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{{Short description|American woman who resisted slavery (1795–1840)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mary Bateman Clark
| honorific_suffix =
| image = 
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 1795
| birth_place = Kentucky
| death_date = 1840
| death_place =
| resting_place = Greenlawn Cemetery, Vicennes, Indiana
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| nationality =
| known_for = Indiana Supreme Court case of 1821, that freed her and set the precedent for other indentured servants
| spouse = Samuel Clark
| children = 12 children
}}
'''Mary Bateman Clark''' (1795–1840) was an American woman, born into slavery, who was taken to [[Indiana Territory]]. She was forced to become an indentured servant, even though the [[Northwest Ordinance]] prohibited slavery. She was sold in 1816, the same year that the [[Constitution of Indiana]] prohibited slavery and indentured servitude. In 1821, attorney [[Amory Kinney]] represented her as she fought for her freedom in the courts. After losing the case in the Circuit Court, she appealed to the [[Indiana Supreme Court]] in the case of ''Mary Clark v. G.W. Johnston''. She won her freedom with the precedent-setting decision against indentured servitude in Indiana. The documentary, ''Mary Bateman Clark: A Woman of Colour and Courage'', tells the story of her life and fight for freedom.

==Background==
{{Further|History of Indiana}}

Beginning in the 16th century, the present-day state of Indiana was part of [[New France]] (1534–1763), under which slavery was legal. Slavery was practiced by the French, Native Americans, and their allies. For instance, [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] traveled through the area with a Shawnee slave. Native American and Black enslaved people were bought and sold in slave markets in [[New Orleans]] and [[Canada]].<ref name="Bibbs " />{{efn|In the early 1800s, [[Knox County, Indiana|Knox County]] was wilderness ([[Northwest Territory]] (1797) and then [[Indiana Territory]] (1809)). Many of the French and English Americans who lived there before the 19th century had lived in and then abandoned their simple homes. Travel was conducted along dirt paths. After the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], former soldiers settled in the county.<ref name="Keierleber" />}}

{{quote box|align=right|width=250px|Those who were pro-slavery tried to perform an end run around the Indiana constitution by putting in place indentured servitude under which slaves, in theory, appeared to be able earn their freedom. However, the terms often placed on indentured servants were so excessive, many never actually never were able to achieve freedom.|—Rebecca R. Bibbs, ''It took two Supreme Court cases to end slavery in Indiana''<ref name="Bibbs ">{{Cite news |last=Bibbs |first=Rebecca R. |date=February 2, 2020 |title=Hidden History: It took two Supreme Court cases to end slavery in Indiana |language=en |work=The Herald |url=https://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/local_news/it-took-two-supreme-court-cases-to-end-slavery-in-indiana/article_3ed8c74a-44ba-11ea-9414-c71f02845816.html |access-date=2022-02-23}}</ref>}}
Even though the [[Northwest Ordinance]] of 1787 banned slavery, most of the African Americans were enslaved, some were [[indentured servitude|indentured servants]].<ref name="Keierleber" /><ref name="IR" /> Many of the slaveholders were influential men like civic and religious leaders, businessmen, and lawyers,<ref name="IR" /> who sanctioned going around the law to keep their [[wikt:bondservant|bondservants]].<ref name="BT" /> Slaveholders created a "loophole", that the provision did not apply to African Americans who were already enslaved in the state.<ref name="Johnson" /> In 1816, the [[Constitution of Indiana]] made forced labor illegal, stating that "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state."<ref name="Keierleber" />

[[Polly Strong]], an enslaved woman, was the plaintiff in a case that argued that she should be free. After losing in the Harrison County Circuit Court, she won the case at the [[Indiana Supreme Court]] on July 22, 1820, and she was freed.<ref name="IR" />

==Early life==
{{External media | image1=[https://www.mywabashvalley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/62/2021/02/MARY-BATEMAN-CLARK.jpg?resize=640,480 Rendering of Mary Bateman Clark] }}
Mary Bateman Clark was born into slavery in 1795.<ref name="Williams DL" />{{efn|Johnson states that she was born in 1801.<ref name="Johnson" />}} She was a teenager living in Kentucky in 1814, when she was sold to Benjamin J. Harrison, who took her north January of the following year to [[Vincennes, Indiana|Vincennes]] in [[Indiana Territory]].<ref name="BT" /><ref name="Williams DL" />{{efn|Harrison was related to the first governor of Indiana Territory, [[William Henry Harrison]], who later became the president of the [[United States]].<ref name="Keierleber" />}} Harrison forced Clark to sign an agreement, that she could not read, that required her to remain his servant for 30 years.<ref name="Williams DL" /> Blacks were threatened that if they did not sign [[indentured servitude|indenture contracts]], they would be returned to slavery in the South.<ref name="IR" />

Even though the [[Constitution of Indiana]] of 1816 prohibited slavery and servitude,<ref name="IR" /> Harrison sold Clark to [[General Washington Johnston]], his wealthy uncle and member of the [[Indiana General Assembly]]. He was a recent widower.<ref name="BT" /> On October 24, 1816, she was purchased for $350 ({{inflation|US|350|1816|fmt=eq}}) and had an indenture contract of 20 years.<ref name="Williams SB" />{{efn|Don L. Williams stated that she was purchased for $300.<ref name="Williams DL" />}}

==Court cases==
[[File:Mary, a woman of color v. General W. Johnston, 1821, Knox County, Indiana Circuit Court.jpg|thumb|''Mary, a woman of color, called Mary Clark v. General W. Johnston'', 1821, Knox County, Indiana Circuit Court]]
In 1821, Attorney [[Amory Kinney]], who one year earlier represented [[Polly Strong]], filed the [[freedom suit]] ''Mary Clark v. General W. Johnston'' to terminate Clark's indenture.<ref name="Williams SB" /> As with Strong's case, Clark lost in the Circuit Court. The court had ruled that she voluntarily entered into indentured contract, and had to finish out the 20-year term.<ref name="Keierleber" /><ref name="IBC" /> Clark was ordered to pay Johnston's court costs.<ref name="Williams SB" />

Clark's attorney appealed the decision with the Indiana Supreme Court in the case of ''Mary Clark v. G.W. Johnston''. She won her freedom on November 6, 1821, when the court ruled that servitude violated the state's 1816 Constitution.<ref name="Williams SB" /> This was a landmark contract law case for indentured servants and foretold the end of [[wikt:bondservant|forced labor]] in Indiana.<ref name="Keierleber" /><ref name="IBC" /> At some point, Samuel was also freed.<ref name="BT" />

After the Indiana Supreme Court verdicts, Kinney was attacked by mobs, and after a few years moved to [[Terre Haute, Indiana]].<ref name="Keierleber" />

==Personal life==
Mary Bateman married Samuel Clark on July 12, 1817, becoming Mary Bateman Clark.<ref name="BT" /><ref>{{Citation |title=Mary Bateman marries Samuel Clark, Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana | date= July 12, 1817 | work=County Court Records at Vincennes, Indiana, Indiana Marriages, 1802–1892 }}</ref> Samuel Clark had also come from Kentucky as an enslaved person.<ref name="BT" />{{efn|In 1890, William H. Stewart wrote a romantic version of Mary and Samuel's arrival in Indiana. Stewart said that Samuel Clark came to Vincennes first and went back to Kentucky to bring Mary to the area.<ref name="BT" />}} He was [[William Henry Harrison]]'s horse handler at the [[Battle of Tippecanoe]]. He may have been owned by Luke Decker of Knox County.<ref name="BT" /> The Clarks had twelve children together. The seven known children were born between 1820 and 1837: Mary Eliza Brewer, George, William G. W., Frances, John S., Lovina Mariah Reynolds, and Maria Rollins. The family lived in Vincennes.<ref name="BT" /> Bateman Clark was a co-founder of the Bethel AME Church of Vincennes.<ref name="Keierleber" /> She died in 1840 of dysentery after drinking poisoned water and was buried in the Greenlawn Cemetery in Vincennes.<ref name="BT" /> Samuel death was reported on October 27, 1869.<ref name="BT" />

==Legacy==
{{External media | image1=[https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/find-historical-markers-by-county/indiana-historical-markers-by-county/mary-clark/ Mary Clark historical marker, Knox County Courthouse] }}
* Outside the Knox County Court House in [[Vincennes, Indiana]], a historical marker commemorates Clark and her landmark Supreme Court case. It was installed on June 27, 2009. Although Vincennes was the first black community in the state, the marker is the only state memorial in the town.<ref name="IBC" />
* Ethel McCane and Eunice Trotter, Clark's three times great granddaughters perform reenactments of the case in Indiana.<ref name="IBC" />
* The documentary, ''Mary Bateman Clark: A Woman of Colour and Courage'', tells the story of her life and fight for freedom. Produced by the [[Agency for Instructional Technology]], it was televised on local PBS affiliates during [[Black History Month]].<ref name="Keierleber" /><ref name="PBS" />

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist | refs=

<ref name="BT">{{Cite magazine |last=Brewer-Trotter |first=Eunice |date=2015-09-22 |title=Mary Bateman Clark: a woman of color and courage |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=1040788X&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA436544089&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |magazine=Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History | publisher= Indiana Historical Society Press |language=English |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=38–46 |access-date=2022-02-20}}</ref>

<ref name="IBC">{{Cite web |title=Mary Bateman Clark Project |url=https://www.in.gov/ibc/legacyprojects/2770.htm |access-date=2022-02-21 |website=Indiana Bicentennial Commission, Indiana state government}}</ref>

<ref name="IR">{{Cite news |date=August 9, 2021 |title=Mary Bateman Clark helped end slavery, indentured servitude in Indiana |language=en-US |work=Indianapolis Recorder |url=https://indianapolisrecorder.com/mary-bateman-clark-helped-end-slavery-indentured-servitude-in-indiana/ |access-date=2022-02-21}}</ref>

<ref name="Johnson">{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Taylor |date=2021-02-09 |title=Polly Strong & Mary Clark remembered as 'pioneers in this ongoing struggle for freedom' |language=en-US |work=My Wabash Valley, WTWO-TV, Nexstar Media |url=https://www.mywabashvalley.com/hidden-history/black-history-month/polly-strong-mary-clark-remembered-as-pioneers-in-this-ongoing-struggle-for-freedom/ |access-date=2022-02-21}}</ref>

<ref name="Keierleber">{{Cite news |last=Keierleber |first=Mark |date=February 16, 2013 |title=Woman's battle helped end slavery in Indiana |work=The Herald-Tribune}}</ref>

<ref name="PBS">{{Cite web |title=Mary Bateman Clark: A Woman Of Colour And Courage (documentary) |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/wtiu-presents-mary-bateman-clark-woman-colour-and-courage/ |website=PBS }}</ref>

<ref name="Williams DL">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=David L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jnBOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |title=African Americans in Indianapolis: The Story of a People Determined to Be Free |date=2022 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253059499 |pages=4}}</ref>

<ref name="Williams SB">{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Sandra Boyd |year=1997 |title=The Indiana Supreme Court and the Struggle Against Slavery |journal=Indiana Law Review |series=Symposium: The History of Indiana Courts: People, Legacy and Defining Moments |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=307–310 |doi=10.18060/3223|doi-broken-date=31 December 2022 }}</ref>
}}

==External links==
* {{Cite web |title=The Mary Bateman Clark Project |url=http://www.marybatemanclark.org/scheduling |website=www.marybatemanclark.org}}

{{Indiana history}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Mary Bateman}}

[[Category:1795 births]]
[[Category:18th-century American slaves]]
[[Category:19th-century American slaves]]
[[Category:People of the Northwest Territory]]
[[Category:19th century in the Northwest Territory]]
[[Category:19th-century American people]]
[[Category:19th-century African-American women]]
[[Category:Freedom suits in the United States]]
[[Category:Indiana state case law]]
[[Category:Legal history of Indiana]]
[[Category:1821 in United States case law]]
[[Category:United States slavery case law]]
[[Category:1821 in Indiana]]
[[Category:African-American history of Indiana]]
[[Category:1840 deaths]]

Mary Bateman Clark - Revision history

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