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The slavery restitution case of Henrietta Wood...



Item # 666165

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April 18, 1878

NEW YORK TIMES, April 18, 1878 

* Enslaved Woman Henrietta Wood
* Awarded slavery reparations verdict


The front page has a notable report concerning the fascinating case of Henrietta Wood. The Article is headed: "The Good Old Times" "The Suite of Henrietta Wood, of Cincinnati--Heavy; Damages Granted by the Jury".
In 1853, Wood was a free black woman living and laboring as a domestic worker in Cincinnati when she was lured across the Ohio River and into the slave state of Kentucky by a white man named Zebulon Ward. Ward sold her to slave traders, who took her to Mississippi. A cotton planter bought her there and later took her to Texas, where she remained enslaved through the Civil War.
Wood eventually returned to Cincinnati, and in 1870 sued Ward for $20,000 in damages and lost wages. In 1878, an all-white jury decided in Wood’s favor, with Ward ordered to pay $2,500, perhaps the largest sum ever awarded by a court in the United States in restitution for slavery.
Eight pages, loose at the spine, foxed with browning at the margins. In very nice condition but somewhat fragile and should be handled carefully.

Category: Post-Civil War