No birth certificate exists, but Mr. Darrell was born into slavery about 1749. A 1795 receipt for his purchase for ?150 by Governor James Crawford, and his Manumission a year later stating his age as 47 do exist and are part of the exhibit.

The three Acts, pilotage returns from Bermuda, census figures and the rights of a child of an interracial couple - which Mr. Darrell himself is suspected to have been - are among the items also displayed and explained.

“This is our history, and it’s a history of what slavery meant in Bermuda. It’s specific. It’s not slavery as it appeared in the American South or the Caribbean. It is Bermudian history, and it’s groundbreaking,” Ms. Hayward said. “The details that we have uncovered in this exhibition have not been examined or reported elsewhere.”

School groups, residents and visitors are invited to view this free exhibit until December 31.

A printed version of the documents on display is available upon request.

Other duplications may be made, depending upon donor permission and copyright, for a fee.

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