Sherry Wilson (b. circa 1779 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-003326
Possessed inflamatory publications, District 2, Queen Anne's County,
1839
Biography:
In 1839, the Queen Anne's County Court indicted a sixty-year-old free black man, Sherry Wilson, who was caught reading an "inflammatory book" to two black women.1 The statute dealing with the issue of inflammatory literature and the state's black population dated back to 1796,2 but had been revised at least twice since its creation. The 1835 law stated that any individual who deliberately circulated literature "having a tendency to create discontent among, and stir up insurrection, the people of colour of this state... shall be guilty of a felony." The law prescribed a sentence of no more than ten, and no less than twenty, years in prison.3
The identity of Wilson's inflammatory publication is not currently known. However, many abolitionist presses were operating in the 1830s, producing national pamphlets such as David Walker's Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, To the Coloured Citizens of the World.4 Events like Nat Turner's rebellion in Southampton, Virginia, also spurred extensive legislation against abolitionist literature, free blacks, and other perceived threats to slaveholders' control.5
On May 22, 1839, Wilson was sentenced to ten years in the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore City. He received a coarse diet in a solitary cell for six months. In 1848, the Penitentiary's Board of Directors, members of the Queen Anne's County Court, and Judge Philemon B. Hopper petitioned Governor Phillip Francis Thomas to pardon Wilson due to his advanced age, "his exemplary character and good behavior."6 Wilson received a pardon on April 22, 1848, after nine years in prison.
His whereabouts after his release remain unclear. A
Sherry Wilson appeared in the 1850 census for Baltimore City, living with
his wife Martha and two other families. However, the census recorded his
birth year as 1787. Wilson may not have known his exact birthdate—or this
simply may have been a different person.7
1. SECRETARY OF STATE (Pardon
Papers), [MSA S1031-6]. Sherry Wilson, Box 44, Folder 37. Letter from Judge
P.B. Hopper.
1.
MARYLAND PENITENTIARY (Prisoners Record) MSA
S275, Sherry Wilson, #3238, [MSA S275-1].
2. "An ACT relating to negroes, and to repeal the acts of assembly therein mentioned." Laws of Maryland, 1796, ch. 67.
3. "A further SUPPLEMENT td the ACT, entitled an Act relating to Free Negroes and Slaves." Laws of Maryland, 1835, ch. 325.
4. David Walker. Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, To the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America (Boston, MA: Published by the author, 1830).
5. "An act relating to Free Negroes and Slaves." Laws of Maryland, 1835, ch. 325.
6. SECRETARY OF STATE (Pardon Record), [MSA S1108-2]. Sherry Wilson, pg. 30.
7. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census
Record, MD) for Sherry Wilson, 1850, Baltimore City, Ward 17, Page 449,
Line 8 [SM 61-128, M 1490].
Return
to Sherry Wilson's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|