Table of Contents
Task Force
Proposal For task force to further research into slavery in South Hadley Massachusetts:
Situated in Western Massachusetts, South Hadley was founded in 1775 and is formally identified in censuses as part of Hadley. Many citizens and community members believe the town to be and have always been an abolitionist town. At just the beginning of our research, we ran into many accounts and advocates of the historical sentiment that South Hadley was involved with freeing runaway slaves through the Underground Railroad. While we don’t deny this statement and recognize the historical significance, we also aim to bring attention to the existence of Slavery in South Hadley, a topic widely overlooked. There were enslaved people in South Hadley, and while the exact number is unknown we have made efforts to collect names and locations we push for further research and a task force to be formed to investigate further the names and lives of enslaved people in South Hadley and discuss and move for a monument to enforcement the education and knowledge of this history. We believe it is vital to acknowledge and grapple with all parts of history and call for South Hadley to look deeper into their history, specifically with enslaved people. The difficulties of uncovering the names and lives of enslaved people in South Hadley proves the erasure of the injustices from the town’s history and the interest to focus on the good parts rather than its ugly.
We propose the initiation of a task force to research, educate and meaningfully memorialize the lives of enslaved people who lived and were enslaved in South Hadley MA. After conversations with Kijua Sanders-McMurty, a co-chair of the Mount Holyoke College’s History, Legacy, and Memory task force, it is clear that a task force devoted specifically to this research is important. As we began this project in Professor Auslander’s course we had many ideas and as the research continued to pile up and with the semester ending we soon realized certain aspects could not be completed with the time left. This is why we propose a task force to pick up where we left off and continue this research. The information will only be impactful if it reaches people who would benefit from this education, this being South Hadley community members, who are invested in creating and taking action steps towards acknowledging a racist history and moving towards a more anti-racist future.
What we already know and advice for continued research: Enslavement in South Hadley Topical Guide
This document and record set intends to collate resources in the Pioneer Valley Area that center around looking for the names of enslaved peoples in South Hadley. This topical guide is a general overview of some of the research avenues that can be used to develop a more thorough understanding of the topic. The aim of this document is to give a starting point for researchers. It should be regarded as a living document, meaning information can be included or excluded as time persists. We welcome suggestions for other collections to include or incorporate as well as general feedback.
How to move forward with research:
Research in the future should include researching other enslaved peoples besides the ones we have. That includes looking at deeds and probate records to find historical records of enslaved people in local households.
After looking at the most recent census the demographics of South Hadley and several neighboring towns (Hadley, Northampton, Chicopee, and Hadley), were over 85% white and less than 6% black. In research going forward, it would be advantageous to try to dive deeper into the history of South Hadley in hopes of finding black communities, where enslaved and then formerly enslaved people went after, and if they were freed. Acknowledging that this is a predominantly white town is not something to ignore in this history and is also not by coincidence.