11085916https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/11085916Mississippi1859Archives011Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MississippiJoe Bird, a free man of color born of free parents, asks to "elevate himself from his present condition into Slavery." Having lived in the state nearly twenty years, he has a wife and children and wishes to remain with them. He asks to become the slave of Robert Graham.Voluntary enslavementState residency issues (FPOC)Family kept together (Black)