Antebellum Maryland

Overview

As a slave state, Antebellum Maryland's society was made up of more than enslaved African Americans, and the white Americans who owned them. Maryland's society varied greatly by region, and included communities of enslaved African Americans, free African Americans, non-slave owning whites, and slave owners who were mostly, but not exclusively white. Slavery, supported by Maryland's laws, touched all these communities and shaped their interactions.

Community

Antebellum Maryland's society was made up of communities of enslaved African Americans, free African Americans, non-slave owning whites, and slave owners. While there were many cases of non-slave owning whites helping slaves escape, they were an unreliable source of aid, and often attempted to capture runaways for reward money. Fleeing slaves often received help from other slaves and free African Americans in the form of food, clothing, money, information, and timely silence. Often, fleeing slaves received aid from relatives or friends who broke the law to help them.

Their Stories

Maryland's great variety in geography and population created a unique environment for slave flight. Individual county studies examine the unique features of each county, the strategies used by fleeing slaves, what aid or difficulties were available, and what sources were used in our study.

During the antebellum period of this study, 1830-1860, Maryland had the highest free black population of all the states. In fact, by 1860, the state's free blacks were the largest in the nation in terms of both rural and urban locales. Proportionally, Maryland's blacks ranked near the top as well. In antebellum Maryland, the enslaved population was concentrated in the southern counties: Prince George's County, Charles County, St. Mary's County, Anne Arundel County, and Montgomery County. By 1860, the approximately 46,000 slaves in the counties of southern Maryland, outnumbered those found in all other regions of the state combined. However, the southern counties had a relatively small free black population. The central Maryland areas of Frederick County, Carroll County, Baltimore County, Harford County, Howard County, and Baltimore City, have the largest free black populations by a wide margin. Note, however, that 25,680 of that number, or 61%, resided in Baltimore City alone. The next highest free black population in this region was Frederick County's 4,957. These counties held over 42,000 free blacks, which was more than the total found in the rest of the state. The central Maryland region is most intriguing as it represented a crossroads of sorts. Baltimore County, whose free black population was 4,231 and Baltimore City were paradoxically both hubs for free blacks and bastions of slaveholding. In Central Maryland, the percentage of slaves as a proportion of the total black population decreased in the mid nineteenth-century. The free black population of Central Maryland counties grew more quickly, but often the enslaved population decreased. With each passing year, the disparity between the two castes of blacks widened. However, friendship and kinship ties transcended social caste and bound all black Marylanders together.

Available Data

Interactive Map

List of Counties