READ WISCONSIN — Enslaved, Indentured, Free: Five Black Women on the Upper Mississippi, 1800-1850, by Mary Elise Antoine

In partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, Upper House is excited to feature Mary Elise Antoine’s 2022 book, Enslaved, Indentured, Free: Five Black Women on the Upper Mississippi, 1800-1850 (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) in this first Read Wisconsin book event of 2023. The author will be attending the first part of our gathering (virtually) to discuss the book and her extensive research.

Antoine’s book tells the story of five extraordinary Black women whose lives intersected in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in the 1800s. Gleaning details from legal documents, military records, court transcripts, and personal correspondence, Antoine unveils the lived experience of enslaved Black people in the Upper Mississippi River Valley—people who were denied freedom despite the fact that the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made slavery illegal in territory that encompassed Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. Difficult to enforce and riddled with loopholes, the ordinance was thwarted by white enslavers who continued to hold Black people captive well into the 19th Century. The five women Antoine spotlights all secured their freedom through perseverance, self-purchase, or freedom suits.