Mary Black [note 1] was an African-American enslaved by Nathaniel Putnam of the Putnam family who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. Nathaniel's nephew was Thomas Putnam, one of the primary accusers. However, Nathaniel himself was skeptical and even defended Rebecca Nurse. [1] Mary was arrested, indicted, and imprisoned, but did not go to trial, and was released by proclamation on January 21, 1693 [ O.S. January 11, 1692]. She returned to Nathaniel's household after she was released, another indication of Nathaniel's view of the charges against her. [2]
Along with Tituba and Candy, Mary was one of three enslaved people accused during the hysteria. All of them survived.
John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin ordered Mary Black, along with Sarah Wildes, Sarah and Edward Bishop, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Nehemiah Abbot, Mary Eastey, and Mary English to be arrested on April 21, 1692, on "high suspicion" of witchcraft performed on Ann Putnam, Jr., Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and others, due to a complaint by Thomas Putnam and John Buxton. [2]
Her examination, which was recorded by Samuel Parris, was notable for the fact she was asked to re-pin her neckcloth, which seemingly caused the afflicted girls, including Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, and Mercy Lewis to be pricked, to the point of drawing blood, according to the transcript. Mary maintained her innocence. [2]
Mary was put on trial in January 1693, and no one appeared against her, so she was released. In his book, Satan and Salem, Benjamin Ray puts forth the "likely" possibility that Nathaniel Putnam was too well respected for anyone to accuse his servant of wrongdoing. He did not accuse her himself, and he paid her jailing fees and took her back into his household. He further theorizes that her steadfast testimony as to her innocence might have been due to Putnam's coaching. Mary's accusers may have been retaliating for Nathaniel having spoken out in defense of Rebecca Nurse. Little else could be gained by accusing an enslaved person, as they did not own property. [1]
The Crucible is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, when the United States government persecuted people accused of being communists. Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging. One other man, Giles Corey, died under torture after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in jail.
Elizabeth "Betty" Parris was one of the young girls who accused other people of being witches during the Salem witch trials. The accusations made by Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams caused the direct death of 20 Salem residents: 19 were hanged, while another, Giles Corey, was pressed to death.
John Proctor was a landowner in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He and his wife Elizabeth were tried and convicted of witchcraft as part of the Salem Witch Trials, whereupon he was hanged.
Ann Putnam was a primary accuser, at age 12, at the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts during the later portion of 17th-century Colonial America. Born 1679 in Salem Village, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, she was the eldest child of Thomas (1652–1699) and Ann Putnam (1661–1699).
Elizabeth Proctor was convicted of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was the wife of John Proctor, who was convicted and executed.
Tituba was a Native American slave woman who was one of the first to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692–1693.
Bridget Bishop was the first person executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials in 1692. Nineteen were hanged, and one, Giles Corey, was pressed to death. Altogether, about 200 people were tried.
Sarah Good was one of the first three women to be accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials, which occurred in 1692 in colonial Massachusetts.
Mercy Lewis was an accuser during the Salem Witch Trials. She was born in Falmouth, Maine. Mercy Lewis, formally known as Mercy Allen, was the child of Philip Lewis and Mary (Cass) Lewis.
Rebecca Nurse was a woman who was accused of witchcraft and executed by hanging in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later.
Dorothy Good was the daughter of William Good and Sarah Good.
Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials abound in art, literature and popular media in the United States, from the early 19th century to the present day. The literary and dramatic depictions are discussed in Marion Gibson's Witchcraft Myths in American Culture and see also Bernard Rosenthal's Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692
This timeline of the Salem witch trials is a quick overview of the events.
Mary Towne Eastey was a defendant in the Salem witch trials in colonial Massachusetts. She was executed by hanging in Salem in 1692.
Sarah Wildes was wrongly convicted of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials and was executed by hanging. She maintained her innocence throughout the process, and was later exonerated. Her husband's first wife was a member of the Gould family, cousins of the Putnam family, the primary accusers, and court records document the family feuds which led to her persecution.
Sarah Cloys/Cloyce was among the many accused during Salem Witch Trials including two of her older sisters, Rebecca Nurse and Mary Eastey, who were both executed. Cloys/Cloyce was about 50-years-old at the time and was held without bail in cramped prisons for many months before her release.
Isaac Eastey was the English-born husband of Mary Eastey, who was executed during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in North America. Isaac and Mary were both highly respected members of the Salem Village Church, and the community in general. Isaac played a significant role in the witch trials, which is often overlooked in history. Despite being one of the primary reasons for Mary's accusation, he desperately tried to clear his wife's name and put an end to the trials altogether.
Candy was an Afro-Barbadian woman enslaved by Margaret Hawkes of Salem Town, who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. On July 1, 1692, John Putnam, Jr. and Thomas Putnam accused both Hawkes and Candy of tormenting Ann Putnam, Jr., Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren. Upon interrogation, she "admitted" to being a witch but turned on her enslaver, claiming that Hawkes had turned her into a witch and forced her to sign the devil's book. Despite this admission, she was found not guilty and was released. There is no record of Margaret Hawkes having been arrested. Unlike many of the other accused married women, who were referred to as "Goodwife", Margaret was addressed with the honorific "Mrs.", which indicates she was of a higher social class.