Slavery in Florida and Marion County   

Historically, Florida served as a refuge for enslaved people escaping from other Southern states. Many were welcomed by Native American communities and, later, by the Spanish, making Florida a kind of "sanctuary" long before it became a slave state in 1845. Today, in places like Marion County, descendants of both enslaved people and slaveholders often share the same surnames. U.S. Census records document who the slaveholders were and how many people they enslaved.