Who Was Anton Ulrich? The Life of an Enslaved Man from St. Thomas

by Dr. Christina Petterson and Dr. Paul Peucker
Anton Ulrich, an African man from St. Thomas, is usually remembered as the instigator of Moravian mission work. After meeting Zinzendorf in Copenhagen in 1731, Anton traveled to Herrnhut and gave the members of the community a first-hand account of the situation of the enslaved in St. Thomas. As a result, two men, Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann, traveled to St. Thomas the next year. Their missionary efforts stand at the beginning of Moravian mission work. But as well-known as Anton Ulrich’s name may be, very little is known about him. After giving a moving account of life on St. Thomas, Anton quickly disappears from the stage. This presentation attempts to uncover details about his life based on archival records in Denmark, Germany, and the United States, many of which were previously unknown.