Slavery existed in the United States from its inception in 1776 to its partial abolition with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1865, under which it was abolished nationally. The last known survivors who were born into legalized slavery or enslaved prior to the passage of the amendment are listed below. The list also contains the last known survivors in various states which abolished legal slavery prior to 1865. Some birth dates are difficult to verify due to lack of birth documentation for most enslaved individuals.
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Notes and References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth Cash Green | Born, it is claimed, in Midland, Georgia in 1862, moved to Arkansas in 1882, and died Helena, Arkansas in 1975.[1] | |||
| Peter Mills | Born in Prince George's County, Maryland, and died after a pedestrian accident in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.[2] | |||
| Sylvester Magee | ? | Unverified and purportedly died at 130 years old in Columbia, Marion County, Mississippi.[3] [4] Age is unverified, and such a claim would have made him the oldest person in the world, so his birthdate is likely after 1841. | ||
| William Casby | [5] | [6] | Photographed on March 24, 1963, by Richard Avedon in Algiers, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, with multiple generations of his family.[7] [8] [9] | |
| Mary Hardway Walker | ? | Purportedly lived to 121 years old; she had a child who died in his 90s, according to the family Bible on Ancestry.com. She moved from Union Springs, Bullock County, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee, where a newspaper article was published about her learning to read in 1966 at age 116.[10] | ||
| Anna J. Cooper | Anna Cooper was a notable academic and activist who was born in slavery Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina.[11] [12] | |||
| Josephus | pre- | after | Listed in a bulletin for Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 March on Washington as supposedly the last surviving American slave.[13] | |
| Jeff Doby | Believed to be the oldest living person in South Carolina at the time of 1961 and one of the last living former slaves in South Carolina. Jeff was born in Camden, Kershaw County, and died at the age of 105 in 1963. He was featured in the local newspaper after his 103rd birthday and photographed. Two of his sons would also live to be nearly 100 years old.[14] | |||
| Fountain Hughes | Former slave freed in 1865 after the American Civil War. Descendant of Betty Hemings, slave matriarch at Thomas Jefferson's plantation Monticello. Hughes was interviewed in June 1949 about his life by the Library of Congress as part of the Federal Writers' Project of oral histories of former slaves persons. The recorded interview is available online through the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library. | |||
| Alfred "Teen" Blackburn | Received a Confederate pension in 1929 for accompanying his owner during the Civil War; resided in North Carolina.[15] | |||
| John Wesley Washington | [16] | Possibly last surviving former slave living in Washington, D.C. | ||
| Eliza Moore | One of the last verified surviving American slaves; resided in North Carolina.[17] | |||
| William Andrew Johnson | Believed to be the last surviving person owned by a U.S. President (Andrew Johnson); visited FDR at the White House in 1937.[18] [19] | |||
| Adeline Dade | Possibly one of the last living former slaves in New York.[20] | |||
| Harriet Wilson Whitely | The last living former slave in Fairmont, Fairmont County, West Virginia.[21] | |||
| Matilda McCrear | The last known survivor of the Clotilda in 1859–1860, the last trans-Atlantic slave ship to arrive in America from Africa.[22] | |||
| Redoshi | The next to last known survivor of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to arrive in America. | |||
| Delia Garlic | at the earliest | Born in Virginia; was purportedly 100 years old during an interview with Margaret Fowler in the late 1930s.[23] [24] Date of death is unclear. | ||
| Cudjoe Lewis | One of the last survivors of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to arrive in America.[25] | |||
| Perry Lockwood | ca. | Allegedly one of the last living former slaves in lower Delaware; died aged 87.[26] | ||
| Reuben Freeman | c. | c. | One of the last slaves in Somerset County, New Jersey; lived in Somerville; was enslaved to William Annin of Liberty Corner.[27] Likely other later survivors because final slaves were not emancipated until 1865 in New Jersey. | |
| Julius Lemons | after 1915 | Possibly last survivor of the Wanderer[28] | ||
| David Hendrickson | Allegedly the last living former slave sold "on the block" in New Jersey.[29] Likely other later survivors because final slaves were not emancipated until 1865 in New Jersey. | |||
| Louise Tritton | ca. | One of the last living former slaves in Connecticut, and oldest person in New Haven, New Haven County.[30] | ||
| Adjua D'Wolf | Possibly the last surviving slave in Rhode Island. Adjua was enslaved in Africa, brought to Bristol, Bristol County, Rhode Island, in 1803 and sold to the D'Wolf family, a family of slave traders,[31] after new enslavement was made illegal in Rhode Island.[32] Her death in 1868 was noted in several newspapers around the country, including in the South.[33] James Howland (1758-1859) was also one of Rhode Island's last legal former slaves, and was enslaved until 1842.[34] [35] D'Wolf and Howland are likely not the last slaves, due to RI's gradual emancipation with several legally slaves still listed in the 1840 census, and likely enslaved until the 1843 RI Constitution banned all slavery. | |||
| Hannah Kelley | ca. | Died at 103 years old in Cross Creek, Cross Creek Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, as possibly the last living former slave in Pennsylvania, formerly owned by John Gardner of Jefferson, Jefferson County.[36] | ||
| Margaret Pint | Purportedly the last living former slave in New York; she was born into slavery in Westchester County.[37] Likely not the last living former slave, because final emancipation in New York did not occur until July 5, 1827. | |||
| Venus Rowe | ca. | Purportedly one of the last living former slaves in Massachusetts, resided in Burlington, Middlesex County.[38] | ||
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Notes and References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Smith | 1842 (claimed) or 1874 or 1879 | October 5, 1979 | Allegedly born in Liberia or United States of America, claimed to be the last Civil War veteran and slave, among other false claims. Discredited and died in Florida in 1979.[39] | |
| Mary Duckworth | 1861 (claimed), likely between 1874 and 1880 | April 20, 1983 | Allegedly born into slavery, but discredited due to census and social security records reporting other later birth dates.[40] [41] | |