Enslaved Labor

Martha and Thomas Peter,  like many property owners in early 19th century Georgetown, exploited the knowledge, labor and bodies of African Americans by participating in the system of slavery. Martha Peter inherited two groups of enslaved individuals.  The first was from the patrimony she received from her father’s (John Parke Custis) estate in 1796 and included 61 enslaved people.  The second was her portion of Martha Washington’s dower share in 1802 which included 48 enslaved people.  Enslaved people from Martha Washington’s dower share are referred to as Custis Dower slaves.

Enslaved individuals were transferred among the Custis, Peter and Washington families during different life events. For example, the Custis Dower slavers came from Mount Vernon where they were enslaved alongside George Washington’s own enslaved population. This resulted in many instances of marriages occurring between Martha and George Washington’s enslaved.  A 17th century Virginia law declared that a child assumed the same status as its mother. Therefore, any child born to a woman with Custis Dower slave status also became a Custis Dower slave, regardless of the status of the father.

Martha Peter received her patrimony upon her marriage to Thomas Peter.  A 1799 Mount Vernon census by George Washington listed 153 total people enslaved to Martha Washington as part of her dower share from her first marriage.  Upon the death of Martha Washington in 1802, those individuals were divided equally among Martha’s grandchildren (Martha Peter, Eliza Custis Law, Nelly Custis Lewis and George Washington Parke Custis), with Martha and Thomas Peter receiving 43 enslaved people.  Although George Washington gave instructions in his will that following Martha’s death, those held in bondage would be emancipated, he was not able to manumit (voluntarily free) any of the Custis Dower slaves because he did not own them – Martha did.

While some enslaved individuals were held in bondage at Tudor Place, most of them were forced to live and work on  the Peter’s other agricultural properties in Montgomery County, Maryland and Northeast DC. In 1820, the U.S. Census revealed that there were three adult men, three adult women and eight children enslaved on the Tudor Place property.  A family tradition holds that a small frame building located on the northeast corner of the Tudor Place property was used as a dwelling for some of these people. This portion of the property was sold in 1854 when the estate was reduced in size.

The writings of Thomas and Martha Peter’s daughter, Britannia W. Kennon, provide valuable information about the individuals the Peters enslaved, including several enslaved laborers who “lived out” — meaning they resided off the Tudor Place property. Additional research funded by the D.C. Humanities Council shed light on human ownership and trade by the Peter family. It also maps Georgetown sites central to African-American community life. Learn more here.  Some information about enslaved individuals at Tudor Place comes from property records of the Custis, Peter and Washington families.

Though enslaved individuals had personal lives separate and entirely unknown to their enslavers, labor records are often the only information left.  To learn more about how gaps in archival records contribute to the dehumanization of all enslaved peoples, click here.  Learn what archaeology revealed about possible slave dwellings at Tudor Place here and about home life here.

Emancipation in the District of Columbia

Prior to the emancipation of slavery, slave auctions were common in the District of Columbia. Abolitionists decried the occurrence of this practice in the nation’s capital. The Compromise of 1850 abolished active slave trading within the District of Columbia but both Maryland and Virginia maintained active trades.

Slavery was legal in the District of Columbia until April 16, 1862 when President Lincoln signed the D.C. Emancipation Act (12 Stat. 376). The act provided for immediate emancipation and the compensation to loyal Unionist enslavers of up to $300 per slave and included voluntary colonization if the emancipated individual desired it. Enslavers who wanted to claim compensation had to file the necessary paperwork and swear an oath to the Union by July 15, 1862. Britannia Kennon, then owner of Tudor Place, was an ardent southerner so it is unsurprising that her name does not appear in the records of those slave owners who took the loyalty oath and received compensation.

President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. It declared that “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” However, this proclamation only applied to those enslaved individuals living in Confederate states. Slavery was finally abolished in the entire United States, except as punishment for a convicted crime, on December 6, 1865 when the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed.

To learn more about emancipation in the District of Columbia, click here.

Enslaved People at Tudor Place: