The Boundaries of Belonging Among Enslaved New Netherlanders, 1600–1700

What does it mean to belong to a community when, according to legal documents, you “belong” to an enslaver? This paper follows the life of an enslaved man, identified in the documents only by his enslaver’s name and never by his own, who was forcibly brought to New Netherland around 1658. A legal battle ensued between his enslaver, Jacques Corteljeu, and the Dutch West India Company over who was entitled to the enslaved man’s labor. To whom did the fruits of his labor belong? Meanwhile, the boundaries of belonging around Manhattan’s tight-knit community of free and enslaved Africans were shifting due to a relative influx of newcomers and the winds of political change. While the legal dispute over where he “belonged” played out among slaveholders, the enslaved man himself encountered altogether different questions of belonging when forcibly brought as an outsider into an established community of “Company’s negroes”, many of whom had lived and worked together for years.

Drawing on court documents, notarial records, and council minutes describing the lives and deaths of enslaved people in New Netherland (especially the man mentioned above) this paper examines the dual meanings of belonging for enslaved people. It argues that blurring the boundaries of belonging could be a strategic choice, intended to bolster enslaved people’s legal status and, in some cases, help them to access freedom. Informed by the work of scholars of slavery such as Marisa Fuentes, Susanah Romney, and Gloria Whiting, I trace the contours of belonging in this community of enslaved people from both a legal and an interpersonal perspective. This paper moves us toward a new and nuanced understanding of the benefits and dangers of belonging for enslaved New Netherlanders.