Belinda Royall facts for kids

Belinda Sutton (born 1713 in West Africa), also known as Belinda Royall, was a Ghanaian-born woman who was enslaved by the Royall family at the Isaac Royall House in Medford, Massachusetts, USA. She was abandoned by, Isaac Royall Jr., when he fled to Nova Scotia at the beginning of the American Revolution.

In February 1783, Sutton presented a petition to the Massachusetts General Court requesting a pension from the proceeds of her enslaver's estate. As a result of this petition, an annual pension of fifteen pounds and twelve shillings was awarded to her. This pension has been cited as one of the first cases of reparation for slavery and the slave trade.

Subsequent petitions to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts indicate that after two initial payments, the pension payments were not forthcoming. She continued to petition for the back payments until a final filing in 1793.

In her 1980 poem "Belinda's Petition," Rita Dove gives voice to a woman first enslaved at age 12: "Lately your Countrymen have severed / the Binds of Tyranny," she says, adding simply, "I would hope you / would consider the Same for me."