ASHLAND, O., May 9, 1848

MR. DOUGLASS–Dear Sir:—I sit down to write you a few lines in behalf of my colored friends that were sold a few day ago from Washington and Georgetown. It makes my very blood boil in my veins; but I hope the Lord is with them, for they have been swindled out of their rights, and robbed of even the protection of the law, which men of that place call justice.

I have just recieved a letter from Georgetown, and learn that many young men with whom I had been raised were sold. It made my very heart ache. Two of those young men had paid partly for themselves. One of them was Thomas Taylor, of Georgetown, owned by lawyer Marbury, who is writing in the War Department at this time. The other one is owned by Mr. Curtis, of that place, who is also in public office. The rest of the names I did not recieved, but will get next week. Yours, &c.,

J.R. BRADLEYBradley, James R.

This is believed to be James R. Bradley (c. 1810–?), a former slave living in Ohio. Born in Africa, Bradley was enslaved and taken to South Carolina. He was later sold to a man in Kentucky and then taken to Arkansas. Bradley eventually purchased his freedom. In 1833, he entered Lane Seminary in Cincinnati and became active in student resistance to racism in the city and school. This eventually led to his withdrawal from Lane, but Bradley continued his studies at Sheffield Manual Labor school, an associate institution of Oberlin College, becoming the school’s first African American student. It is believed that he then moved to the Ashland area, some forty miles southwest of Sheffield, Ohio. C. Peter Ripley et al, The Black Abolitionist Papers, 5 vols. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985–92), 3:141; John Frederick Bell, “Equality by Degrees: Abolitionist Colleges and the Throes of Integration, 1833–1895” (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 2017), 24, 56n; “James Bradley,” Oberlin College, Oberlin.edu. .

N.B.—I see that Delany is doing wonderfully well in the south part of this State; and I hope that every colored man in this State will improve his talents, as I am trying to do myself, so that they may be able to advance the cause of the millions in the South.

J.R.B.