Teunis Maderama
 A 18th century portrait purported to be of Teunis Maderama. | |
| Born | c. 1730 |
| Died | 22 December 1807 (age 76–77) Moritzland, Broncks, New Amsterdam, New Netherland |
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Teunis Maderama (c. 1730 – 22 December 1807), also known as Nathaniel Hofman, was a manumitted slave, writer, and abolitionist. Born in Bornu to a noble family, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in New Netherland, where he would be manumitted in 1754 and became an indentured servant and butler to his former master's sister and her relatives. After her death in 1761, Maderama was liberated. Three years later, he published his first abolitionist work, Inzights in de Nederlands slavenhandel en'et Demonisch Aerd ervan. In addition to his anti-slavery work, he was a major financier of orphanages in New Amsterdam, earning him the moniker Wees Oom ('Uncle Orphan').
His son, Nathaniel Hofman II, was elected the first non-white representative of the New Netherland States-General in 1846. The modern Hofman Gymnasium, a school located in the Moritzland neighborhood of Broncks, was established in 1911 and is named after Maderama and his son.
Before freedom
Maderama, in his memoirs, never divulged his original name, only mentioning his birth into a noble family, transcribed contoa. He recalls that around age fourteen, he was kidnapped in a raid by the Djoucoun people of modern Niger and transferred into the hands of a European merchant. He recalls being taken on a treacherous tour around Jamaica and other Caribbean islands before ending up in New Amsterdam months later, where he was eventually sold to a minor branch of the Philipse family.
During his early years at the Philipse estate, he was named Simon, a name which would be used for him until his manumission, though Maderama himself despised the name and refused to acknowledge it after his manumission. For the next eight years, he would be worked at times as a domestic and plantation slave. Maderama regularly received abuse from his master, Charles Phillips. In 1754, Charles Phillips went into cardiac arrest and died, leaving his sister, Annetia, as the highest authority on the estate. Annetia Philips, though formally manumitting him, refused to let him leave the Philipse estate, instead enrolling him as an indentured servant.
