Peggy Pompadore (circa 1766-1827) Commemorative plaque, 2022.
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Resource ID
10088
Access
Open
Credit Line
Heritage Toronto
Date of Creation
2022
Historical Themes
Black Heritage, Labour History
Program Category
Historical Plaques
Time Period
1615-1793, 1794-1834, 1835-1899
Caption
Peggy Pompadore (circa 1766-1827) Commemorative plaque, 2022.
Description
Peggy Pompadore was a Black woman enslaved in York (Toronto) with her children. Throughout her life, she took great risks to resist her oppression.
Peggy and her children — Amy, Jupiter, and Milly — were enslaved by the administrator of Upper Canada, Peter Russell, and his half-sister Elizabeth. A number of the city’s wealthy elite also enslaved African Canadians in Toronto. Peggy’s husband, Pompadore, was a free man paid by the Russells.
Peggy and her family worked as labourers on the Russell farm or as domestic servants: cooking, washing laundry, and making soap and candles. Several times, Peggy ran away or refused to work and was put in jail. Jupiter was also jailed for resisting his enslavement. In her diary, Elizabeth Russell insulted the Pompadores, and Peter Russell tried to sell Peggy away from her family.
Around 1810, Elizabeth Russell gave Amy to her goddaughter Sophia Denison, who lived in faraway Weston, likely as a punishment for Peggy. Pompadore died in 1807 and Peter Russell in 1808. After Elizabeth Russell died in 1822, Peggy, Milly, and Jupiter lived as free people. Amy, however, stayed enslaved by the Denisons and was the last enslaved person in York.
An elderly Peggy Pompadore was still in York in 1827; she died soon after.