“I Dont Know what will be my Lot”: Transnational Migration and Unfree Labor in Early America

Abstract: Focused on migration between Hispaniola and Pennsylvania from the 1790s to the 1820s, this article demonstrates how the anti-Black logics of slavery continued to subjugate Black laborers during the era of emancipation. It contends that Black unfreedom was reconstituted both alongside and, at times, as a result of Pennsylvania’s 1780 Gradual Abolition Act. This essay documents how Black migrants, especially children and youths, were affected by the racialized indentured labor regime stimulated by the act. This article employs a transnational analysis of Pennsylvania’s gradual abolition policies to highlight how foreign enslavers could affect the emancipatory reach of domestic legislation.