Congo Mander
This Ancestor Profile was submitted by Darius Johnson, a scholar-practitioner focused on public history, historic preservation, community development, and philanthropy. His efforts are driven by his desire to help strengthen and sustain communities by drawing upon the intersections of cultural heritage, land use, and storytelling. At Washington College, Darius leads Chesapeake Heartland: An African American Humanities Project with collaborative digital repatriation partnerships with the Maryland State Archives, Maryland Center for History and Culture, and the American Antiquarian Society. Darius is also a student at Goucher College where he is earning a Master’s Degree in Historic Preservation, and he serves as a Trustee for the Maryland Historical Trust.
Born in Africa and enslaved in Maryland, Congo Mander (Mango) secured his freedom and turned it into liberation for others. In 1800, he purchased the freedom of Cato Daws, pledging a bond of 100 pounds — an extraordinary sum — to release him from enslavement by James Woodland near Galena in Kent County. Such acts were part of a wider tradition of free Black people sacrificing their own hard-earned resources to help others escape bondage. Today, Mander’s legacy endures not only through the family line he helped establish, but also through a descendant from Philadelphia who, after finding the 1800 purchase document in the Chesapeake Heartland archive and tracing land records, is working to restore a home connected to his family in Kent County. His story reminds us that freedom was a collective achievement built on courage, sacrifice, and community care.
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This list of Kent County taxpayers, found in a database of historic newspapers, shows that Congo — having taken the surname Mander — was still living on his 5-acre farm in 1824. The date of his death is unknown.
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This small piece of paper opens a window into the life story of a man who was born in Africa, enslaved in Maryland, gained his freedom, and helped others become free. He gave rise to a Black family that can be traced to the present day.
The 1800 document records a free person of color, Congo Mango (later known as Congo Mander), purchasing an enslaved man named Cato Daws in order to grant Daws his freedom. Such generous acts were not uncommon in the early African American community, with those who were already free saving up hard-earned money to purchase others’ freedom from white slaveholders.
Both Mander and Daws lived near what is now Galena in Kent County, where Daws was enslaved by James Woodland. By signing this document, Mander pledged a bond of 100 pounds — a very large sum — that Daws would cause no “trouble, cost, or expense” to Woodland during his new life as a free man.