‘Unkle Sommerset's’ freedom: liberty in England for black sailors

摘要: With his 1772 decree in Somerset v. Steuart that slavery was ‘so odious nothing can be suffered to support it [in England] but positive law’, Lord Mansfield altered the legal landscape regarding black rights England. While earlier judicial decisions had implied slaves who came England were free, prior decision there no consensus on issue. The did not illegal Yet many blacks believed ‘emancipated’ any slave reached shores of This understanding, combined with British military welcoming runaways into its ranks during American Revolution, led several thousand former reaching England, a considerable number whom mariners. Although Royal Navy isolated from racism or harsh treatment blacks, naval personnel often assisted ex-slaves obtain freedom mariners found fairly limited; they remained subje...