O Say Can You See: Early Washington D.C. Law & Family is a digital history project whose main goal is to document the challenge to slavery in early Washington D.C. and the family networks involved in that quest.
In order to do this they have collected, digitized, made accessible thousands of records from the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, Maryland state courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court that help paint a picture of what the legal landscape surrounding the topic looked like at the time.
When you arrive at the site you’ll find that you can access all of the sections from the main page. Each is featured and offers a brief description of what the section contains. Your options are People, Cases, Families, and Stories.
I recommend starting in Stories where you’ll find compelling historical information that you can interact with as you read. I checked out the story. “I Did Not Want To Go”, that tells the story of a slave named Anna who leapt from the third floor window of a Washington, D.C., tavern and went onto inspire court cases, the American Colonization Society, and congressional speeches. I definitely recommend starting with this story, but if another catches your attention start there.
This is an incredible resource of historical materials. Go check it out for yourself today!
~Amanda