The 1754 Massachusetts Slave Census - Artifact: Saddlebags

Artifact: Saddlebags

The 1754 Massachusetts Slave Census documented enslaved people across the colony over the age of sixteen. Records from 119 reporting towns survive, counting 2,720 people in total. Sudbury recorded 14 people who were enslaved: nine men, five women. Census information (https://primaryresearch.org/slave-census/) is important as a document, but quantitative data cannot replace the qualitative understanding that each number represents an enslaved woman, man, and child. More on the history of enslavement in Wayland/Sudbury, and on Boston and the Roby's can be found in  Jane Sciacca's "Enslavement in the Puritan Village: The Untold History of Sudbury and Wayland" (2025).

digital inkjet print by Scarlett Hoey

Size: 11x14

About Scarlett Hoey
Scarlett Hoey is a MassArt alum and the Executive Director of the Wayland Museum & Historical Society, steward of the 1742 Grout-Heard House and the community's collections spanning nearly four centuries of Wayland history. Working with a 4x5 camera, she is drawn to people, history, and texture.