"free negro" William Bass was the foster son of a slave in Marlboro District, South Carolina on 14 December 1859 when he petitioned the legislature to become the slave of Philip W. Pledger, explaining that, "his position as a free person of color, a negro, is more degrading and involves more suffering in this State, than that of a slave...he is preyed upon by every sharper with whom he comes in contact...and is charged and punished for every offense guilty or not, committed in this neighborhood...and lives a thousand times harder, and in more destitution than the slaves of many planters [Henry, Police Control of the Slave in South Carolina, 196-7, citing Charleston Courier of 20 December 1859].

William's branch of the Bass family descended from a white man who married an Indian woman in Norfolk County, Virginia, in 1638 and blended into the free African American community. Philip Pledger may have had some connection to Morris Pledger who was head of an Anson County, North Carolina household of 6 "other free" persons in 1800 [census p. 203].
Paul

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