Thehistory of slavery in South Dakota is generally seen as short and limited. The issue was contentious for the legislature between the creation of theNebraska Territory (which South Dakota was a part of) in 1854 and the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War in 1861. However, there was apparently a particular acceptance of African Americans in the Nebraska Territory when they first arriveden masse. According to a publication by theFederal Writers' Project,
In the Territory of Nebraska the fight to exclude slavery from within the territorial boundaries spread from the Senate to the press and to the pulpit. Even among the slaves in the South the word spread that here was a place where the attitude toward Negroes was tempered with tolerance.[1]
York, an enslaved African American held byWilliam Clark, traveled and worked with him in 1804 and 1806 as part of the famousLewis and Clark Expedition's exploration of theMissouri River lands. He was the first black person recorded in what would become South Dakota.
In 1820, theUnited States Congress passed theMissouri Compromise. It prohibited slavery in the unorganized lands that would become the Nebraska Territory. The topic of slavery in Nebraska Territory would not be revisited by Congress until 1854.
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