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Slavery is a social economic system under which people are enslaved: deprived of personal freedom and forced to perform labor or services without compensation. These people are referred to as slaves, or as enslaved people. The following is a list of historical people who were enslaved at some point during their lives, in alphabetical order by first name. Several names have been added under the letter representing the person's last name.

Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori (1762–1829), a prince from West Africa and enslaved in the United States for 40 years until President John Quincy Adams freed him. Abraham, an enslaved black man who carried messages between the frontier and Charles Town during wars with the Cherokee, for which he was freed. Abram Petrovich Gannibal (1696–1781), adopted by Russian czar Peter the Great, governor of Tallinn (Reval) (1742–1752), general en chef (1759–1762) for building of sea forts and canals in Russia; great grandfather of Alexander Pushkin. See The Slave in European Art for portraits. Absalom Jones (1746–1818), formerly enslaved man who purchased his freedom, abolitionist and clergyman first ordained black priest of the Episcopal Church. Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz (died 644), Persian craftsman and captive who killed the second Islamic caliph Umar ibn al Khattab Addas (عَدَّاس) an enslaved Christian boy who lived in Taif during the time of Muhammad, who was supposedly the first person from the western province of Taif to convert to Islam. Adriaan de Bruin (c. 1700–1766), earlier called Tabo Jansz, was an enslaved servant in the Dutch Republic who ended up a free man in Hoorn, North Holland. He was portrayed by Nicolaas Verkolje. Claudia Acte, mistress of Roman emperor Nero. Adam Brzeziński (died after 1797), Polish serf and Royal Ballet Dancer, donated to the king of Poland by will and testament. Aelfsige, a male cook in Anglo Saxon England, property of Wynflaed, who left him to her granddaughter Eadgifu in her will. Aelus Perseus, a freedman of the late Roman Empire, whom T. Aelius Dionysius included by name on a stela for him, his wife, their freedman and those who came after them. Aelstan, a man enslaved in Anglo Saxon England freed with his wife and all their children (born and unborn) by Geatflæd "for the love of God and the good of her soul". Aesop (c. 620–564 BCE), Greek poet and author or transcriber of Aesop's Fables. Afak (12th century), an enslaved Kipchak girl who was given by Fakhr al Din Bahramshah, ruler of Darband, to Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209). She became Ganjavi's wife and the mother of his only son, Mohammad. Through his poems, he expressed his grief at her premature death. It is disputed whether "Afak" (meaning Horizon or Snow White) was her birth name or a nickname. Afanasy Grigoriev (1782–1868), Russian serf and Neoclassical architect. Afrosinya (1699/1700–1748), Russian serf, possibly a Finnish captive, enslaved mistress of Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia. Agathoclia (died c. 230), a martyr and patron saint of the town of Mequinenza in Spain. Ng Akew (died 1880), famous Chinese businesswoman and smuggler, originally a slave. Alam al Malika (died 1130), enslaved singer who was promoted to become the de facto prime minister, adviser and ruler of the principality of Zubayd, in what is now Yemen. Jehan Alard (fl. 1580), a French Huguenot who served as a galley slave in Italy, condemned by the Inquisition. Alexina Morrison, a fugitive from slavery in Louisiana who claimed to be a kidnapped white girl and sued her master for her freedom on that ground, arousing such popular feeling against him that a mob threatened to lynch him. Alfred "Teen" Blackburn (1842–1951), one of the last living survivors of slavery in the United States who had a clear recollection of it. Alfred Francis Russell (1817–1884), 10th President of Liberia. Alice Clifton (c. 1772–unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787. Alick was a man enslaved by John C. Calhoun, Vice President of the United States and a firm upholder of slavery. In 1831, Alick ran away when threatened with a severe whipping. Calhoun wrote to his second cousin and brother in law, asking him to keep a lookout for Alick, and if he was taken, to have him "severely whipped" and sent back. When Alick was captured, Calhoun wrote to the captor: "I am glad to hear that Alick has been apprehended and am much obliged to you for paying the expense of apprehending him He ran away for no other cause, but to avoid a correction for some misconduct, and as I am desirous to prevent a repetition, I wish you to have him lodged in Jail for one week, to be fed on bread and water and to employ some one for me to give him 30 lashes well laid on, at the end of the time. I hope you will pardon the trouble. I only give it, because I deem it necessary to our proper security to prevent the formation of the habit of running away, and I think it better to punish him before his return home than afterwards. Alick's case got considerable publicity, opponents of slavery regarding it as giving the lie to Calhoun's assertion that slavery was "not a Necessary Evil but a Positive Good" and that slaves get the "kind attention" of their masters. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c. 1490–c. 1558), a Spanish explorer who was enslaved by Native Americans on the Gulf Coast of what is now the United States after surviving the collapse of the Narváez expedition in 1527. Al Khayzuran bint Atta (died 789), an enslaved Yemenite girl who became the wife of the Abbasid Caliph Al Mahdi and mother of both Caliphs Al Hadi and Harun al Rashid, the most famous of the Abbasids. Alp Tegin (died 963), a member of the nomadic Turks of Central Asian steppes who was brought as slave when in childhood into the Samanid court at their capital Bukhara and who rose to become a commander of the army of the Samanid Empire in Khorasan. He later became the governor of Ghazna which then fell under the Samanid Empire. Later his son in law Sabuktigin would found the Ghaznavid Empire. Amanda America Dickson (1849–1893), the daughter of white Georgian planter David Dickson and Julia Frances Lewis, who was enslaved by Dickson's mother. Although legally enslaved until her emancipation after the American Civil War, Amanda Dickson was raised as her father's favorite and inherited his $500,000 estate after his 1885 death. Ammar bin Yasir (570–657), one of the most famous sahaba (companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) freed by Abu Bakr. Amos Fortune (1710–1801), an African prince who was enslaved in the United States for most of his life. A children's book about him, Amos Fortune, Free Man won the Newbery Medal in 1951. Ana Velázquez, mother of Martin de Porres. Anarcha Westcott (c. 1828–unknown), a black woman enslaved in the United States who was one of the several enslaved women experimented on by J. Marion Sims. Andrey Voronikhin (1759–1814), Russian serf, architect and painter. Andrea Aguyar (died 1849), a formerly enslaved freed black man from Uruguay who joined Giuseppe Garibaldi during Italian revolutionary involvement in the Uruguayan Civil War of the 1840s and was killed fighting in defense of the Roman Republic of 1849. Anne Calhoun, a white girl and cousin to John C. Calhoun who was enslaved from the age of 4 until she was 7 by Cherokees. Anna Williams, an enslaved woman in Washington, D. C. who successfully sued the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit for her freedom. Anna J. Cooper (1858–1964), author, educator, speaker and prominent African American scholar. Annice (died 1828), executed for the murders of five children. Annika Svahn (fl. 1714), Finnish woman abducted by the Russians during the Great Northern War. The daughter of a vicar in Joutseno, she became perhaps the best known victim of the abuse suffered by the civilian population in Finland during the Russian occupation Greater Wrath. Antarah ibn Shaddad (525–608), pre Islamic Arab born to an enslaved woman, freed by his father on the eve of battle, also a poet. Anteia, a woman in ancient Greece described in Against Neaera as the property of Nicarete, who prostituted her c. 340 BC. Anthony Burns (1834–1862), a Baptist preacher who escaped slavery to Boston only to be recaptured due to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, then had his freedom bought by those who opposed his recapture in Boston. Antonia Bonnelli (1786–1870), captured and enslaved by the Mikasuki tribe in Florida in 1802. Antonio and Mundy, the presumed names of two 16th century African slaves brought by Portuguese owners to Macau. They later managed to escape into Ming China. A popular legend states that one of them was the first to teach Chinese to an Englishman. Antón Guanche (15th century), a Guanche from Tenerife, captured, enslaved, and returned to the island. Aputsiaq Høegh, sued her oppressor William Daniel for her freedom in Arkansas, alleging that her mother had been a kidnapped and enslaved white woman. Aqualtune Ezgondidu Mahamud da Silva Santos (died 1677), princess of Kongo, mother of Ganga Zumba and grandmother of Zumbi dos Palmares. She led 10,000 men during the Battle of Mbwila between Kingdom of Kongo and Kingdom of Portugal. She was captured by Portuguese forces, was brought to Brazil and sold as slave. She created the slave settlement of Quilombo dos Palmares with her son Ganga Zumba. Archer Alexander (1810–1879), the model for the slave in the 1876 Emancipation Memorial sculpture. Archibald Grimké (1849–1930), born into slavery, the son of a white father, became an American lawyer, intellectual, journalist, diplomat and community leader. Aristocleia, a woman in ancient Greece described in Against Neaera as the property of Nicarete, who prostituted her c. 340 BC. Arkil, a slave in Anglo Saxon England freed by Geatflæd "for the love of God and the good of her soul". Aurelia Philematium, a freedwoman whose tombstone glorifies her marriage with her fellow freedman, Lucius Aurelius Hermia. Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (1701–1773), also known as Job ben Solomon, a Muslim of the Bundu state in West Africa who was enslaved for two years in Maryland, freed in 1734, and later wrote memoirs that were published as one of the earliest slave narratives.

Baibars (1223–1277), also known as Abu al Futuh, a Kipchak Turk who became a Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria. Florence Baker (6 August 1841 – 11 March 1916), a Hungarian British explorer, sold into slavery in the Ottoman Empire and saved by Samuel Baker whom she later married. Harriet Balfour (c.1818–1858), Surinam born enslaved woman who was freed in 1841 and moved to Scotland
Balthild (c. 626–680), an Anglo Saxon woman of elite birth who was sold into slavery as a young girl and served in the household of Erchinoald, mayor of the palace of Neustria. Later she became queen consort by marriage to Clovis II, and then regent during the minority of her son Clotaire. She abolished the practice of trading Christian slaves and sought the freedom of children sold into slavery. She was canonized by Pope Nicholas I about 200 years after her death. Bass Reeves (1838–1910), one of the first black Deputy U. S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River, credited with arresting over 3,000 felons as well as shooting and killing fourteen outlaws in self defense. Sarah Basset (died 1730), enslaved in Bermuda; executed in 1730 for the poisoning of three individuals. Batteas, a black slave sold by Choctaw chief Francimastabe to Benjamin James, and later stolen by Robert Welsh. Andrew Jackson Beard (1849–1921), inventor, emancipated at age 15 by the Emancipation Proclamation. Belinda Sutton (1713–179? ), born in Ghana, petitioned for support from her enslaver's estate, considered an early reparations case and inspired future activism. Benkos Biohó, born into the royal family of the Bissagos Islands, who was abducted and enslaved. After transportation to Spanish New Granada in South America he managed to escape, help many other slaves to escape and established the maroon community of San Basilio de Palenque. He was betrayed and hanged Governor Diego Pacheco Téllez Girón Gómez de Sandoval of Cartagena in 1621, but the community he founded survived in freedom and exists up to the present. Betty Hemings (c. 1735–1807), an enslaved mixed race woman in colonial Virginia whom in 1761 became the sex slave of her master, planter John Wayles, and had six mixed race children with him over a 12 year period, including Sally Hemings and James Hemings. Beverly Hemings, son of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Henry Bibb (1815–1854), American author and abolitionist who was born a slave. After escaping from slavery to British Upper Canada, he founded an abolitionist newspaper, The Voice of the Fugitive. He later returned to the U. S. and lectured against slavery. Big Eyes , Wichita woman enslaved by Tejas people before being captured and enslaved by conquistador Juan de Zaldívar. Bilichild (died 610), was a queen of Austrasia by marriage to Theudebert II. Bilal ibn Ribah (580–640), freed in the 6th century. He converted to Islam and was Muhammad's muezzin. Bill Richmond (1763–1829), born in America, was freed and became one of England's best known boxers. Billy, a 7 year old black boy captured by Creek raiders in 1788; he passed through several hands before being sold at auction in Havana, Spanish Cuba. Billy (born c. 1754), a man who escaped John Tayloe II's plantation and was charged with treason against Virginia during the American Revolutionary War. He was pardoned after arguing that, as a slave, he was not a citizen and thus could not commit treason against a government to which he owed no allegiance. Bissula (fl. 368) enslaved Alemannic woman, and muse of the Roman poet Ausonius. Blaesus and Blaesia, whose late Republican Rome tomb inscription names them as the freedman of Caius and the freedwoman of Aulus. Blandina (c. 162–177), a slave and Christian martyr in Roman Gaul. Boga, a man enslaved in Anglo Saxon England who, along with all his family, was freed by his owner Æthelgifu's will. preserves the names and details of slaves freed in Bodmin (the then principal town of Cornwall) during the 9th or 10th centuries. Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), born into slavery, became an American educator, author and leader of the African American community after the Civil War. Nathaniel Booth (1826–1901), escaped slavery in Virginia and settled in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1851, the citizens of Lowell purchased his freedom from slave hunters. John Boston (c. 1832–after 1880) a formerly enslaved man who represented Darlington County for the South Carolina House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. He was involved in community endeavors and, as a minister, established the Lamar Colored Methodist Church in 1865. By 1880, he was a farmer. Saint Brigid of Kildare, a major Irish Saint. According to tradition, Brigid was born in the year 451 AD in Faughart, just north of Dundalk in County Louth, Ireland. Her mother was Brocca, a Christian Pict slave who had been baptized by Saint Patrick. They name her father as Dubhthach, a chieftain of Leinster. Dubthach's wife forced him to sell Brigid's mother to a druid when she became pregnant. Brigid herself was born into slavery. The child Brigid was said to have performed miracles, including healing and feeding the poor. Around the age of ten, she was returned as a household servant to her father, where her habit of charity led her to donate his belongings to anyone who asked. In two Lives, Dubthach was so annoyed with her that he took her in a chariot to the King of Leinster to sell her. While Dubthach was talking to the king, Brigid gave away his jewelled sword to a beggar to barter it for food to feed his family. The king recognized her holiness and convinced Dubthach to grant his daughter her freedom, after which she started her career as a well known nun. Brigitta Scherzenfeldt (1698–1733), Swedish memoirist and weaving teacher who was captured during the Great Northern War and lived as a slave in the kingdom of the Kalmyk in Central Asia. Bussa, born a free man in West Africa of possible Igbo descent and was captured by African slave merchants, sold to the British, and transported to Barbados (where slavery had been legal since 1661) in the late 18th century as a slave.

Dabitum, slave in Old Babylonia known for her letter concerning a miscarriage. Danae, "the new maidservant of Capito", named in lead curse tablet from Republican Rome, which aimed to destroy Danae. Daniel Bell (c. 1802–1877) who tried for decades to obtain lasting freedom for himself, his wife, and his children. He helped organize what was called "the single largest known escape attempt by enslaved Americans", called the Pearl incident in Washington, D. C., in 1848. Dada Masiti (c. 1810s–15 July 1919) poet, mystic and Islamic scholar. Dave Drake (c. 1801–1876), also known as Dave the Potter. David George, a black man who fled a cruel Virginia master and was captured by Creeks and enslaved by Chief Blue Salt. Deborah Squash, with her husband Harvey escaped from George Washington's Mount Vernon, joined the British in New York during the American Revolutionary War, and were evacuated in 1783 as freedmen. Denmark Vesey (c. 1767–1822), an enslaved African American man and later a freeman who planned what would have been one of the largest slave rebellions in the United States had word of the plans not been leaked. Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761–1804), born into slavery as the natural daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the West Indies, and Sir John Lindsay, a career Royal Navy officer. Lindsay took Belle with him when he returned to England in 1765, entrusting her raising to his uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Mansfield. The Murrays educated Belle, bringing her up as a free gentlewoman at their Kenwood House, together with their niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray. Belle lived there for 30 years. In his will of 1793, Lord Mansfield confirmed her freedom and provided an outright sum and an annuity to her, making her an heiress. Diego was a formerly enslaved freedman closely associated with the Elizabethan English navigator Francis Drake. In March 1573, Drake raided Darien (in modern Panama), in which he was greatly aided by Maroons – Africans who had escaped from Spanish slave owners and were glad to help their English enemies. One of them was Diego, who proved a capable ship builder and accompanied Drake back to England. In 1577, when Queen Elizabeth sent Drake to start an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas – which eventually developed into Drake circumnavigating the world – Diego was once again employed under Drake; his fluency in Spanish and English would make him a useful interpreter when Spaniards or Spanish speaking Portuguese were captured. He was employed as Drake's servant and was paid wages, just like the rest of the crew. Diego died while Drake's ship was crossing the Pacific, of wounds sustained earlier in the voyage. Drake was saddened at his death, Diego having become a good friend. Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412–323 BCE), Greek philosopher kidnapped by pirates and sold in Corinth. Dincă, half Roma man enslaved by his father, a Cantacuzino boyar in the 19th century Danubian Principalities (present day Romania). Well educated, working as a cook but not allowed to marry his French mistress and go free, which had led him to murder his lover and kill himself. The affair shocked public opinion and was one of the factors contributing to the abolition of slavery in Romania. Diocletian (244–312), Emperor of Rome, was by some sources born as the slave of Senator Anullinus. By other sources, it was Diocletian's father (whose own name is unknown) who was a slave, and was freed prior to the birth of his son, the future emperor. Dionysius I (? – 1492), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, previously enslaved by the Ottomans after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Dolly Johnson (born late 1820s, died after 1887), African American woman from Tennessee, enslaved by President Andrew Johnson, later a small small business owner. Dorota Sitańska (died after 1797), Polish serf and Royal Ballet Dancer, donated to the king of Poland by will and testament. Dragut (1485–1565) Ottoman commander, gally slave during his Italian captivity. Dred Scott (c. 1799–1858), an enslaved African American man in Missouri who sued for his freedom in a nationally publicized trial, Scott v. Sandford, that reached the United States Supreme Court in 1857. Dufe the Old, a man enslaved in Anglo Saxon England who was freed by his mistress Æthelgifu's will.

Fabia Arete, Ancient Roman actress and freedwoman who is referred to as an elite actress or archimima who enjoyed a highly successful career and likely belonged to the minority of female actors to perform speaking parts. Felicitas (died 203), Christian martyr and saint. Fiddih, enslaved by the Báb when she was no older than 7 years of age, Fiddih served the Báb's wife Khadíjih Bagum. Fiddih would die the same night as her owner. Florence Johnson Smith, mixed race American woman enslaved by President Andrew Johnson, daughter of Dolly Johnson. C. Furius Cresimus, ancient Roman. As a freedman, he produced such crops from his small farm that he was accused of witching away other people's crops, but when he produced his agricultural implements in court, he was acquitted. Pliny the Elder recounts his tale as evidence that hard work is what counts in farming. Fyodor Slavyansky (1817–1876), Russian serf painter.

Hababah, concubine of Caliph Yazid II. Hagar, biblical figure, belonging to Sarah. Hanna, an enslaved woman in Virginia, and grandmother of Jackey Wright, who sued for her freedom in Hudgins v. Wright (1806) on the grounds that three generations descended from Butterwood Nan, who was an American Indian, not African. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision by George Wythe, that because of Jackey's and Hanna's appearance as mixed Indian and European, she was entitled to the presumption of freedom, given the limited nature of Indian slavery. St. George Tucker and Spencer Roane said that, as most Africans had been imported as slaves and blacks descended from enslaved mothers, a black person would not have the same presumption of freedom. Hannah Bond (born 1830s), pen name Hannah Crafts, wrote The Bondwoman's Narrative after gaining her freedom. Possibly the first novel by an African American woman, it is the only known novel written by a woman fugitive from slavery. Hark Olufs (1708–1754), Danish sailor, was captured by Algerian pirates. Sold to the Bey of Constantine, he became Commander in Chief of the Bey's cavalry. He was released in 1735. Harriet Hemings (1801–after 1822), daughter of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897), author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Harriet Powers (1837–1910), American folk artist, and quilter. Harriet Tubman (c. 1822 – 1913), nicknamed "Moses" because of her efforts in helping other American slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. Harry, the plaintiff in the 1818 Harry v. Decker & Hopkins decision by the Supreme Court of Mississippi (the first among U. S. southern states) to free a person from slavery solely on the basis of prior residence in a free territory. Harry Washington (died 1800), also known as Henry Washington, was enslaved by George Washington. Transported as a slave to America, he was bought by Washington in 1763 to work on a project for draining the Great Dismal Swamp. Hafsa Sultan (died March 1534) was the wife of Selim I and the first valid sultan of the Ottoman Empire as the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. Her background is disputed but some historians hold that she was a slave. Helen Gloag (1750–1790), of Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, became the Empress of Morocco as the harem slave of Morocco's sultan. Henry Highland Garnet (1815–1882), born an African American slave in Maryland, escaped slavery in 1824, and became an abolitionist and educator. Hercules (born c. 1755), head cook enslaved by George Washington at Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon. He escaped and gained his freedom in 1797, but his wife Alice and his three children remained enslaved. Helvius Successus, freed slave, and father of Roman emperor Pertinax. Hermas, author of the text The Shepherd of Hermas and brother of Pope Pius I.
Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, born in Cartagena, was enslaved at the age of 13 when the ship bearing him to Spain for education sank off Florida. A Calusa chief enslaved him and used him as a translator until he was ransomed at 30. Horace King (1807–1885), American architect, engineer, and bridge builder, was born into slavery on a South Carolina plantation. Hümaşah Sultan (fl. 1647–1672) was the wife of Sultan Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire. Hurrem Sultan (c. 1504 – 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana, an Eastern European girl, was captured by slave traders and sold to the Imperial Harem, becoming the chief consort and legal wife of the Ottoman sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. Halime Sultan (c. 1570 after 1639) was Valide Sultan and de facto co ruler of the Ottoman Empire
Handan Sultan (c. 1568 – 9 November 1605) was Valide Sultan and de facto regent of the Ottoman Empire

King Jaja of Opobo (1821–1891), sold at about the age of 12 into slavery in the Kingdom of Bonny in present day Nigeria. Proving at an early age his aptitude for business, he not only earned his way out of slavery but also became a rich and powerful merchant prince and the founder of the Opobo city state, his career eventually ended by the British colonizers whom he tried to defy. Anna Kingsley (1793–1870), enslaved woman and then a planter and slave owner herself. Kunta Kinte (c. 1750 – c. 1822), a character from the 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family whom author Alex Haley was based on one of his actual ancestors. Kinte was a man of the Mandinka people who grew up in a small village called Juffure in what is now The Gambia and was raised as a Muslim before being captured and enslaved in Virginia. The historical accuracy of Haley's story is disputed. Kizzy Kinte, the daughter of Kunta Kinte. As with her father, the existence of an historical Kizzy Kinte is disputed. John Knox (c. 1514 – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, galley slave in the French galleys, 1547–1549. Kodjo (c. 1803–1833), a Surinamese slave who was burnt alive for starting the 1832 fire in Paramaribo, Dutch Suriname, possibly as an act of resistance. Kösem Sultan (1589–1651), an Ottoman enslaved woman, later extremely powerful as wife, then mother and later grandmother of the Ottoman sultan during the 130 year period known as the Sultanate of Women.

Oenomaus, a Gallic gladiator and one of the leaders of rebellious slaves during the Third Servile War. Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797), also known as Gustavus Vassa, a prominent African British author and figure in the abolitionist cause whose birthplace is heavily contested. Omar ibn Said (1770–1864), a writer and Islamic scholar from Senegal who was enslaved and transported to the United States in 1807, where he spent the rest of his life enslaved. Onesimus, a slave of Philemon of Colossae who ran away and, having met St. Paul, was converted by him. Paul sent him back to the Christian Philemon with a letter, which is the Epistle to Philemon. Ignatius of Antioch mentions an Onesimus as Bishop of Ephesus in the early 2nd century, but it is not certain that these are the same men. Onesimus, a slave in colonial Boston who was instrumental in spreading knowledge about inoculation against smallpox. Onesimos Nesib (c. 1856 – 21 June 1931), an Ethiopian bought out of slavery by Swedish missionaries when he was a boy. He went on to work with another former slave Aster Ganno to translate the Bible into the Oromo language. Oney Judge (1773–1848), enslaved by the family of Martha Washington, and then by the First Lady herself, Judge worked at Mount Vernon and elsewhere as a personal servant to Martha Washington until she escaped in 1796 to Portsmouth New Hampshire. Ottobah Cugoano, also known as John Stuart (c. 1757 – after 1791), was an abolitionist, political activist, and natural rights philosopher from West Africa who was active in Britain. Owen Fitzpen, an English merchant who was taken captive by Barbary pirates in 1620 and subsequently escaped. Owen Breedlove, father of Madam C. J. Walker.

Quamina Gladstone, father of Jack Gladstone and implicated in the Demerara rebellion of 1823. Quassi van Timotebo or Kwasimukamba (1692–1787) Surinamese slave, freedman and Maroon hunter in Dutch Surinam. His name is given to the plant genus Quassia. Quock Walker, also known as Kwaku or Quok Walker, sued for and won his freedom in 1781 in a case citing language in the new Massachusetts Constitution (1780) that declared all men to be born free and equal. Qutb ud din Aybak or Qutbuddin Aibak (1150–1210), a formerly enslaved Turk, became a soldier, the first of the Sultans of Delhi, founder of India's "slave dynasty".

Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861): The most prominent Ukrainian poet, artist and illustrator was born in a family of serfs. His artist friends bought his freedom in 1838. Tatyana Shlykova (1773–1863), Russian serf ballerina and opera singer. Thanadelthur (c. 1697–1717), a woman of the Chipewyan Dënesųłı̨ne nation who served as a guide and interpreter for the Hudson's Bay Company. Thomas Fuller, African American man enslaved in Viriginia, renowned for his mathematical abilities. Thomas Pellow (1704–1745), enslaved by Barbary pirates, taken to Morocco the selected and tortured by Ismail Ibn Sharif. Escaped after 23 years and returned home to Cornwall. Thomas Peters (1738–1792), born Thomas Potters, one of the founding fathers of Sierra Leone. Formerly enslaved, he fled North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. Peters was a Black Loyalist member of the British Black Company of Pioneers, became a sergeant, and settled and married in Nova Scotia. He recruited African settlers in Nova Scotia for the colonization of Sierra Leone and later became a leader in Freetown. Thomas Sims (born 1834), an enslaved African American man who escaped slavery in Georgia to Boston, Massachusetts, only to be recaptured under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and to escape to Boston once more. Thomas Alexandre Dumas (1762–1806), a French general and father of Alexandre Dumas. Thumal, administrator of justice to the eighteenth Abbasid Caliph al Muqtadir. T. Aelius Dionysius, a freedman of the late Roman Empire, who created a stela for himself, his wife, and Aelius Perseus, his fellow freedman, and their freedman and those who came after them. T. Claudius Dionysius, a freedman whose freedwoman wife Claudia Prepontis erected a funerary altar to him. Their clasped hands, depicted on it, show the legitimacy of their marriage, possible only once they obtained their freedom. Tomás Ortega, an enslaved man in colonial Mexico who attempted to marry Leonor de Mendoza, a woman enslaved by another master. When that man imprisoned Tomás, Leonor appealed to a church court for assistance, and it threatened excommunication if he did not free Tomás.

Vasily Tropinin (1776–1857), Russian serf painter. Venture Smith (1729–1805), an African captured as a child and transported to the American colonies as a slave. When an adult, he purchased his freedom and that of his family his wife Meg and their children Hannah, Solomon and Cuff. His history was documented and published by a schoolteacher, to whom he talked in his old age. The Vestmenn ("West Men" in Old Norse, referring to the Irish) were a group of Irish slaves brought to Iceland by Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson, one of the early Norse settlers there. He treated them badly, and they killed him and escaped to a group of offshore islands. Ingólfur Arnarson, Hjörleifur's blood brother, tracked the escaped slaves and killed them all. Though their individual names are unknown, their memory lives on in Icelandic geography, the islands where they sought refuge being known up to the present as "Vestmannaeyjar": "Islands of the West Men" (i. e. of the Irish). Vincent de Paul (1581–1660), a French priest who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. He was taken captive by Turkish pirates, sold into slavery, and freed in 1607. Vindicius, an ancient Roman slave who discovered Tarquin's plot to regain power. Vibia Calybeni, a freedwoman of the late Roman Empire who unusually named herself as a madam on her tombstone. Virginia Boyd, an enslaved American woman whose letter to R. C. Ballard, pleading not to be sold with her children among strangers, has been preserved. Ballard had undertaken to have her sold at the request of Judge Samuel Boyd, the children's father, to hide her existence from his family. Violet Ludlow, an American woman sold into slavery several times despite her claims to be a free white woman. Virginia Demetricia (1842–after 1867), an enslaved Aruban known as a heroin of resistance against enslavement. Vitalis, ancient Roman slave. An epigraph describes an enslaved boy, Iucundus, as the son of Gryphus and Vitalis.

Yaqut al Hamawi (1179–1229), an Arab biographer and geographer known for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. He was sold into slavery in 12th century Syria and taken to Baghdad, but was provided with a good education and later freed. Yasār, a 7th century Christian man who had been captured in a campaign of Khalid ibn al Walid, a companion of Muhammad. Yasār was taken to Medina and became the slave of Qays ibn Makhrama ibn al Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn Quṣayy. He accepted Islam, was manumitted and became his mawlā, thus acquiring the nisbat al Muṭṭalibī. He had three sons Mūsā, ʿAbd al Raḥmān, and Isḥāq. His grandson, Ibn Ishaq, became an important early Arab historian. Yasuke, a 16th century African man who travelled to Japan in the service of Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano. Given to Oda Nobunaga, Yasuke became a confident of the daimyō and given official status as a trusted retainer. York (1770–before 1832), an African American man enslaved by William Clark, who was part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Zalmoxis, a Dacian who was enslaved by Pythagoras on the island of Samos, according to Herodotus. Zalmoxis learned philosophy from his owner and other wise Greeks. Eventually he was liberated, gathered huge wealth and went back to his homeland, where he converted the Thracians to his beliefs, was greatly venerated for his wisdom and in later generations became worshiped as a god. Zayd ibn Haritha (c. 581–629), given to Muhammad's wife Khadijah, freed, adopted, and became known as Zayd ibn Muhammad. Ziryab (789–857), also known as Abul Hasan Alí Ibn Nafí, a Muslim singer, musician, and polymath known for introducing the crop asparagus to Europe. Zoe, a Christian martyr. Zofia Potocka (1760–1822), a Greek Ottoman enslaved courtesan who ended up as a Polish countess by marriage. Zumbi (1655–1695), enslaved in Portuguese Brazil, he escaped and joined the Quilombo dos Palmares, the largest ever settlement of escaped slaves in colonial Brazil, becoming its last and most famous leader. Zunairah al Rumiya (زنيرة الرومية, Zaneerah the Roman) (other transliterations include Zaneera, Zannirah, Zanira or in some sources Zinra or Zinnirah) was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad.