Ch. 15: Abolitionists and Quakers

2009

This essay is about Philadelphia's contribution to freedom movement in mid-1800s. The Underground Railroad was a secret network established by former fugitives and abolitionists in order to assist slaves escape from Southern captivity. Supported by sympathizers, but mainly by free blacks, the informal organization helped former slaves to re-locate in Northern states and even reach Canada in order to start new lives. As the Underground Railroad gained more supporters among Quakers, and sympathizers, hundreds of runaways headed toward Philadelphia either to stay or continue their flight toward Canada. However the major support for the success and continuity of the network came from wealthy Black Philadelphians, including James Forten and Robert Purvis.

The Story of The Underground Railroad

2019

This paper is based on a chapter from my doctoral thesis, and is not currently published. However, I have sent it in booklet format to the various historical organisations, museums, and other places who so generously assisted me in my archival research. The paper's introduction also includes some contextual information which did not appear in the original thesis. As it is an unpublished work, please do not cite it without my permission.

Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage, 2019

Originally situated in a suburb, today the 1856 Gray House is a private residence and part of Chicago's Old Irving Park neighbourhood. Known for his vocal stand against slavery, John Gray was the first Republican Sheriff of Cook County (1858–1860). In the years after his death, popular narratives arose designating his home a station on the Underground Railroad. By interrogating the documentary record, results from archaeological survey and excavation, and reports from known Underground Railroad sites, this paper focuses on the way that stories of the Underground Railroad are a preferred narrative of uplift and resistance even with absent site-specific evidence for these antislavery activities.

2006

Abstract Just as eighteenth century master seamstress Betsy Ross implemented more meanings and messages into the first American flag than what is obvious at first glance, so too did African American seamstresses weave messages into quilt patterns used on the Underground Railroad. Similar to the way themes of freedom and liberty in the Declaration of Independence were reinterpreted to include disenfranchised groups, Biblical themes such as heaven and the Promised Land were reinterpreted to include slaves. This study examines the visual rhetoric of nineteenth century textiles used by the Underground Railroad. From the evidence examined, I argue that the visual texts of quilting during the nineteenth century were complete multimedia devices used not only by African Americans but other disenfranchised groups such as Abolitionists, Native Americans, Woman Suffrage Activists and Freemasons. Nineteenth century visual rhetoric was significant both historically and rhetorically to many American subcultures.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" set sales records for American fiction, intensified the national debate over slavery, and ignited heated exchanges that led to the Civil War.

This thesis explores Hartford's black community between 1833 and 1841, looking at the exclusion they faced and the ways in which they resisted against it, focusing on four key moments to tell this story. It seeks to use this setting as a platform to make a case for the importance, and uniqueness, of the contributions of antebellum Northern black communities to the rise of antislavery. Senior thesis completed at Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in American Studies.