This page is meant to introduce readers to the Charleston segment of our research.
There are two essays accessible on the tabs for this section: the first provides an ethical-historical sketch of the lives of the fourteen people enslaved by the Haydens in antebellum Charleston. The second is a forthcoming essay on the neighborhoods in which these fourteen enslaved people lived and worked.
Initially, as the project got underway, much of our research focused on the Hayden family. Historical evidence of their life in Charleston was more readily available than that of the people they enslaved, people who, unfortunately, remain nearly unnamed in our research. Nonetheless our research has taken into account many factors, including work locations, residences, the slave culture of Charleston, census records, and what we know about Charleston in the mid 1800s.
The complex lives that the fourteen individuals in Charleston led will never fully be understood by us, but we remain committed to posing questions and searching for more answers as we come to terms with this chapter of our institution’s history.