[SLAVERY & ABOLITION]. Manuscript trial speech given by M.B. King in defense of Skelt Greer, an enslaved man convicted of murder.

Manuscript synopsis, [Henry County, TN]: [April 1846]. 7 pp., 7 7/8 x 12 1/2 in., halves of speech fully separated, some bits of paper loss at creases, discoloration throughout. Docketed verso.  

King's impassioned speech implores jury members to consider the prisoner's position as a "poor, humble & unlettered Son of Africa. He has been deserted by every friend on earth save his counsel. His master, who by the laws of the land he was bound to serve and obey, and who in turn was bound to defend and protect his Slave, in the hour of danger when the storm of public indignation seemed to be gathering around him, deserted and left him to his fate. No Father or Mother is there here to sympathise [sic] with him, or in his lone hours passed in chains in the dark dungeon to sooth & cheer him by their presence." He also reminds his audience of Greer's position under the law: "But he has one cheering consolation left him, thanks to the humanity and wisdom of our Law makers, a Slave as he is; when he comes into this court charged with the crime of murder he is at once placed upon an equality with the most favored citizen of our country. By the principle of universal emancipation; he stands before this court, and demands of it an intelligent; and impartial Jury, which cannot & which has not been denied him, and he now claims of you gentlemen of the Jury..."

Records held at the University of Albany, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives show that the murdered individual was a Mr. DuPey. Skelt Greer was found guilty, and ultimately hanged in Henry County, TN in April of 1864.  


Property from The Collection of Christina Maslankowski, McCaysville, Georgia