#slave passes

Grace’s Slave Pass

A slave pass provided for an enslaved woman named Grace from Isaac Riddell in 1849.  This pass is one of three found in 1934 in a 19th century Book of Common Prayer.  Slave passes were provided to enslaved people as proof of a master allowing them to move off of their residence.  Passes could be written for any length of time - an evening or three months. Slave patrols (a form of law enforcement monitoring enslaved people) would check that enslaved people had these passes if an enslaved person was not at their assigned residence.  Enslaved people without passes worked carefully not to get caught based on the violent consequences of being caught without a pass.

Slave Pass, 1843. This slave pass, or permission note, is one of three found in 1934 in a Book of Common Prayer. The book was donated to the College of Charleston by Daniel Horlbeck in 1875.

Transcription: My Boy Mack has my Permission to sleep in a house in Bedon's Alley, hired by his Mother this ticket is good for two months from this date Sarah H. Savage Sep_ber 19th, 1843