources:

• The Hartford Black History Project. “Emerging from the Shadows, 1775-1819: The Black Governors.” n.d. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/HBHP/exhibit/03/1.html.
• Harris, Katherine J. “In Remembrance of Their Kings of Guinea: The Black Governors and the Negro Election, 1749 to 1780.” In African American Connecticut Explored, edited by Elizabeth J. Normen, 35-44. Wesleyan University Press, 2013.
• Harris, Katherine J. “The Black Governors, 1780 to 1856.” In African American Connecticut Explored, edited by Elizabeth J. Normen, 69-79. Wesleyan University Press, 2013.
• Piersen, William Dillon. “Appendix: Table 9 – Black Rulers of New England by Location.” In Black Yankees: The Development of an Afro-American Subculture in Eighteenth-Century New England, 174. University of Massachusetts Press, 1988.
• Please note that due to the dearth of records regarding Black Governors and Kings, these sources differ on some names, towns, and dates.

The case of Quash Freeman vs. the town of Derby

Court papers from Quash Freeman vs. Derby, March 1818

The case we discovered involving Quash Freeman, who served as Black Governor of Derby in 1810, was not directly connected to his role, but he was plaintiff and Derby was defendant. In July 1817, Freeman sued the town for money owed to him. As of October 1816, Derby “was justly indebted to the Plaintiff in the Sum of thirty eight Dollars for keeping William Gibson”—meaning that Freeman boarded him in his household and paid for his food, clothing, and other needs on the understanding that the town would reimburse him for these costs.

Per the court documents, Gibson was “a town pauper,” and it was not surprising that a former Black Governor was selected for the task of looking after him, nor that the town delayed reimbursement for his care. As discussed in a previous post, it was the responsibility of towns to provide for their impoverished inhabitants, a task they found onerous and expensive. As several lawsuits in the New Haven County Court records demonstrate, towns attempted to lessen this financial burden by passing this responsibility to family members if any could be located, or other towns if the legal inhabitancy of said pauper could be disputed in court.

This case was first heard by the County Court in November 1817 but continued to the March 1818 session. While Freeman came to court, “the Defendants being called, appeared not,” so he was awarded 40 dollars and 70 cents in damages, plus the recovery of his court costs. (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 19, 1816-1818, p. 457)

We look forward to sharing more information about cases involving Black Governors and Kings—particularly prominent New Haven businessman and community leader William Lanson—as we discover them in the New Haven County Court records.

As noted in a previous post, the records for this case, as well as several of the cases previously profiled in this blog, are currently in the process of being digitized. They will eventually be available for public viewing at the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA).

This project is made possible through funding from the Historic Documents Preservation fund of the Office of the Public Records Administrator. We also recognize the past support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).