Notes: Fit for Town or Country — Black Women and Work in Colonial Massachusetts

Overview

• This article, Felicia Y. Thomas, examines how enslaved women’s labor in colonial Massachusetts is revealed through slave-for-sale advertisements in local newspapers (1704–1781).
• Central argument: enslaved women were versatile, multiskilled workers whose labor spanned urban (town) and rural (country) settings, and who were valued for both domestic and agricultural capabilities as well as for reproductive labor. The advertisements simultaneously dehumanize by presenting enslaved women as property and illuminate their actual labor diversity and personal capacities.
• The study draws on close readings of for-sale notices from Boston Evening Post, Boston Gazette, Boston News-Letter, Boston Post Boy, and New England Weekly Journal, among others, to reconstruct the daily realities of enslaved women in New England and to challenge the idea that northern slavery was mild or benign.
• The piece also uses the case of Phillis Wheatley to illustrate extreme versatility: domestic service, writing, and publishing work, showing how enslaved women could occupy multiple roles beyond simple servitude.

Data, Sources, and Methodology

• Timeframe and scope: slave-for-sale advertisements published between $1704$ and $1781$ (early 18th to late 18th century).
• Quantitative findings:
  • Total for-sale notices identified: $ext{n} <br /> ightarrow ext{over } 1000$ (specifically, 1,150 notices identified in the study). $ext{Between } 1704 ext{ and } 1781 ext{, the study identifies } 1150 ext{ for-sale notices.}$
  • Concentration: about $91.3\%$ of these ads appeared in five newspapers: Boston Evening Post, Boston Gazette, Boston News-Letter, Boston Post Boy, and New England Weekly Journal. This corresponds to $n = 1041$ of $1150$ notices. $rac{1041}{1150} imes 100 \approx 91.3\%.$
  • First ad: the earliest published ad (1704) described a slave sale in Boston, e.g., “Two Negro men, and one Negro Woman & Child; to be Sold by Mr. John Colman… to be seen at Col. Charles Hobbey, Esq’s House in Boston.”
• The sample includes: slave-for-sale, slave-wanted, and runaway ads referencing black women (and occasionally girls).
• Language and bias: notices were printed for and by slave owners/agents for a fee; they present information through a dominant class’s lens, yet still reveal labor roles, capabilities, and conditions of enslaved women.
• Limitations highlighted by the author: limited information about individual enslaved women (names, ages, origins, marital status, children) in many early ads; the word choice and descriptions reflect colonial racial/gender hierarchies and market priorities.

Why the Advertisements Matter: Commodification and Social Identity

• Advertisements frame enslaved women as yet another item in a marketplace, but close readings reveal:
  • They encoded labor capabilities (household, farm, skilled crafts) and personal traits (temperament, health, language), which buyers used to judge suitability for specific tasks and settings.
  • They reveal how whiteness, gender, and class influenced perceptions of value and labor potential.
  • They show how print culture and markets reinforced social hierarchies through representation of enslaved people as property while still offering a glimpse into the individuals’ labor capacities.
• Important framing points from the article:
  • Mass printing of for-sale ads contributed to the economy of slavery in New England and helped sustain the local elite’s economic privileges.
  • Advertisements reflect how Bay colonists understood themselves and the world, including appearances (height, age, health) as markers of value and suitability for work.

Age, Origin, Language, and Appearance

• Age data:
  • When ages are indicated, about $75\%$ of those ads refer to women aged between $11\text{ and }30$ years. Of those, roughly $75\%$ are in the range $21\text{ to }30$ years.
  • Overall, age is frequently approximate (e.g., “about 14 years old,” “about 18–20 years,” “about 26 years old”). The prevalence of approximate ages suggests a market focus on labor capacity rather than the individual’s identity.
  • Exact ages are less commonly given; names are rarely provided.
• Origin and importation:
  • Ads sometimes identify origin (e.g., “lately Come from Bermuda,” “imported from Africa (Guinea),” “from the West Indies”).
  • Some notices indicate that enslaved women were brought to Massachusetts after “seasoning” in the Caribbean, or that they were “newly imported” from Africa.
• Language ability and acculturation:
  • English language ability is mentioned in about $5\%$ of the ads that note language ability. Instances describe enslaved women who spoke English well or were fluent in English, suggesting varying degrees of acculturation to New England life.
  • Example descriptions include: a “very fluent in the English Language” enslaved woman; others described as able to conduct “all sorts of business requisite for a Family, either in Town or Country.”
• Appearance and race terms:
  • Advertisers commonly used terms like “Negro” and “mulatto” to categorize laborers and to frame their racial identities.
  • The language used often reinforced racial hierarchies, with descriptors that aimed to project a certain labor persona (e.g., “strong and healthy,” “likely,” “industrious”).
• Implication: these descriptors helped buyers assess suitability for work and predict behavior, while also reflecting the social prejudices of the period.

Health, Disease, and Immunities

• Disease mentions in ads:
  • Immunity to certain diseases (notably smallpox and measles) appears in a notable subset of notices.
  • Immunity mentions and health descriptors contributed to perceived value, since a healthier or disease-resistant worker was more desirable for continuous labor.
• Specific examples:
  • Ads describe women as having had the Small Pox or Measles, and being as hearty as a horse or brisk as a bird, implying robust health and reliability for work.
  • Instances of mentioning an enslaved girl being immune to smallpox and/or measles illustrate a perceived advantage in labor continuity and lower health risk to owners.
• Percentages noted in scholarship:
  • Disease immunity mentions occur in about $12\%$ of the ads studied (n ≈ $130$).
  • Smallpox mentions are the most frequent disease reference (approx. $11\%$ of ads, n ≈ $123$).
• Significance: disease immunity discussions reflect both the epidemiological context of the period and owners’ concerns about labor reliability and risk of contagion.

Labor: Town vs. Country, Domestic vs. Rural, and Versatility

• Core finding: enslaved women in colonial Massachusetts were versatile workers capable of performing across settings—“fit for Town or Country.”
• Household service (town-oriented work):
  • Advertisements emphasize skills in sewing, cooking, childcare, and general household management.
  • Examples:
  • “A Negro Woman about twenty four Years of Age, … can sew well and is a good Cook.”
  • “A very likely Negro Woman, that can be well recommended, and understands Sewing, taking care of Children.”
  • “A Negro Woman … that can Wash, Brew, Bake, and Iron Cloathes, and do all other sorts of Houshold Business excellently well.”
  • Language ability (English) often enhances suitability for household tasks requiring communication with white households.
• Rural/country work (country-oriented labor):
  • Advertisements highlight abilities in farming, animal care, gardening, and manual labor associated with rural settings.
  • Examples:
  • “A fine well hearty Negro Wench … said Negro can do all kinds of Houshold Work, understands milking a Cow, &c.”
  • “knows most of all Garden Seeds & Herbs.”
  • A worker described as “used to the Business of a Farm.”
  • Reproductive labor as a labor asset: some notices note fertility and breeding potential, indicating a belief that fertile enslaved women could contribute to family labor output.
• Skilled labor and crafts (cross-cutting across town/country):
  • Needlework, spinning, weaving, knitting, and other crafts are recurrently noted in ads.
  • Examples:
  • “A very likely healthy Negro Woman, that can spin and do all other sorts of business.”
  • “spins extraordinary well … can milk Cows, and do many other sorts of Country work.”
  • “Knit, Card Spin, make Butter and Cheese, and do any sort of Houshold Work.”
  • Some enslaved women bring prior craft traditions (e.g., African spinning styles) into their work.
• Reproductive and demographic labor:
  • Several advertisements explicitly describe enslaved women as breeders or capable of supporting a larger household with their offspring.
  • Examples include notices that imply a slave could “promises to be as good a Breeder” and those that describe a female slave as a “breeder” with the potential to increase labor force by bearing children.
  • The economic logic: more mouths to feed or workers to sustain larger households could translate into greater labor output for an owner.
• Overlapping roles:
  • Many enslaved women are described as capable of both town and country tasks, illustrating the overlapping nature of labor in colonial Massachusetts.
  • The same person might be described as able to perform domestic tasks, farm chores, and skilled crafts, depending on the buyer’s needs.

Reproduction of Labor, Fertility, and Economic Value

• Fertility as a market signal:
  • Advertisements sometimes treat a woman’s reproductive capacity as an economic asset (e.g., a “breeder” who can supply more laborers in the future).
  • Some ads explicitly indicate that a woman who is a “pretty good breeder” is valuable for a buyer seeking to increase labor pools.
  • Conversely, some advertisements label a woman as “not fit for the Country” because she is a poor breeder, signaling the owner’s economic calculus about suitable labor in rural settings.
• Implications:
  • Reproductive capacity intersects with racial and gender hierarchies, illustrating how enslaved women’s bodies were leveraged for economic gain in both urban and rural contexts.
  • The commodification of reproductive labor underscores the broader dehumanization of enslaved women, even as some notices reveal complexity in the labor they provided.

Phillis Wheatley: A Case of Skilled Labor and Literary Innovation

• Phillis Wheatley’s case is highlighted as an example of extraordinary versatility among enslaved women in colonial Massachusetts:
  • Worker in Susanna Wheatley’s household as a domestic servant and also a prolific writer.
  • Descriptions in contemporary sources: wheatley described as a "complete sempstress" and an accomplished writer for whom publishing opportunities were pursued in London and Boston.
  • She managed a dual role: performing domestic duties (nurse/assistant to her mistress) and engaging in literary endeavors, including writing and marketing poetry.
• Activities in the Wheatley household:
  • Reading and writing alongside household duties; she also discussed biblical topics with her mistress and served as a companion to guests.
  • Wheatley sought to capitalize on her writing through book sales, subscriptions, and correspondence with patrons like Obour Tanner and Samuel Hopkins.
• Publishing and marketing efforts:
  • Wheatley used interpersonal networks to promote her work, including soliciting subscriptions for her poetry and sending books to patrons.
  • She expressed concern about piracy (reprinting) and sought support from patrons to protect her rights and profits.
• Significance:
  • Wheatley’s example demonstrates that enslaved Black women in the colonial North could possess high-level skills (literary, artistic, domestic) and actively navigate markets and patronage networks.
  • Her narrative complements the broader argument that enslaved women contributed significant intellectual and creative labor, countering portrayals of enslaved women as only laborers of reproductive or menial tasks.
• Takeaway: Wheatley embodies the complexity and potential of enslaved women’s labor in New England, bridging domestic service and intellectual production, and illustrating how enslaved women could become culturally influential even within systems of bondage.

The Role of Newspapers in Slavery, Identity, and Market Exchange

• Newspapers as economic agents:
  • Advertisements functioned as a key mechanism for transferring property through the market; they facilitated quick exchanges of enslaved labor for cash and goods.
  • The press helped normalize, legitimize, and sustain the slave economy by publishing notices that connected buyers to enslaved workers.
• Constructing social identities:
  • Advertisers often described enslaved women in ways that reinforced racialized and gendered stereotypes (e.g., “Negro wench,” “lusty,” “strong,” “healthy,” “industrious”).
  • The repeated use of categories like “Negro” and “mulatto” indicates a broader attempt to classify and sort labor by phenotype and origin.
• Limitations and biases:
  • Ads omit personal details (names, family status, histories) and present a narrow view of enslaved women through a market lens.
  • Advertisers’ descriptions reflect the priorities and biases of white enslavers and colonial society, rather than the inner lives of enslaved women themselves.
• The print economy and the Atlantic world:
  • The Massachusetts ads are situated within a wider English Atlantic print culture that connected trade, consumption, and slavery across colonial networks.
  • The study emphasizes the importance of print media in shaping social identities and economic power within slavery economies.

Language of “Wench,” Gendered Denigration, and Personhood

• Use of the term “wench”:
  • Advertisements frequently refer to enslaved women as “wenches,” a term carrying mixed connotations (young woman, sometimes pejorative portrayal, potential sexualization).
  • The deployment of this term reflects patriarchal and racial hierarchies, as well as the dehumanization of enslaved women by reducing them to gendered objects of labor.
• Implications for gender and race:
  • While the ads reduce individuals to labor units, the language still provides glimpses into the women’s personhood—traits, abilities, and temperaments—when owners describe them as “industrious,” “spry,” or “healthy.”
  • The tension between objectification and recognition of particular skills (e.g., spinning, needlework, singing, nursing) is a key theme in the analysis.

Origins of Slavery in Massachusetts and Economic Context

• Historical background:
  • Massachusetts was the first English North American colony to legalize slavery (1641 Body of Liberties). Slavery would later be formalized elsewhere (Virginia, 1662).
  • The 18th century saw rapid population growth and an expanding slave trade in New England, with storekeepers and merchants replacing older systems of exchange, increasing labor demand.
• Economic dynamics:
  • The growing colonial economy created labor shortages that enslaved people were imported to fill.
  • Enslaved labor contributed to the profitability of farms, shops, and markets, as reflected in for-sale advertisements.
• Regional context and comparisons:
  • Slavery persisted in Massachusetts even if not as widespread as in plantation colonies; northern slavery involved a mix of domestic, agricultural, and skilled labor.
  • Scholarly debates about the nature of northern slavery (mild vs. harsh) are engaged in, using Massachusetts ads to show the complexity and intensity of enslaved labor in the North.

Craft, Skill, and Craftsmanship among Enslaved Women

• Craft labor and needle trades:
  • Many enslaved women developed skills in sewing, needlework, spinning, weaving, and knitting, often within the context of household production.
  • Advertisements reveal that skilled labor existed alongside more routine tasks; needle trades were accessible because they required relatively little capital and could be conducted at home.
• Examples of skilled labor in ads:
  • “A very likely healthy Negro Woman … can spin and do all other sorts of business.”
  • “Spins extraordinary well … milk cows, and do many other sorts of Country work.”
  • “Knit, Card Spin, make Butter and Cheese, and do any sort of Houshold Work.”
• Notable African American craft heritage:
  • Dinah, an African-born slave, used African spinning methods (on a spindle rather than a loom).
  • Lucy Terry Prince, a free woman later, spun flax and wool to pay medical bills and to sustain her family; she also contributed to local history as a storyteller.
• Phillis Wheatley’s example foregrounds linguistic and literary craft in addition to textile skills, challenging a simplistic view of enslaved women as merely domestic or field laborers.

The Case for Northern Slavery: Nuance and Implications for Historical Understanding

• Northern slavery was not monolithic or uniformly mild; Massachusetts demonstrates:
  • A mix of urban (household servitude) and rural (farm labor) tasks, with enslaved women often performing a combination of roles.
  • A gendered labor structure where reproductive labor could be leveraged in rural settings as an asset, complicating the simple urban/rural dichotomy.
• Broader implications:
  • These ads reveal a North that depended on enslaved labor for economic growth and social order, challenging narratives that northern slavery was peripheral or inconsequential.
  • The analysis helps account for both the humanity and the commodification of enslaved women, highlighting the diverse labor contributions and the personal attributes described in ads.

Connections to Foundational Scholarship and Broader Themes

• Key scholars cited in the article:
  • Deborah Gray White, Ar’n’t I a Woman? (1985)
  • Elizabeth Fox-Genovese; Darlene Clark Hine; Jacqueline Jones; Wilma King; Brenda Stevenson (1980s–1990s)
  • Catherine Adams and Elizabeth H. Pleck; Daina Ramey Berry; Judith Carney; Erica Armstrong Dunbar; Sharla Fett; Saidiya Hartman; Jessica Millward; Jennifer L. Morgan; Leslie Schwalm; Sasha Turner; Marli Weiner (2000s–2010s)
• The case of Phillis Wheatley is used to illustrate the intersection of labor, gender, race, and authorship in the colonial North Atlantic world, bridging domestic labor with literary production and publishing markets.

Key Takeaways for Exam Preparation

• Enslaved women in colonial Massachusetts were not a monolith: they performed a wide spectrum of labor tasks, from domestic service to agricultural work, to skilled crafts, to writing and publishing in some cases.
• The advertisement genre itself is a critical source for understanding enslaved labor: it documents labor capabilities, reproductive potential, language ability, origin, health, and the workers’ perceived value in the market.
• The repeated phrase “fit for Town or Country” underscores flexibility as a core value; enslaved women were marketed as adaptable, multi-context laborers whose versatility increased their market value.
• Language, race, gender, and class shaped how enslaved women were described and valued in ads; terms like “wench” reveal the denigrating attitudes, while descriptions of skills reveal potential for personal agency and resilience.
• The case of Phillis Wheatley demonstrates that enslaved women could be highly skilled and economically enterprising beyond mere domestic labor, challenging stereotypes about enslaved women’s capabilities.
• The article invites further research into slave-for-sale広告s in other English colonies to assess regional variations in enslaved women’s labor and to deepen our understanding of gendered labor in early America.

Important Quantitative References (LaTeX format)

• Ads identified: $1150$ for-sale notices across multiple Massachusetts newspapers, published between $1704$ and $1781$.
• Concentration in five newspapers: $1041/1150 \approx 0.913 \approx 91.3\%.$
• Timeframe of study: $1704 \leq t \leq 1781$.
• Language ability mentions: $ext{Approximately } 5\%$ of the ads note language ability for enslaved women.
• Age data: among ads indicating age, $ext{approximately } 49\% \,(n=564)$ indicate ages, with about $75\%$ of those in the range $11 ext{ to } 30 ext{ years}$, and within that group, about $75\%$ are between $21 ext{ and } 30$.
• Disease immunity mentions: about $12\%$ of ads mention immunity to disease; smallpox is mentioned in about $11\%$ of ads.
• Notable durations or counts: more than $1{,}000$ for-sale notices; first ad in 1704; etc.

Terminology and Glossary (selected terms in context)

• Wenches: term used for enslaved women, carrying multiple connotations (youth, vulnerability, sometimes sexualized or demeaned). The word’s usage reflects the broader social hierarchies of race, gender, and class.
• Negro, mulatto: racial descriptors used to categorize enslaved people and to structure labor value in advertisements.
• Town vs. Country: shorthand in ads for the kind of labor setting; “Town” indicates urban household labor; “Country” indicates rural farm labor or agrarian work.
• Breeder: a descriptor indicating a reproductive labor value; owners sometimes valued enslaved women for fertility as a way to expand or sustain the labor force.
• Seasoning: reference to enslaved Africans’ acclimatization to New England after arrival or post-Caribbean arrival, shaping how owners described labor potential.

Connections to Real-World Relevance

• The study reveals how historical documents like newspaper advertisements can illuminate the lived experiences of enslaved people, including Black women’s labor, resilience, and adaptability.
• The counterpoint to the “milder northern slavery” narrative is reinforced by evidence of extensive labor markets, household work, farm labor, and skilled crafts in Massachusetts.
• Phillis Wheatley’s case connects early American slavery to broader transatlantic literary and publishing networks, illustrating how enslaved individuals could navigate and affect cultural economies.

Ethical and Practical Implications

• The advertisements reveal a persistent dehumanization of enslaved people, reducing human beings to marketable labor units while occasionally acknowledging individual skills and traits.
• Contemporary scholars must interpret these sources critically, recognizing both their evidentiary value about labor and their limitations as commodified representations.
• The research highlights the importance of regional histories within slavery studies to avoid overgeneralizations about northern slavery and to appreciate local variations and complexities.

Connections to Foundational Readings and Further Research

• Foundational works cited include studies by Deborah Gray White, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Darlene Clark Hine, Jacqueline Jones, Wilma King, Brenda Stevenson, and more recent scholars like Catherine Adams, Elizabeth Pleck, Daina Ramey Berry, Judith Carney, Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Sharla Fett, Saidiya Hartman, Jessica Millward, Jennifer L. Morgan, Leslie Schwalm, Sasha Turner, and Marli Weiner.
• The Wheatley material prompts further exploration of enslaved women’s literary and publishing activities in colonial contexts and their intersections with expensive publishing markets in London and Boston.

Summary: Core Takeaways

• Slavery in colonial Massachusetts involved a broad spectrum of labor for enslaved women, from domestic to agricultural to skilled crafts, with some capable of cross-setting work (town and country).
• Newspaper advertisements functioned as important sources for understanding enslaved women’s labor, revealing both the commodification of Black women and nuanced information about their skills, health, language, and origins.
• The labor economy of New England rested on the labor of enslaved women as central contributors to household economies, farm productivity, and even the cultural economy through figures like Phillis Wheatley.
• The study emphasizes the need to analyze northern slavery with nuance, acknowledging both the constraints imposed by slavery and the agency, skill, and humanity of enslaved women within those systems.