Dorcas ye blackmore (c. 1620 – after 1677) was one of the first named

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to settle in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. In 1641, she became the first known African American admitted to the local Puritan congregation. Born in Africa c. 1620, Dorcas is believed to have arrived in Boston, Massachusetts from

Providence Island colony The Providence Island colony was established in 1630 by English Puritans on what is now the Departments of Colombia, Colombian Department of Archipelago_of_San_Andrés,_Providencia_and_Santa_Catalina, San Andrés and Providencia ...

in 1638, aboard the slave ship ''Desire''. After English victory in the brutal

Pequot War The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragans ...

, the ship was chartered to Bermuda to trade 17

Pequot The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or th ...

prisoners of war for "some cotton, and tobacco, and negroes, etc.". Records show that in 1641, Dorcas was living in

Dorchester, Massachusetts Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester ...

in servitude to

Israel Stoughton Israel Stoughton (c. 1603 – 1644) was an early English colonist in Massachusetts and a colonial commander in the Pequot War. Returning to England, he served as Parliamentarian officer in the First English Civil War. Life Born in England, a yo ...

, a prominent colonial leader and businessman. The same year, she joined the First Parish Church of Dorchester after presenting a public testimony to the congregation. In the months following, the colony passed a law formally sanctioning slavery of Africans and Native Americans in the ''

Massachusetts Body of Liberties The Massachusetts Body of Liberties was the first legal code established in New England, compiled by Puritan minister Nathaniel Ward. The laws were established by the Massachusetts General Court in 1641. The Body of Liberties begins by establishin ...

''. Such laws stated that none were to be exempt from servitude by virtue of church membership. Dorcas' evangelical work with Native American servants and her admission into the congregation were detailed in the early colonial publication, ''

New England's First Fruits ''New England's First Fruits'' was a book published in London in 1643 about the early evangelization efforts by the Puritans in colonial New England in defense of criticisms from England that little evangelism was being pursued in New England. It ...

''. In 1644, Israel Stoughton died without denoting Dorcas' status in his will. It is believed that Dorcas continued to live with his widow, Elizabeth Stoughton, as a member of her household for some time after Israel's death. Prior to 1652, Dorcas married a man named Matthew. They had two known children: Matthew Jr., who was baptized in Boston in 1652, and Martha, who died in 1654. In 1653, congregationalists of Dorchester's First Church, including Rev.

Richard Mather Richard Mather (1596 – 22 April 1669) was a New England Puritan minister in colonial Boston. He was father to Increase Mather and grandfather to Cotton Mather, both celebrated Boston theologians. Biography Mather was born in Lowton in the p ...

and Elder Henry Withington, sought to purchase Dorcas' freedom through community fundraising. In 1677, Dorcas formally transferred her membership from the Dorchester Church to the

First Church in Boston First Church in Boston is a Unitarian Universalist Church (originally Congregationalist) founded in 1630 by John Winthrop's original Puritan settlement in Boston, Massachusetts. The current building, located on 66 Marlborough Street in the Back ...

, where she became the African American congregationalist.Pierce, ed., The Records of the First Church of Boston, Volume 1

References

{{reflist Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown African-American families African-American genealogy African-American history of Massachusetts American people of Angolan descent 17th-century American slaves United States slavery case law People from Dorchester, Massachusetts American Congregationalists Cultural history of Boston People of colonial Massachusetts African-American Christians Free Negroes 17th-century African-American women 17th-century African-American people