Men and women, black and white, free and unfree, fought for their
rights in British courts. This is the official record of an early
pronouncement on the status of slaves in Britain. Katherine Auker
called on the Middlesex County Court judge to grant her the right
to leave her cruel employers, planters from Barbados, so that she
could go and work for another. Auker's wish was granted, but only
partially. She could find work in England with another employer until
her original master returned from his Barbados estate.
Middlesex Country Records, Sessions Books, no. 472 (February 1690)
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