The Pennsylvania Slave Trade

The Pennsylvania Slave Trade is a Pennsylvania historical marker in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, dedicated 2016.

at Independence Seaport Museum near waterfront, 211 S Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia

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African people, first enslaved by the Dutch and Swedes, survived the brutal voyage from Africa to the Caribbean islands and the Americas, debarking on the Delaware River waterfront as early as 1639. William Penn, other Quakers, and Philadelphia merchants purchased and enslaved Africans. As the institution of slavery increased, these courageous people persevered and performed integral roles in building Pennsylvania and the nation.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1670 · Virginia and Maryland As it is planted and Inhabited this present Year 1670 ... (John Carter Brown Library, Brown University)
1689 · A mapp of ye improved part of Pensilvania in America, divided into countyes, townships… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1856 · Philadelphia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1872 · Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks counties. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1901 · Philadelphia (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

A mapp of ye improved part of Pensilvania in America, divided into countyes, townships…, 1689, covering the location of The Pennsylvania Slave Trade, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — A mapp of ye improved part of Pensilvania in America, divided into countyes, townships…, 1689, covering this location. Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker data: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission via data.pa.gov

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