VuL r/, ;]!>x 1^2 'iJhibir^Sm^^)^^ ih-^ inmii'JAn^ ^^ m^m^* ^Af-i 1^ /SPECIAL D Slavery, lO The Unffergrou' Iroad, and Racist; Pennsylvania f -yj III lor liuJujjjijlu unii Munionr *joiin'iiB:i Spectrum BEHIND THE LINES special issue of Spectrum This began several months ago Dr. Ekema Agbaw, director of the Frederick Douglass when Bloomsburg University, suggested that Dr. Walter Brasch, Spectrum editor-in-chief and professor of journalism, might want to have his newswriting class focus Institute at upon the Underground Railroad. And so a culturally and racially diverse group of freshmen and sophomores, few of them journalism majors, helped establish the foundation for a special issue of a magazine that usually only upper division students produce. To get their stories, the students lower division students in Newswriting, in collaboration with the Institue, and upper division students in Magazine Editing and Production dug into courthouse — — add more color pages, and increase our circulation. Spectrum has done only three special issues. The first one was a look at Columbia and Montour counties' relationships with the rest of the world, and included features about what was produced in these two small rural counties that had an impact upon the people and business communities in other countries. That issue earned the magazine recognition from the Agency for International Development. The second special issue looked at Domestic Court issues and problems of violence. For that in-depth look, the American Bar Association honored Spectrum, the only time the ABA ever honored a college publication. Along the way, we have been inducted into the The university administration Hall of Fame of the Associated Collegiate Press, an honor only four other college magazines have earned; and have earned dozens of other national honors. But, we don't publish Spectrum to win awards. Our intent is to report and bring information to our readers to help them better understand their own lives and the lives of others around them. In every one of our issues the past 17 years, we have presented features that recognize the fine work our counties' residents do including a woman with cancer who is an has been a strong supporter of Spectrum. But, like any commercial publication, Spectrum must pay for itself from advertising and circulation revenue. Further, accomplished folk artist, a man who customizes Corvettes, and features about the owners of two major orchards. And, we have presented controversial issues, establish our editorial independence, we have been reluctant to take outside funding. However, looking at Courthouse security, steroid usage in local schools, and nuclear plant safety. By publishing Spectrum, not only are students learning more about journalism, they are helping themselves and others better understand who we are, who our neighbors are. and the achievements and problems all of us face. records, historical society papers, off 150-year-old newspaand conducted research in both the college library and the dusted pers, Library of Congress. This issue is the largest in our 17-year publishing history. And, it is the most controversial, as the entire staff investigated numerous historical and contemporary issues, talked to dozens of people, and learned that American Black history is also a study of local and American history. to for this special issue, we received additional funding from the Bloom- sburg University Foundation. This financial assistance allowed us to increase our editorial expenses while significantly improving our editorial quality, double the number of pages we normally publish. Winter/Spring 2004 — — THE EDITORS Spectrum Magazine Volume 17, Nos.l&2 Winter/Spring 2004 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Walter M. Brasch EXECUTIVE EDITOR Christine M. Varner MANAGING EDITOR Jonathan Gass ART/PRODUCTION DIRECTOR MaryJayne Reibsome .^SSOCUTE EDITORS Matthew Cateriniccia John Elliot ASSIST.ANT EDITORS Johnetta Clarke. Rachel Fiedler. Joe Mariscano. Michelle Johnson Sorber REPORTER-EDITORS Karen Andzejewicz. Dennelle Catlett, Mark Ensminger, Beth Krysztoforski, Dana Nagj-. Beth Roberts, Mike Sullivan EDITORIAL SPECL\LIST Rosemary R. Brasch EDITORL\L .ASSISTANT Justin Pelletier REPORTERS Alexander Agard, Alfonse Aniodei. Laki'ya Bolden. Erika Elder, Veronika Frenkel. Patrick Higgins PRODUCTION SPECLAXIST Amelia McKean PRODUCTION CONSULT.\NTS Dick Shaffer Dave Fry .ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Angle Adams. Kendra Branchick, Michelle Zarko CIRCUL.\TION/PROMOTIONSPECl.\LISTS Angie Adams, Karen Andzejewicz. Kendra Branchick (nigr.). Dennelle Catlett. Johnetta Clarke. Mark Ensminger. Rachel Fiedler. Beth Krysztoforski (nigr.). Dana Nag>\ Justin Pelletier. Beth Roberts. Michelle Sorber. Michelle Zarko (mgr.) BUSINESS OPER.ATIONS DIRECTOR Jessica Snyder Spectrum is piihtishcd twice a year by the Journalism program at Bloomsburg UniversUy. No portion of Spectrum may be reprinted, including advcrliaing. without its permission. Printed by GRlf(.\tontoursville. Pa.) Circtilatinn: 2.^00 Copyright 2004 Spectrum Bloomsburg University 400 East 2nd Street Bloomsbui-jr. Pa. 1781." (570) 389-4825 6 All Aboard to Freedom BY MICHELLE JOHNSON SORBER The Underground Railroad was the path freedom for more than 100,000 slaves. to 10 Journey of a Slave BY DANA NAGY Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped, enslaved, but became a writer. 12 Freedom's Friendly Faces BY MICHELLE JOHNSON SORBER AND JOE MARISCANO Conductors of the Underground Railroad o helped slaves survive mankind's cruelty. O 18 Preserving the Past BY CHRISTINE VARNER Owners save first act Tubman's site of Harriet of defiance. 20 Trap Doors and False Walls About the Cover BY RACHEL FIEDLER AND JONATHAN GASS Underground Railroad station houses provided safe havens. The cover depicts "The Kneeling Slave-Am Not a Man and a Brother," an oil painting on canvas by an unknown artist from the English School in I the 1 8th century. is in the Bridgeman Art original 26 Decoding the Paths to Freedom BY PATRICK HIGGENS Lawn jockeys, weather vanes and Negro spirituals helped point the way to freedom. The 28 This Side Library. British anti- Up With Care BY CHRISTINE VARNER A slave shipped himself to freedom. slavery advocate Josiah Wedgwood produced the Slave Medallion in 1787. Benjamin Franklin, upon receiving some medallions, wrote to Wedgwood that he was "persuaded it may have an effect 30 Treason! equal to that or best written parrij.. in procuring honou to these oppressed 34 Peaceful Rebellion BY RACHEL FIEDLER In a Pennsylvania town, the federal government brought 38 men to trial for helping slaves escape. BY JONATHAN GASS Pennsylvania's Quakers defied federal laws to help slaves escape into the North. people." Spectrum 4 1 Wiiiter/Spriiig 2004 36 Route to Freedom BY CHRISTINE VAENER AND VERONIKA FRENKEL Anthony Cohen retraces the Underground Railroad. 40 Abolition's Newspapers BY JOHN ELIOTT AND CHRISTINE VARNER Anti-Slavery advocates used the media as their most powerful weapon. 44 Contemporary Voices BY MICHELLE JOHNSON SORBER Publications emphasize Black culture and issues. 46 Sing Along BY CHRISTINE VARNER Kim and Reggie Harris to tell the stories of the use music and theatre Underground Railroad. 47 Slavery's Virtual Tour MN^ BY MICHELLE JOHNSON SORBER brief look at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. A 48 Her Name Was William BY NICK VARGAS She was a soldier with a secret. 50 Sculpting Her Future BY ALEXANDER AGARD Edmonia Lewis overcame color barriers to prove herself as an artist. Vol. 17, Nos. 1 p &3 ,Fjve generations oi South Carolina. Phoi ves on Smith's Plantation, Beaufort, ^ken inJ862 during thejCivil War. <• \4- The railroad that changed history by Michelle Johnson Sorber ithout reliable means of transport, enslaved Blacks breaking free from the gi'ip of owners, faced daunting obstacles. Slave-catchers searched for run- aways to return them for bounty. Escapees often left families, friends, and security behind to march hundreds of miles to the free North. A few compassionate individuals risked public scorn and imprisonment to provide runaways with shelter and support in a loose-knit network called the Underground Railroad. The term "Underground Railroad" was first used in the 1830s. From then until 1865, the system helped thousands of slaves escape. Although it isn't certain Underground Railroad it is believed that the tionist 1775 in when first the began, first aboli- was organized in Pennsylvania. Members of society the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, pro- vided shelter and food for Blacks escaping to Canada. In spite of its namesake resemblance, one of many myths claims the Underground Railroad coined its name from the railway system at the "stations," while the escaping slaves were called "pas- were called sengers," "cargo," or "goods." Another myth tells of a slave Tice Davids who fled from Kentucky and may have taken refuge with John Rankin, a White abolitionist, from Ripley, Ohio. Determined to retrieve his property, the owner chased Da\ads to the Ohio River, but Davids disappeared without a trace, leaving his owner to wonder if he had "gone off on some underground named road." Thereafter, the term "Under- ground Railroad" was used describe to the network of people that helped escaped slaves. In the antebellum South, plantation owners had acquired valuable possessions known as chattel. This included, but was not limited to, household items such as furniture and cabinets as well as livestock, horses, and slaves. The slaves were legally considered part of the estate and were treated similarly to other possessions, only worse. Slaves were an integral part of the economy of the antebellum South. Southerners relied on the work and performance of their much as they did their time. draft horses and farm machin- relied heavily ery. The places along the escape route slaves to be in the same classification as the farm animals. The labor-intensive farming of the time required cheap fieldhands. that was being developed "Underground" operations on secret code using railroad jargon, which allowed both slaves and their "conductors" or "engineers" to communicate. slaves Southern cvilture considered AUCTION SALE OF This day, at Eleten o'clock,JI.JtI. At the North of the Exchange, BY J. S. 1 RYAN. . . on which to escape. Using these slaves would follow the path toward safety and the nearest "safe house." Once there they clues, Runaway money and a it was safe to found safety travel again. However, conditions behind Union received food, water, place to rest until were often poor, but runaways would sacrifice in in these houses order to obtain freedom. Runaway slave Harriet Jacobs wrote in her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, of the conditions she withstood: "It seemed horrible to sit or lie in a cramped position day after day, without who slaves lines were considered "contrabands of war" worked and for the Union army one gleam of light. Yet I would have chosen this, rather than my lot as a slave." Runaways es, also employed disgius- often dressing in clothes of the other gender. Fair-skinned Blacks passed as Whites, and others pretended to dehver messages or goods catchers would attempt to kidnap ciples of the any Blacks and sell them for profit. Even states that were free of slavery were unsafe; Blacks were forced to go to Canada, Mexico, or have paved the way the Caribbean. [Contributing to this story icas Jon J. Additional information can be found at: wwu. cr.nps.gov / aahistory / Also see TJie Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania by Charles L. Blockson. or the video. Safe Harbor a Main Street The Undergi'ound Railroad for their masters. Journalist Frede- rick Douglass used a disguise by to freedom for led thousands of slaves. won posing as a sador while making his But escape from Maryland to New York. Henry "Box" Brown, with the help of underground assistance, went as far as to ship himself by est battle with the ratification of packed in a crate, from Richmond to Philadelphia. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 made escaping more difficult. The law demanded the return of runaways, and proclaimed that federal and state officials as well as private citizens had to assist in their capture. Even free nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States." The principle of the Underground Railroad has outlasted the train, Blacks were in jeopardy, for slave Venezuela abolitionists their great- the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865, which ensured Undergi-ound Railroad for others seeking refuge from their lives of hardship, neglect, and abuse. Strine. Media Production.] that forever after "neither slavery . . . was later used in 1960s for anti-war activists and young draftees escaping to the Canadian border, and again for battered women escaping their lives of abuse. The paths and prinend %mmmY. Ki\IIVi1 of slavery. It the Puerto Rico from |{Mf r. tlM- niHlprUc^rd. Ih In:; uu 4 urn ill f>wW<' ititleik uboi r l>oiil|tliaii. :ilmiil q"0 BE SOLD on board tht Ship Bante- on tucfday the€th of May Ifland, j next, at /Ifiiley- Ferry cirgo ot about 250 fine ^ J a choice <, healthy - NEGROES, juft arrived from rhe Windward & Rice Coaft. •—The utmoft care has lah-eady been taken> and, ^ be continued, to keep them free from 'danger of beir^ infeded writh the SMALL-FOX, no boat having been on board, and ail other communication with fhall the a olave by Dana Nagy leart: people from Charles-Town prevented. Aullin, Laurens, /Ipplehy. & f"«.<"'t?'''f of 'heato" Nesro.,h»»e had the thfirowa Country. Q,i^i,^; SMALL-POX m o ne daij, when all our people were^one out to their works as usual, ana only land my dear sister were leit to mind the house, tw^o men and a w^oman ^ot over our w^alls, and in a moment seized ushoth, and, w^ithout ^ivin^ us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran And so began the journey of a young boy named Olaudah Equiano, as described in his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. The year was 1756, and Equiano was 11 years old. Almost 20 million other Africans, like Equiano, were kid- napped from their villages, rea- why unknown to them, and march to the west coast of Africa where European coastal forts were set up. Only half sur- sons forced to vived these death marches. "The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the sea, and a slave which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo," Equiano wrote. "These filled me ship, with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board." The potential slaves endure now had to journey across the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Middle Passage because it was the middle leg of a three-part journey for the Europeans on the ship. 10 A a typical Atlantic crossing oJfJfwith us into took 60 to 90 days, but some lasted up to four months. In the mid-eighteenth century, the number of Africans making the Atlantic crossing peaked at about 60,000 to 70,000 per year. Of the estimated 10 million who survived the death marches, it is believed that 10 to 20 percent of them did not survive the ocean journey, according to "Africans in America," a PBS documentary. Having been taken out of the only life they knew, most Africans felt hopeless about their future. "When we found ourselves at last taken away [from the African coast], death was more preferable than life," Ottobah Cugoano wrote in his narrative. the nearest w^ood. board the ship. "Indeed, such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged Enslavement of a Native of Africa, "and a plan was concerted amongst us, that we might burn and blow up the ship, and to perish all together in the flames." Fear and ignorance plagued the thoughts of the Africans. "I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me," Equiano said of his surroundings when he was on Spectrum my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country." Sometimes fear of the unknown outweighed even the will to live. "Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much happier than myself," Equiano said of the many Africans who had died aboard the ship and were thrown overboard. Also persuading many Africans to die rather then continue were the conditions aboard the slave ships. Slaves often traveled the Middle Passage in a deck within the ship that had less than five feet of headroom. With 300 to 400 people packed within a tiny area with little ventilation and, in some cases, not even enough space to place buckets for human waste, smallpox and yellow fever spread quickly. "The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us," Equiano said of the ship's conditions. "The air soon became unfit for respiration," Equi- ano wrote, "from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died." The slaves who sm-vived the crossing were about to complete theu' jom-ney; they were now to be sold. Once in America, most slaves went to the West Indies, but approximately 400.000 went to the colonies. "Many merchants and planters now came on board, though Winter/Spring 2004 it was in the evening," Equiano recalled of the Equiano purchased his freedom by careful trading and evening he reached Barbados. "They put us in separate parcels, and examined us attentively. They also made us jump, and in 1766, pointed to the land, signifying we to go there." Still, fear of the freedom since he had raised the same amount that King had him- unknown overtook the Africans, many thinking the white men were going to eat them. self paid. were "At last the white people got old slaves from the land to some pacify us," recalled Equiano. "They told us we were not to be eaten, but to work, and were soon to go on land, where we should see many of our country people." Slavery was nothing new to them; it existed for centuries in many parts of Africa, but it differed vastly from the slavery that developed in Europe and the Americas. African slaves could saving. His owner, a Philadelphia Quaker named Robert King, allowed Equiano to buy back his Equiano went to England and became involved in the movement to abolish the slave trade, an involvement that led him to write and publish his autobiography in 1789. "Tortures, murder, and every other imaginable barbarity and iniquity are practiced upon the poor slaves with impunity," Equiano wrote. "I hope the slave trade will be abolished. I may be an pray it many, own property, and after a number of years of servi- event at hand." He died in 1797. 41 years before Great Britain abolished the slave trade and more than six decades before the United States banned slavery, a goal which he fought so tude were set hard to achieve. certain Davidson in free, wrote Basil The African Slave Trade. African slavery also never passed from one generation to another, and it lacked the racist belief that Whites were masters and Blacks were slaves. [For more inforation. see The Afi'ican Slave Trade 6.v Basil Davidson, and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. or Gusta\T.is Vassa. the African. Slave Coast of West Afi-ica. 15501750: The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on an African Society. Robin Law.} 11 Freedom's Friendly Faces Conductors on the Underground Railroad risked their freedom to help thousands escape their lives of slavery by Michelle Johnson Sorber and Joe Marsicano Seventeen runaway slaves from Kentucky had filed into the Levi and Catherine Coffin's kitchen in Newport, Indiana, late one night in 1826. They were mostly Blacks and former slaves but many apart. Whites, predominately Quakers, assisted runaways. The Underground Railroad's and said "There's an Underground thousands of abolimoved hundreds of slaves north each year. About 100,000 slaves escaped from the South between 1810 and 1850. Approximately four million remained in slavery on the eve of Railroad around here and Levi the Civil Coffin is its president." the Underground Railroad at night and rested during the day to avoid being captured. "Once the slaves got off the plantation it was like a foreign country," says Dr. Jeff Davis, assistant Outside, fifteen slave-catchers arrived at Coffin's house, hell-bent on capturing the runaways. The Southerners called Coffin a "nigger thief." As they passed his house, one slave-catcher gestured Coffin, Uke many abolitionists, helped slaves escape their lives of servitude. They were the "conductors" of the Underground Railroad. Conductors aided escaped slaves and transported them to "stations" often located 10-20 miles 12 effort included tionists who secretly War in 1861. Runaway slaves traveled wandered around and were helped by conductors, who gave them directions to the University. "They next station." Conductors hid escaped slaves in their homes and usually transported them using wagons with false bottoms. A wagon containing slaves hidden underneath was called "a load of potatoes." Slaves were also transported by train and boat and given money for better unwanted attenThe escape money was raised by Vigilance Committees that clothes to avoid tion. professor of history at Bloomsburg opposed slavery. Captured slaves were generally branded with an "R" for "runaway," then sent to the Deep South, a place few slaves escaped because working conditions were so severe. William Lloyd Garrisoi Frederick Douglass Henry David Thoreau (1805-1879) (1818-1895) (1817-1862) Spectrum Illustration by Charles T. "In a slave state a slave may be punished by their master in any way they wanted," Davis says. "Usually the worst type of punishment for a slave was being put back into slavery." Because of the secrecy of the Underground Railroad and punishment for helping a slave, few Gerrit Smith (1797-1874) Winter/Spring 2004 Webber 1893. of slaves between Underground Railroad stations conductors were known. uctors faced hefty fines and Condpossi- imprisonment if caught. A few conductors kept records of escapes. Levi Coffin was one of them. Coffin, a North Carolina Quaker ble moved from Kentucky Newport, Indiana, in 1826. His eight-room Federal style brick home served as Harriet to Tubman (18197-1913) a safe haven for runaway slaves on trek to Canada. Slaves were concealed for several weeks until they had enough strength to continue their journey. theii' "We knew what hour not what night or we would be of the night roused from slumber by a gentle rap at the door. That was the sig- Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) 13 nal announcing the arrival of a train of the Underground Railroad," he wrote in his autobiography, The Reminiscences of Levi Coffin (1876). "It was never or the my hoi-u- too cold or stormy, of the night too late for wife to rise from sleep to pro- vide food and comfortable lodging for the fugitive," he wrote. "This work was kept up during the time we hved at Newport, a period of more than twenty years." The Coffins went to Cincinnati in 1847 and opened a wholesale warehouse. The new store provided merchandise to other abolitionists. During the years the Coffins hved there, they continued to aid more than 1,000 runaway slaves through Ohio. Coffin and his wife moved to England shortly after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. There he helped start the Englishmen's Freedmen's Aid Society. The society, like many freedmen's aid societies in America, assisted raised money for them and gave them the materials needed to live an emancipated freed Blacks, Throughout his years as a conductor, Coffin helped more than 3,000 slaves escape. Coffin may have been the "Preslife. 14 ident of the Under- ground Railroad," but William Still, a free- born Black man, was called the "Father of the Underground Railroad." In 1847, Stm became a clerk with the Pennsylvania Anti- Slavery Society in Philadelphia and later served as the secretary for the Phil- adelphia Vigilance Committee, an organization that helped slaves seek shelter on their way to Wagons were used in and Canada. In an interview with an escaped slave named Peter, Still learned Peter was his brother who had been separated from his family at birth. The reunion with his brother led him to preserve the written accounts of every assisted. house was a haven for fugitive slaves and became one of the busiest stations along the Underground Railroad. According to his records, he helped 649 Still's slaves escape. Possibly the most famous con- ductor mer was Harriet Tubman, a slave escaped slaves safe places in the North runaway he to transport secret compartments surrounded by cargo. who escaped for- in 1849. Lucretia Mott Levi Coffin (1793-1880) (1798-1877) After her escape to PhiladelTubman worked to help others escape. She saved her wages as a hotel dishwasher; when a sufficient amount was secured, she disappeared from phia, her home and appeared on a dark night at the door of a Southern plantation cabin. Tubman led slaves to freedom by following the North Star through mountains and rivers, lying concealed in the forests as her pursuers passed her by. She usually chose a Saturday night to start her "train," because a day would pass before a runaway advertisement could appear. Catherine Coffin (1803-1881) Spectrum Although ilhterate, Tubman's intelhgence was as sharp as the crack of a plantation owner's whip. The sound of a horse galloping in the dark called for quick concealment by the side of the road; the cry of a baby slave meant an extra dose of paregoric so the child would lay in a stupor in its mother's arms. She was also a master of disguise. On one occasion, she disguised herself by pretending to read a book. As two slave-catchers approached her, Tubman overheard them say, "This can't be the woman. The one we want can't Located in tiie Levi Coffin tiouse, a secret door used to hide slaves was was concealed by placing a bed in front of tlie opening. read or write." Tubman also possessed fearless a slave wanted to go back, she would point her revolver courage. and say, If "Dead Negroes tales; you'll be free or die." tell no A finger on the trigger and a threat was all they needed. Tubman claimed never to have lost a life. "I nebber run my train off de track and I nebber lost a passenger," she told Sarah Bradford, author of Harriet Tubman; TJie Moses of Her People (1869). Plantation owners offered a reward of $40,000 for her capture. "She seemed wholly devoid of personal fear. The idea of being captured by slavehunters or slave- Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873) Winter/Spring 2004 holders, seemed mind," William to never enter her said in his Still book. The Underground Railroad Tubman made William Goodridge, a conductor from Pennsylvania, used his wealth and his business to help 19 trips to runaways. Goodi'idge owned a con- the South, helping over 300 slaves. fectionery that sold candy, jewehy, During the Civil War, Tubman became a nurse and a spy for the Union army. In 1908, with the help and wigs as well as a barbershop on Centre Square in York. He traded animal hides with local tanneries and started York's first newspaper distribution business. Becoming involved with the Underground Railroad was a great risk of Goodridge's wealth. His home housed a substantial (1872). of the Afincan Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Tubman established a home for sick and needy Blacks in Auburn, New York. In 1911, she moved into the home herself. She died of pneumonia in 1913 at the age of 93. Her final two years were spent m good health at the home, sitting with visitors and telling stories about her adventiu'es. William Wells Brown (1814-1884) number of fugitive slaves and was constantly monitored by slavecatchers. In order to safely hide slaves. Goodridge hid the fugi- William Still (1821-1902) 15 Between 1790 and 1908, the house was the residence of five generations of the Johnson family. The third generation was in the abolition active movement during the 1850s. Along with their spouses, Rowland, Israel, Ellwood, Sarah, and Elizabeth Johnson were members of the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Germantown Freedman's Aid The Levi and Catherine Coffin IHouse, located in Newport, Indiana, was used to house runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. Association. Through their ties to these groups the brothers and sisters became involved in the Underground Railroad and used their homes, along with homes of nearby friends and relatives, to harbor slaves on their journey to freedom. Another stop on the Pennsylvania path was Oakdale, the home of Isaac tives in a straw-lined trench in the back of his room home and a small basement. When the Confederacy invaded York in 1863, Goodridge and his family fled to Minnesota. Slavesecret in his located in remained in Minnesota until his helped form the Society of Progressive Friends at Longwood in 1853. Oakdale was the first stop north of the Delaware line and provided temporary shelter. A distinct feature in Oakdale is a concealed room, built between a walk-in fireplace and the west wall of the carriage house and entered through a loft that Isaac built for the escaping slaves. death in 1873. In Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and prominent aboliPennypacker (18021888) used his home, the White Horse Farm in Schuylkill Town- politician tionist Elijah ship, as a station. In 1839, Pennypacker ended his career in politics in order to fully devote himself to ©PMCBAISK The Thinking Behind The iVIoney- the anti-slavery cause. He became active in several organizations and spoke widely against slavery. In 1840, he opened his home as a major stop on the Underground Hundreds of runaway coming from neighboring counties and Delaware, were directed to the White Horse Farm. Pennypacker personally 50 W. Main Street Bloomsburg, PA 17815 570-387-4501 Member FDIC were leading abolitionists who Another leader was Dr. F. Julius LeMoyne (1798-1879) of Washington, Pennsylvania. His home, the LeMoyne House built in 1812, and Railroad. was a center slaves, southwestern Pennsylvania, and today is a National Historic Landmark. In 1834 LeMoyne joined the Washington AntiSlavery Society and was the organization's president from 1835 to 1837. After his term he was commissioned by the American AntiSlavery Society to be its regional agent. The tightly-knit free Black communities in southwest Pennsylvania helped slaves escape and developed a network that White antislavery activists, like LeMoyne, joined. His correspondence from transported slaves from his home to Norristown and other points to the north and east. It is said that no slave was ever apprehended in his care. Other Pennsylvania leaders were the Johnson Family of Philadelphia. The Johnson House, a National Historic Landmark, is one of the key sites of the abolitionist 16 and Dinah Mendenhall, Chadds Ford. The two catchers attempted to kidnap him but were unsuccessful. He movement in the area. for abolitionist activ- ity in Spectrum the 1840s included letters from individuals asking for aid and thanking him getting for his assistance in them and their friends and relatives out of the South. Many conductors continued to escaped slaves, knowing the consequences of their humanitarian efforts. Conductors saw a slave as a human being created by God and not as "property" of a Southern plantation owner. The price of freedom was assist high for their lives. Tubman compared her freedom to being in heaven, "When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees. I laities gX.e .. . was in heaven, was free." felt like I I Quality Fabrics & Supplies Janome Sewing and slaves; sometimes it meant. [For more information, see Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad, by Ann Petry, The Underground RaUroad by Raymond Bial. Also see the following web sites: www.undergroundrailroad.org www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad/ Embroidery Machines Repair & Services Horn Cabinets Grace Frames & Hoops Panasonic Vacuums Classes Scissor Sharpening 58 Tost Main www. waynet. wayne. in. us /nonprofit /coffin, htm. J Street 'BCoomsfnirg, TA 17815 (570) 784-8799 #CHILD CARE information services ofmontour county Resource and referral services Listings of regulated child care facilities J"^ Information about choosing quality child care How to become a licensed or registered child care provider Helping Your Family Find Quality Childcare 570-275-3996 www.montourchildcare.com Winter/Spring 2004 17 IPreservim Owners me IPast save site of Harriet/ruknian s first act of defiance Story and photos by Christine Varner ^^usan Meredith's face lights low slave go into the says Meredith, tossing a similar \ also weight back and forth in her hands. "It missed him, and it up when she starts talking about Harriet Tubman. "She's my hero," says Meredith while standing inside the Bucktown Village Store, located near Tubman's birthplace in Dorchester County, Maryland. She and her husband. Jay, own the store, known as the site of Tubman's first * ^^ act of defiance. While working the fields as a young woman, Tubman saw a fel- 18 store. She saw the overseer of the plantation approaching the store. Knowing the slave would be punished if he was caught at the store without permission, she went to warn him, but it was too late; the overseer was already there. He ordered Tubman to hold the disobedient slave for a whipping, but she refused. "As the slave ran to the door, the overseer threw a two pound metal weight at the boy," hit Harriet in the forehead." That blow Tubman to the head caused to fall into a coma; it took several months before she was able work. "They carried me to the house all bleeding and fainting. I had no bed, no place to lie down on at all, and they lay me on the seat of the loom, and I stayed there all that day and the Spectrum next," Tubman later recalled as she dictated her story to Emma Telford in 1911. While she eventually returned to work in the fields, she never fully recovered from the injury. For the remainder of her life, she was subject to blackouts, often while leading escaped slaves to freedom. While time has erased many of the buildings associated with history, the Bucktown Village Store remains. Walking through the doors of the Bucktown Village Store is like walking through a portal to the past. The floorboards creak, and the smell of years gone by greets guests as they enter. The light blue paint on the shelves and counters is chipped and worn with age. Antiques fill the shelves throughout the store, some of which date to when Tubman was a slave. Old wooden packing crates, bed warmers, and wooden casks are just a few of the items on display. A brick, believed to be made of layered marble, adorns the count"After the slaves were freed, one of Thomas [Meredith's] slaves er. made it and gave it to him in ^^They carried and fainting. down on at me I had no all, house to the bed, all no place and they lay me on of the loom, and I stayed there day and the next appreciation of being treated with kindness through the years," says Jay Meredith. The brick has been passed down through the genera- and now sits in the store. Believed to be built in the first quarter of the 19th century, the store was purchased by Jay's tions, great-great grandfather, Thomas Meredith, sometime around the War. "We believe he modernsomewhat when he bought it," says Jay Meredith, "but it hasn't changed much since then." Thomas, the largest landowner of Civil ized it tillable bleedmg land in the county, also bought "The Big House," which once belonged to Edward Brodess. Tubman's former master. to he the seat all that — Harriet Tubman Pritchett Meredith, Thomas' also has a connection to Harriet Tubman. After she made her escape in 1849. she returned to father, Bucktown and helped Thomas Elliott and Denwood Hughes, enslaved by Pritchett Meredith, escape to fi-eedom. Two generations of Merediths lived on the property. About 20 years after McKenny White Meredith. Jay's gi-eat-gi'andfather. died, the family sold the property and moved closer to town. Thomas Vickers Meredith. Jay's grandfather, and John, Jay's father, hunted the land throughout the >-ears. and often took Jay with them. "I knew then that [presening would be my destiny." he says. The Merediths bought "The Big House" in 1998: in 2000. they acquired the store. They ha\'e since founded the Bucktown Village Foundation, whose mission is to preserve and promote the this place] Bvicktown heritage. "We bought all this for the not being destroyed." says Jay Meredith. "This area is known for having racial tension, and preserving this has given us an opportunity to build bridges and do our part to sole purpose of it promote unity." IFor more information on the Bucktown Viliagc Foundation, or to arrange a tour of the Bucktown Susan Meredith, co-owner of the Bucktown Village Store, has helped presen/e the 19th century store that was part of Harriet Tubman's Winter/Spring 2004 life. \'illage Store, call 410-228-7650. Correspondence can be sent to Bucktown Village Foundation. P.O. Box 711, Cambridge, MD, 21613.] 19 Station hBtise -'-:- Uni.ergfound Railroad by Rachel Fiedler and Jonathan Gass * 'M .^4f#'^^^ Secret entrvwav in the Irondale Inn The sliding door accounts remain on the roof Irondale Inn in Bloomsburg is the only entrance into the attic, and large "voids" found on the property suggest previous Underground Railroad activity. "There was no other way to get in the attic, we had to make one," says owner J.D. Davis. A tunnel still runs from the basement to the nearby railroad tracks, where it is believed slaves would ride the trains to Danville and on to Williamsport. Throughout Pennsylvania are homes that hold ties to the Underground Railroad. Few of the connecting these houses to runaway slaves. The tunnels, trap doors, and secret rooms may have been all hiding places, but many of the conductor's written records have long since been destroyed. Besides the physical structures, local tradition and family stories exist as the only other evidence of the station houses in Pennsylvania. Just outside Bloomsburg in Espy, the home of Bill and Sara Hughes was a possible station house. Journalist and historian Ted Fenstermacher researched the house for a series of columns for the Press Enterprise based on the previous owner's "family legend." The original owners, Cyrus and Catherine Barton, had been abolitionists in the 1830's when the house was built. A three-foot crawl space is hidden behind a panel in the wall by the staircase "large enough for a man to fit in," says Hughes. The use of houses along the Underground Railroad is known only by the evidence of secret rooms, trap doors, tunnels and their location in relation to the believed paths of the Underground Railroad. Most of the other records of stations regard- ing involvement have been destroyed and the stories have Winter/Spring 2004 only been passed families and down through local residents. The route to freedom never would have existed without the help of those who provided shelter for escaping slaves. They allowed escaped Blacks to come into their homes as a place of refuge during their long journey. Many of these houses were located in Pennsylvania since the state is on most routes leading to Canada. The trails mainly followed the fi-om Maiyland what is now Interstate 83. Many of the slaves traveled to York and on to Wrightsville or York Springs where Quakers were the rivers, coming up aiid along primary religious gx-oup. The trails also ran along the same lines as what ai'e now Routes 30 and 116. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 intensified the need for smuggling centers to go undetected. The Act mandated that anyone caught harboring slaves or preventing their capture could be fined up to $1,000 and imprisoned for up to six months. Conductors aiding slaves constructed hidden rooms and passages within buildings; in some cases, they dug tunnels to provide slaves with a safe passage. Only symbolic markers identified the houses used as stations. To this 21 " day, station houses blend well into their surroundings, but lack of record keeping regarding Underground Railroad activity makes it difficult to positively identify slaves' hideaways. Many of the houses were in York, Lancaster, counties, located and Chester Two members of the Society of Progressive Friends, an abolitionist group, lent short-term shelter for escaping slaves as the first stop north of Delaware in Pennsylvania. Isaac and Dinah Mendenhall housed slaves in their home in a concealed, square- easy escape route in case slaves' whereabouts were suspected. Also in York County, William Goodridge, a freed Black, used both his home and his railroad business to move slaves north through the state. The hidden Historic Landmark local slave catchers contin- ^'Staircases up to between rooms were set uously kept watch on his house. "The slave- confuse slave-catchers. holders of the South would gladly have kid- -Marilyn Cohick of the Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania. Dr. LeMoyne, an active abolitionist, was the president of the Washington An ti- Slavery Society for two years until he became its regional agent in 1838. He began his fight against slavery by speaking to the public, raising support, and allowing runaways to rest at his and suspected other counties which bordered Maryland. The F. Julius LeMoyne House in Washington County was the first recognized National home was slave activity at his along with shaped room, built between a walk-in fireplace and a west wall of the carriage house. Trap doors and common were station houses. Such homes as Elmwood Mansion, home of York bank director Jacob Brillinger, had three trap doors in down home. in the false walls into attic that dropped back staircases for an its napped him," wrote historian Israel H. Betz in a series of papers on station houses in the early 1900s. In Goodridge's home were two for the slaves. There was a small secret room near the rear of his basement and a trench lined with straw underneath a building by the house. Goodridge also owned a variety store in locations York Centre Square where secret Ceiebratiny 26 Years oiSaieSj Service A Custowner Saiisiaction! 1922 2003 have Been aj>art of the CocaC community for thejyast 26 years, and show our CoyaCty by performing honest and yve are jyroucC to straight forward Business jyoCicies. JAs the president of Liberty ChevroCet-CadiCCac Inc., J take pride in the company's success in the number here, you're a friend. My dad BeCieved community in which he Cived. I have the same phiCosophies andpCan on making my Cife here. I invite everyone to stop area, you're not just a in Being active in the in Ag CHEVROLET WFUBETHERE' iw and see why we ready are..."'Easy To "DeaCy^ithl" LIBERTY CHEVROLET-CADILLAC 420 CENTRAL ROAD, BLOOMSBURG MON.thruFRI. 8:30ain-8:00pin SAT. 8:30ain-3:00pRi 784-2220 22 Spectrum panels were built into the walls and slaves were held until they moved to Philadelphia and further north. One of the most active leaders in the Underground Railroad was Amos Griest, a Quaker who owned a large portion of farmland across the county. He and Goodridge worked together to aid slaves to freedom by hiding them Susquehanna Valley, New York, and into Canada. In Philadelphia, Quaker Samuel Johnson hid Blacks vant's attic of his in the ser- home which had through the state there were still an abundant number of stations willing to house the Blacks for a of Many Stah's, located along Village Road night or two. The House a separate back entrance from the in Pennsdale. is scarcely notable. main house. There is only one account recorded of a slave almost being found, says Najah Tain, curator of education at the house. She says a sheriff came to look The house received its name because of staircases between rooms set up to confuse and disori- shucks between houses. Griest met runaways near Baltimore and guided them to his home and to a secret second floor room. From there they would around and was stalled downstairs by the Quakers in a prayer meeting; meanwhile, the slave had a chance to escape onto a literall>' travel in Goodridge's railroad cars the room among to corn Lancaster County, through the Winter 2003/Spring 2004 window before was checked. ledge outside of a As the slaves moved north ent slave-trackers. Mai'ihTi Cohick, a neighbor, explains, "you could walk up and down and around and aroiuid the rooms all day" and never find a hidden slave. There is evidence of a tunnel leading from the house to a small farm home at the other end of Pennsdale. which slaves would 23 travel until the slave-catchers were cleared. One of the staircas- room conwall and a secret es led to a second floor taining a false chamber. This room's window also served as a lookout tower where conductors could scan for strangers to the Pennsdale area, says Cohick. Pennsdale served as a stop along the way to Williamsport, where slaves would be sent north via railroads and barges. Three houses in Lewisburg may have been stops for run- aways. Stories passed down through the owners of the Nesbit House tell of the use of a crawl space in what used to be a bedroom, says Richard Smith the current owner. A person could crouch in the small hatch, but wouldn't be able to stand up. On the old Main Street, in the Robert Irwin House is a trap door that leads to a hole in the ground. Although it may have been used as a storage place, the area of the home and local tradition, allude to its use in escape routes. The Rev. George Bliss, a profes- sor at Bucknell University during the time of the Underground Railroad, used a stable on his property as a refuge. Bliss's daughter, Lucy, once mentioned the stable as '"being used to hide 'contraband' until these fugitive slaves could be moved," says Doris Dysinger, curator of the university's archives. The Governor Snyder Mansion 24 Spectrum The house at 17 Water Street in Lewisburg has a trap door in the kitchen thought to be a hiding place for runaways. River, says he never knew about any tunnels, but that "a few areas took a lot to fill" when a parking lot was paved. possibly used by slaves. The current owner, Tom McNabb, [For further information see The Underground Railroad by Charles L. had underground tunnels running toward a church and a small home in Selinsgrove once along the Susquehanna Blockson; Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad 6v Joyce Hansen and Gary McGouan: Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom by Virginia Hamilton and Leo Dillin: The Undergi-ound Railroad in Pennsylvania by William J. Switala.] SAKUNTALA INDIAN RESTAURANT Simply w&nd&rfuV' COLUMBIA AIRCRAFT SERVICES, INC. 236 IRON STREET BLOOMSBURG APPROVED REPAIR STATION NO. JM2R930K 389-0281 F.A.A. Bloomsburg Municipal .\irport 301 Airport Road Bloomsburg, PA 17815-9588 570-784-3070 Lvcoming and Continental Distributor pen Scott L. Smith, President Winter/Spring 2004 mon thru Saturday 4pm to 9:30pm www.sakuntala.com 25 Decoding the « Paths to Freedom Lawn jockeys, weather vanes, and Negro spirituals helped point the way to freedom by Patrick Higgins Escaping slaves traveled in the dead of night. With no maps to guide them, they relied solely on their wits and their will to survive. From code songs secret handshakes, escapees those to and who aided them developed methods of communication relay messages, ease fears, to and protect themselves. On the plantations, slaves sang while working in the fields. To plantation owners, this meant slaves were content and less likely to escape. In reality, many of the songs held hidden meanings and told slaves where to go once they made their escape. "Follow the Drinking Gourd" is perhaps the best-known "code" song. The words "drinking gourd" referred to tht Big Dipper and the North Star & :1 told slaves to walk toward this constellation. The phrase "the dead trees show you the way, left foot, peg foot, traveling on" meant to follow the drawings of left feet on the dead trees on the banks of the Tombigbee River that flows through Mississ- ---X. H^T. ippi and Alabama. These markings would designate the Tombigbee from rivers that flowed into it. Other phrases told runaways how to get Tennessee River and to follow it until they reached the Ohio River. They were then directed to cross the Ohio to the Spectrum 26 where guide a Underground met them. different on the Railroad The spiritual, and would not have understood the different patterns of code within these quilts," he says, also noting, "escapees traveled harsh weather, like snow and rain, and the quilts would not have been "Wade in in the Water," told escapees they traveled in water, would be undetectable to the bloodhounds that trailed them, says Dr. Charles Blockson, professor of hisif "Torches or lanterns were used on the banks of rivers like the able to withstand the tough weather conditions." In addition to using coded messages and phrases, conductors developed covert means of transportation. According to the National Parks Service Underground Railroad Network to Susquehanna Freedom their scent Temple University. Escaping slaves and those who aided them used special code tory at words to communicate. The Underground Railroad was called Conductors told escapees the exact location of statues to avoid any confusion. escapees," Canada was called "Canaan" or "The Promised Land." "Shepards" encouraged slaves to escape, light and "conductors" transported the slaves. A "station house" was a safe house, the "station master" of the house, and a "stockholder" donated money to keep the operation running. Messages were relayed using code phrases. The phrase, "the wind blows from the south today," alerted conductors of escapees in "When the sun comes back and the first quail calls," signaled that early spring was a good time to escape. If slaves couldn't see the stars, "the dead trees will show you the way," the area. reminded them moss grows on the north side of trees. They also looked for weather vanes on certain homes to point the direction to the next safe house. Small cast iron statues on the lawns of many homes indicated safety or danger. The statues were usually a Black man with ne hand extended. If it held an American flag, this indicated absence of a flag signaled danger, says Underground Railroad historian Wilbur Siebert. safety; Winter/Spring 2004 to give signals to says Dr. Jeff Davis, assistant professor of history at Bloomsburg University. "One the "freedom train" or the "gospel train." "Baggage" and "bundles of wood" referred to escapees, and was the keeper the in write, Another song, "Steal Away to Jesus," alerted other slaves on the plantation that an escape was imminent. places south, could not read or meant it was safe to cross, and two lights meant there was danger ahead and not to cross." The Underground Railroad frequently had spies who reported escapees, so a method of identifj^ing them was devised. A token bearing the emblem of the Northern Anti-Slavery Society, a man kneeling with the motto "Am I not a man and a brother," was given to those who were certain not to be spies. Conductors and runaways also used specific handshakes to identify themselves. Handshakes, based on Masonic rituals, were probably developed by William Lambert, a free Black from Michigan. Some people believe quilts were used as a form of communication on the Underground Railroad. Quilts were hung in front of homes, and certain patterns regularly Men often Program, employed masked runaways disguises. their slave status by dressing as laborers and pretended to be going to work: women dressed in expensive clothing to avoid recognition by slave hunters. It is believed one conductor staged a mock funeral procession of a caravan of wagons to disguise the move- ment It is of slaves. clear slaves and conductors devised clever forms of communication and transportation. The Underground Railroad needed extensive planning to make it run smoothly, but the patience and perseverance of conductors and those they helped made the planning worthwhile. [Contributing to this article was Christine Varner. For more information go National Parks Service website the www.cr.nps.gov/ugrr/learn_b5.html to relayed specific messages, such what tools to pack and when was good time to escape, says as Jacqueline Tobin. author of Hidden in Plain \'iciv: The Secret Story of Quilts and the Under- ground Railj'oad. Blockson, however, disagrees. "These escapees came from man>- 27 He was given 200 lashes, which Allen called "medicine that would cure him." a post. Willi iA\V.h Heartbroken and desperate, a slave ships himself to freedom by Christine Varner Brown, suffering great injustice because of the bondage of slavery, went through great pain to achieve his fi^eedom. In The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself (1851), he states that his book win show "the beautiful side of slavery." The irony behind the statement that he was raised "under the benign influence of [a] blessed system" quickly becomes evident as he details his sufferings. Born about 1816 in Louisa County, Virginia, Brown first served a master in the Barrett family, who treated him with rela- Henry tive kindness. Richmond, Virginia. There, he worked in the younger Barrett's tobacco manufacturing plant. Under orders from his deceased father, Barrett was kind to Brown, offering him food, clothing, and an unspecified amount of spending money. John F. Allen, the overseer of the plant, was not so kind. Brown relates the story of a who missed several days slave work because of illness. Allen ordered some men to go to the slave's house and bring him to the plant. The man, terribly ill and hardly able to stand, was stripped to the waist and tied to of Brown complained that even on days when overseers didn't employ the whip, the fear of punishment was always present. He wrote of Allen and other overseers: "These men hardly deserve the name of men, for they are lost to all regard for decency, truth, justice and humanity, and are so far gone in human depravity, that before they can be saved, Jesus Christ, or some other Savior, will have to die a second time." During his time in Richmond, Brown came to know a young slave woman named Nancy. In 1836, after seeking permission from their masters, they were married and had three children. But in August 1848, his mother's words again returned. Brown was at work when he received word that his wife and children were in the local jail, where they were being held until they were sold the next morning. This shocked him since he paid his master $50 every year so she would not be sold. Brown pleaded with his master wife's When Brown was master became ill. When he and his brother were summoned to his master's deathbed, "we ran with beating hearts, and highly elated feelings, not doubting that he was about to confer upon us the boon of freedom, as we expected to be set free when he died," he wrote. Rather, the family was 13, his willed to Barrett's four sons, the family and was separated. "My son, as yonder leaves are stripped from off the trees of the forest, so are the children of slaves swept away from them by the hands of cruel tyrants," wrote Brown, recalling the warnings of mother when he was a child. his He was sent to 've with his former master's son, V/illiam, in 28 Spectrum to purchase Nancy, "but no tears of The box contained three small was stamped "This side up with care." The but it seemed a comparatively pay for the precious all mine made the least impression upon his obdurate heart," he wrote. He tried to convince two holes for air and light price to workers were not concerned with men he knew to purchase her, but they refused, telling him they this, boon of Liberty." Upon hearing of Brown's success. Smith attempted to mail two didn't think it was right to own slaves. A Christian minister from North Carolina purchased Brown's wife. As she was chained saw led down the road, Brown and as a result. Brown spent a considerable portion of the journey upside down. In his narrative, he writes that he expected blood to flow from his burst veins while trapped in this position. other slaves to freedom. These attempts were thwarted, and "the heroic young fugitives were captured in their boxes and dragged back to hopeless bond- to the other slaves, her. "I seized hold of her hand, intending to bid her farewell," he wrote, "but words failed me." Immediately ration of his family. determined to free Brown was try to outrun the slave hunters, so he worked on a means of escape no one had ever tried before. "One day, while I was at work, and my thoughts were eagerly feasting upon the idea of freethe idea suddenly flashed across my mind of shutting myself up in a box, and getting myself conveyed as dry good to a free state," he wrote. . . . Brown poured oil of vitriol on his finger to disable himself from work. He burned himself through to the bone, and the overseer had no recourse but to grant him a leave of absence. Taking his remaining $166, Brown took his leave and went in search of someone who might assist him in his escape. Samuel A. Smith, a White shoemaker, offered his help for the price of $86. Smith arranged to have Brown shipped as freight along the rail the office of the AntiSlavery Society in Philadelphia. A carpenter constructed a box measlines all seemed a comparatively light price to pay for the precious boon of liberty,'' — Henry himself from slavery. "I had suffered enough under its heavy weight, and I determined I would endure it no longer" he wrote. He knew it would be too risky to dom '^It following the sepa- to uring two feet high, eight inches deep, two feet wide, and three feet long. Brown spent 26 hours in the box with nothing more than a bladder of water to sustain him. Winter/Spring 2004 Eventually, the workers set the for use as a stool, granting Brown a slight degree of comfort. "One half hour longer and my sufferings would have ended in that fate, which I preferred to box down slavery," he a day after his departure from Richmond, Brown arrived in Philadelphia. The box was taken to the office of the Anti-Slavery Society at 107 North Fifth Street. There, Wilham Still, along with his colleagues, finally freed Brown. "I and shook myself from arose, the lethargy into which I had fallen," wrote Brown, "but exhausted much nature proved too for my frame, and I swooned away." recovered, and according to HeWilliam Still's memoir. The Underground Railroad, published in 1872. Brown proceeded to sing a hymn praising the Lord for hearing his prayers. "He was then christened Henry Box Brown." wrote Still. "O what age," wrote Still. on trial, Brown Smith was put and sentenced convicted, to eight years in prison. Brown remained in Philadel- phia for a shoxt time, then made his way to Massachusetts. traveled throughout New England and related his story at He said. More than "Box'' ecstatic joy thrilled numerous He anti-slavery meetings. created a panorama. "MiiTor of Slavery." that depicted his life as a and his escape. He exhibited the panorama in the free states until he fled to England when the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, which requu-ed people to slave retm-n escapees to slavery. In England, he continued to speak against slavery. He was known to be living in Wales in 1864. according to the African- American Registry. No documents of his life after 1864 exist: it is unknown when he died. \\Tiile not much is known about his death, his accomplishments while alive are forever etched in history. [For further details on the life of through every nerve and fiber of my system." wrote Brown. "Long slaves, see had seemed my journey, and ribly hazardous had been Henry Box Brown. Written by Himself. 1851. and The Underground Railroad. attempt to gain my ter- my birthright: Henry Bo.x by William Brown and efforts The Narrative of the to free Life of Still.] 29 M^ In a small Pennsylvania town, the federal government brought to trial 38 men for helping slaves escape by Rachel Fiedler What began as a fight for freedom by escaped slaves the first armed resistance against slavery. Edward Gorsuch, a Quaker slave owner, believed the world outside slavery couldn't compare to the safety and security he could yirovide. The place was Christian. Pennsylvania; the time, September 1851. escalated into , ZQ Two years earlier, four slaves had escaped from in Maryland and their plantation fled to Pennsyl- vania. In mid-September, Edward Gorsuch confronted his slaves in an attempt to reclaim them, but faced a bloody battle, one which he wouldn't survive. In 1850, Congress had passed a law stating, "The judges of the Superior Courts of the Territories shall grant certificates to such with authority to claimants take and remove such fugitives from service or labor ... to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled." This was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which bestowed the right to all slave owners to recapture their . . . . . . Spectrum escaped slaves. The enactment of this law provided Gorsuch with the legal authority to hunt down his escaped slaves and return them to his plantation. In Parker's account of the event, which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1866, he claimed Gorsuch and Kline threatened to burn down farm, signaling other Blacks and Whites to come to Parker's aid. Parker insulted Gorsuch about his religion, enraging Dickinson and causing him to fire upon the wasn't a sense of ownership that prompted Gorsuch to find his slaves, but a feeling of betrayal, disrespect, and It loss of reputation. As a practicing Quaker, Gor- such had treated his slaves well, and occasionally paid them for per- sonal work; he believed his slaves had better lives than freed Blacks. The four refugees had sought aid at the home of William Parker, a leader in the Lancaster Black Self-Protection Society, after escaping from Gorsuch's plantation. In his memoirs, The Freedman's Story, Parker describes how he freedom as a teenager after beating his fled to own master and began work on a farm in Christiana: "I was now at the beginning of a new and important era in my life ... I Samuel Hopkins and Peter Woods, two of the survivors of the Christiana Riot 1851, returned in 1896 to the site where one died and two were wounded. longed to cast off the chains of servitude, because they chafed my free spirit." Parker rose to high status among Blacks in the area by becoming an avid, violent fighter against slavery. His defiance of Gorsuch and his party led to the outbreak of the riot. Two days before the riot, Gorsuch gathered his son, Dickinson, his nephew, Joshua, and three other men, and went toward Christiana. Once in Pennsylvania the group received help from Marshal Henry H. Kline arrests of the slaves. for the Meanwhile at Parker's farm, a spy informed him of a party coming to capture the escaped slaves. Winter/Spring 2004 the house and would begin to shoot all those inside if Gorsuch's slaves were not turned over immediately. The White men entered Parker's home. Kline and Gorsuch attempted to climb the stairs to reach Parker and a friend: according to Parker, "a pitchfork with blunt prongs" was thrown down at them. It hit no one. but caused Gorsuch to retreat to the front lawn. Parker blames Kline for flring the first shots while Gorsuch's party stood by its story that the first shots came from inside the house after they fled to the front lawn. Within moments of the first shots, an alarm sounded across the in Black man. Others began to shoot Edward and Dickinson Gorsuch, wounding Dickinson: Edward Gorsuch, still able to fight, headed toward the main house. Armed men surrounded Edward Gorsuch. "They were too late: the negroes rushed up. and the firing began," recounted Parker at in his detailed account of the story. The men encircled the slave owner and violently beat him to death, said W.U. Henel. author of The Christiana Riot and the Treaso?i Trials of 1S51. The nearly fifty Black men who fought against the seven White men from Marx^land only suffered minor wounds, including Parker who was shot in the shoulder. 31 Hanway with five specific charges, including that, "He, with a large number of armed persons forcibly prevented the execution of the United States Fugitive Slave Law and levy treason against the United States." A trial against those assisting Parker began on -,-«* ' ^ William Parker's home, runaway slaves sought refuge. The fighting in the death of a slave owner from Maryland. unfolded and ended Four of Gorsuch's men, along with Kline, fled during the outbreak of the riot and were unhurt, but Edward Gorsuch lay dead on the lawn; Dickinson, nearly dead, to Gov. had eighty shots that pierced in the aftermath of the riot. Thirty- his William Johnson of Penn- sylvania demanding justice for the murder which took place in his state. The issue of treason still lingered a verdict of "not guilty." Although the Christiana Riot was the first recorded violent fight against slavery there still had been previous uprisings against White slave owners. Twenty years earlier on August 22, 1831 religious leader, Nat Turner led more than fifty others in the murders of fifty- eight Whites. After seeing what he believed to be a sign from God, Turner gath- body. However, the son survived When Henel interviewed friends who knew Dickhis wounds. ^^I longed to cast off the chains of servitude^ inson in his later years, they described his still visible scars, "Thirty-one years after he was shot his body prepared for bur- because they chafed my free spirit/' —William Parker — was 'pitted like a sponge' with the marks of the 'Christiana Riot.'" The Pownall family had tended to him in the immediate moments after the fighting and most likely saved his life. Mixed feelings ran through the United States after word spread ial Black man's defiance of slave owners and law. Only seven of a l. days after the vania Freeman 32 • . i the Pennsylblished a letter 't, eight men were charged with treatwo of the White came upon the farm, son, including men who Castner Hanway and Elijah Lewis. Parker and many other Black men there on September 11 had already fled to Canada fearing what would result once people found out about the Black resistance. The U.S. and Maryland indicted ered a group of men and killed his master, Joseph Travis, and nearly sixty other men, women, and children, reported the Richmond Constitutional Whig a day after the riot broke out. The Blacks' revolt lasted thirty-six hours until the militia came and the Whites' side was able to over-power the slaves. The Richmond Enquirer Spectrum described the uprising as: "a parwolves rush- cel of blood-thirsty ing down from the Alps." The milmore than one hundred itia killed Blacks, not all of whom were involved in the overthrow. During the fighting. Turner escaped, but was later captured by a farmer, stated the American Beacon of Norfolk. Turner was charged with rebellion and was hanged in November. Decades before the Civil War, slaves started to slowly rally against their White slave owners in order to achieve freedom. The Christiana Riot and the Nat Turner Rebellion signified turning points in American history; they provided an example and a following for other Blacks to unite and fight against slavery. information see The Freedmans Story, by William Parker: The Christiana Riot and the Treason Trials of 1851, by W.U. Hensel. Contact Moores Memorial Library at 610-593[For further 6683 or visit their web www.christinalibrary.org] site at EO.WARO OQESmH'i INOICTF.O FO»»TREAr;n> US ^'^.'^''•"^C.N CIRCUIT COURT E 0. P^ ftUn T .IC^I ^ft<^TNER HANWAY C0:RSUCH. " .Or --'BALTI'MORf CQ.-MD,;;^ JOSEPH SCAt^LET *..n . \JAH LEVflB '-JAMES JAf.KSnN rrnRCE WILLIAMS ' .lACOH MnnHv: CFORHE PEED aENJ/VMlM JOHNSON 1. DANIEL CAULSBERRY in AL'^^QM The United States indicted 38 men for treason under HENRY CREEN ELIJAH CL^RK 14. JOHN HQLLIDAY 12, !3 the Fugitive Slave Act WILLIAM WILLIAM*; lS.RENJ:P?>