Belinda Royall
Author of the first known slave narrative by an African woman in the United States · Ghana · On the map · Writers · Lived 1712 to 1790 · aged 78
Belinda Sutton, also known as Belinda Royall, was a woman born in what is now Ghana who was enslaved by the Royall family at the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford, Massachusetts, USA. Additional details of Sutton's family life are under ongoing research.
Belinda Royall is read about 9 times a day, in 6 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 24 June 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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About this person
Baptism records for a son Joseph, and a daughter Prine, appear in church records. Belinda was abandoned by Isaac Royall Jr. when he fled to Nova Scotia at the beginning of the American Revolution. In Royall's will, a number of enslaved people are listed, but Belinda was unique in his wishes:"In his will he gave his slave Belinda the option of freedom, and he further 'provided that she get security that she shall not be a charge in the town of Medford.' If she did not elect freedom, he bequeathed her to his daughter Mary Erving. Other slaves were bequeathed and some were sold, but Belinda was emancipated."
