At the beginning of October 1800, an African woman named Venus arrived at the seaport of Frederiksted on the western end of St. Croix, Danish West Indies.

Like millions of captive Africans before her, she had crossed the Atlantic aboard a slave ship carrying a traumatized human cargo. But, unlike most Africans, she had made the voyage not as a shackled captive in the fetid, cramped confines below deck, but as a free woman in the captain's cabin.

Husslave i Senegal
The slaver that brought Venus to Frederiksted was named the William Henry, a bark of 60 tons, owned by Messrs. Dewhurst and Hennessy of Frederiksted. Its captain was an American mariner named John George Maddock, who had sailed from St. Croix for Africa in April 1800. Venus had met Maddock in the summer of 1800 on the tiny island of Gorée just off the coast of Senegal. At the time Venus was enslaved. According to Venus' own statement, she had been born (probably about 1770 according to other sources), along the banks of the Saloum River in Senegal. As a young girl she was captured and taken to Gorée, where she was sold to Anne Roussine Pepin and became part of her household. Anna Roussine was a free woman of color from a prominent local family, who was married to the free mustee Nicolas Pepin. At the time, the free colored population (offspring of French slave traders and African women), comprised the dominant social and economic class on Gorée - their wealth and status having been assured by a well-established system of domestic slavery along with their role as middle men and women in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Nicholas Pepin is credited with having built the notorious "house of slaves" on Gorée sometime around 1784, and it is likely that Venus was living and working in that residence when she first set eyes on John George Maddock, or to be more exact, when he first set eyes on her.

Gift med en slavekaptajn
According to Venus' account, Captain Maddox became so infatuated with her that he offered to purchase her from Anna Roussine. Mindful that it was dangerous and against tradition for the dominant free colored to sell their domestic slaves to captains engaged in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Anne Roussine declined Maddock's offer. She knew that such nefarious transactions had led to rebellions on Gorée and elsewhere along the African coast. But, like other members of her class, Anna Roussine was a shrewd business woman, who was quick to put forward a counter-proposition. In exchange for one slave, she would give Venus to Maddock if he would free her unconditionally. To this offer Maddock agreed.

What followed was a very elaborate ritual, designed, one can imagine, to publicly demonstrate that Venus was not being sold or swapped by the Pepins, but was becoming a free woman attached to a man who would take care of her. Venus was formally escorted by two White men to Maddock's rooms in the Pepin house. There the couple remained until morning, when, according to the transcription of Venus' statement "they were awaken by the noise of Drums and music, a sumptuous Feast was made, at which were present all the Officers; all those in any public capacity; and all persons of Note or distinction. This is the Marriage usage at Gorée, to give publicity and validity to the Ceremony."

Thus, Venus came to be not only free, but ostensibly married as well. Venus and Maddock lived together in the Pepin house for about two months. Presumably, during that time Maddock was also engaged in collecting the 61 African captives (38 men, 16 women, 2 boys, 2 girls and 3 children) that he would eventually carry to the West Indies. When Maddock made ready to leave for St. Croix, Venus, according to her own statement, offered to accompany him on condition that he give her his bond that he would bring her back to Gorée. Maddock consented and Venus left his bond with Nicolas Pepin before setting sail for St. Croix.

Solgt som slave - igen!
When the William Henry set anchor in Frederiksted's roadstead, Venus was no doubt aware that her relationship with Maddock had deteriorated. But, even though she certainly had had some prior experience with the type of men who engaged in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and, accordingly, had taken the precaution of securing Maddock's bond before she left with him from Gorée, she could only have been stunned by what happened next. For upon coming ashore in Frederiksted, Maddock sold Venus to Jehodan Yates, the 5-year old daughter of his old friend Captain John Yates, an American mariner from Charleston, South Carolina, who had been living on St. Croix since 1780. Among other things, Yates was engaged in the inter-island slave trade. Having completed this perverse transaction, and obtaining clearance from Danish custom authorities, Maddock sailed off with his entire cargo of slaves, which he eventually sold to eager buyers elsewhere in the Americas.

Venus was now alone, enslaved for a second time, in an unfamiliar West Indian town, full of people speaking languages that she could barely understand. Actually, Frederiksted was little more than a village, with only 1,158 inhabitants, two-thirds of them enslaved. Venus was used to working as a domestic, but otherwise, she had to acquire new language skills, develop personal networks, and learn how to adapt and survive in a totally new environment.

Survive she did, with the fortitude and determination befitting the women of Africa. Between 1800 and 1815, Venus lived with, served and helped support Jehodan Yates and her large family. During that period, she bore four children - Charlotte Loins or Lyons, a mulatto, Elvira Hoames, a Black, John Frederick Hoames, a Black and Rosaline Thomas. All of these children were delivered by midwife Rebecca Duncan of Frederiksted.

Frigivet ved dom
By the end of 1815, Venus had tolerated her wrongful enslavement long enough. For reasons that remain unclear, she decided in November to bring her case to the attention of the Danish authorities. It may have been that the authorities themselves encouraged her to take action, for they proved to be remarkably sympathetic to her side of the story. Thus it was that Venus made a statement bring forward the facts that appear in the preceding paragraphs. Her declaration was corroborated by two White men, one of whom claimed to have heard it from Maddock himself, the other affirming that he heard it from Nicholas Pepin at Gorée in 1804. Three enslaved sailors who crewed for Maddox on his 1800 voyage also verified the details. The magistrate who had interviewed Venus and the various witnesses informed Governor-General General Peter L. Oxholm that, having heard their statements and seen a copy of the document freeing Venus, he was personally convinced that Venus was telling the truth and, therefore, that she had been illegally enslaved in 1800.

Dansk "retfærdighed"
Venus' mistress, Mrs. Jehodan Yates Williams (her married name), did not dispute Venus' story. She did, however claim that without the assistance of Venus and her children she was unable to support herself - a revealing statement about the impact of slavery on free White females of the colony, as well as the role of enslaved Africans in the colonial economy.
Confronted with the wrongful enslavement of a Black woman and her children on the one hand, and the economic incapacity of a 20 year-old, married White woman on the other, the Danish authorities reached the following Solomonic decision: Venus and her 1-year old daughter Rosaline were to be immediately freed, while Venus' three older children were to remain enslaved to Jehodan Williams until such a time as Venus purchased their freedom, or until Mrs. Williams either died or freed them. The enslaved children were valued in Pieces of Eight (Ps.- The Spanish Dollar), as follows: Charlotte = Ps. 350; Elvira = Ps. 250 and John Frederick = Ps. 200, which were fixed as the prices that had to be paid for their freedom, and Mrs. Williams was prohibited from selling them for any other purpose than their freedom. So saith the Danes, who ruled St. Croix until they sold the island and its people to the United States in 1917.

Historien om Venus bygger på oplysninger fra "The St. Croix Population Database 1734 - 1917."