In 1738, the Spanish governor of Florida chartered the settlement of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose for short, as a settlement for those fleeing slavery from the English colonies in the Carolinas.
Who was the founder of Fort Mose?
In 1738, the Spanish governor of Florida, Manuel de Montiano , had Fort Mose (pronounced “MOH-say”) constructed and established it as a free black settlement, the first to be legally sanctioned in what would become the territory of the United States.
Who built Fort Mose and where is it?
To destabilize British colonization in the north, Spain encouraged British slaves to escape to Florida, where they could convert to Catholicism and become Spanish citizens. In the 1730s, a black Spanish community formed in St. Augustine , the capital of Spanish Florida, and founded a town called Fort Mose.
Who was involved in Fort Mose?
By 1738 there were 100 blacks , mostly runaways from the Carolinas, living in what became Fort Mose. Many were skilled workers, blacksmiths, carpenters, cattlemen, boatmen, and farmers. With accompanying women and children, they created a colony of freed people that ultimately attracted other fugitive slaves.
How long did Fort Mose exist?
Fort Mose was considered the city’s northern defense against invading British. It was established in 1738 – more than 120 years before the Emancipation Proclamation and 80 years before Florida became a U.S. territory.
Were there slaves in St Augustine?
Records show there were 56 slaves in St. Augustine by 1602. The king’s dreams of thriving plantations took hundreds of years to materialize and the Spanish struggled for control of the city with the British throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.
Why is Fort Mose important historically?
Mose (pronounced “Moh- say”) became the first legally sanctioned free Black town in the present-day United States, and it is a critically important site for Black American history. Mose provides important evidence that Black American colonial history was much more than slavery and oppression .
What happened to slaves who escaped to Florida?
Since 1688, Spanish Florida had attracted numerous fugitive slaves who escaped from the British North American colonies. Once the slaves reached Florida, the Spanish freed them if they converted to Roman Catholicism ; males of age had to complete a military obligation.
Where did Florida’s first slaves come from?
The Spanish brought the first slaves to the colony of La Florida in 1526, nearly 100 years before traffickers took slaves to the British colonies in 1619.
When were slaves freed in Florida?
Emancipation was proclaimed in Tallahassee on May 20, 1865 , 11 days after the end of the Civil War and two years after the proclamation was first issued by President Abraham Lincoln. This guide from the State Library of Florida explores Emancipation in Florida and the Reconstruction period that followed (1865-1877).
Why is Fort Mose called the first underground railroad?
The Beginnings of Fort Mose
They fled southward on foot to Spanish St. Augustine, crossing swamps and dense tropical forests. Along they way, they sought assistance from Natives , thus creating the first ‘underground railroad’.
Where the French were killed by Pedro?
The Massacre at Matanzas Inlet was the killing of French troops by Spanish troops near the Matanzas Inlet in 1565, by order of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, adelantado of Spanish Florida (La Florida).
When did slavery start in Florida?
In 1539 , slavery arrived in present-day Florida when the slave trader and Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto attempted to establish a permanent settlement and claim more territory for Spain.
What state had the most slaves?
New York had the greatest number, with just over 20,000. New Jersey had close to 12,000 slaves.
Was there slavery in Canada?
Slavery itself was abolished everywhere in the British Empire in 1834 . ... In 1793 Upper Canada (now Ontario) passed the Anti‐slavery Act. The law freed enslaved people aged 25 and over and made it illegal to bring enslaved people into Upper Canada.
What was the name of the first settlement for runaway slaves?
Fort Mose : The Nation’s First Community of Freed Slaves
Augustine, Florida, Fort Mose was a perfect line of defense for the Spaniards. Most of Fort Mose’s community consisted of escaped, captured, or runaway slaves from the British colonies of South Carolina and Georgia.
