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Courtesy of the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection
Courtesy of the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection
Chester Joie
Courtesy of the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection

Chester Joie

1773 - 1774
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Chester Joie was an enslaved Boston resident who co-organized the first collective legal movement for abolition in American history. Working with a committee of Black activists that included Felix Holbrook and Peter Bestes, Joie petitioned the Massachusetts government for natural rights. He co-signed the historic April 20, 1773, freedom petition, which was distributed as a circular letter to colony lawmakers. Joie’s advocacy directly highlighted the contradiction of white colonists fighting for their own liberty from Great Britain while keeping Black Americans in slavery.