Abolition and the Underground Railroad in South Jersey

Abolition and the Underground Railroad in South Jersey PDF Author: Ellen Alford
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1439679614
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Southern New Jersey was a hotbed of slave fugitives, freedmen and abolitionists in the Civil War era. The proud 22nd Regiment of the United States Colored Troops included hundreds of Black New Jerseyans ready to fight for emancipation and the Union cause. Abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman, Abigail Goodwin and Benjamin Sheppard operated among key landmarks of the Underground Railroad in South Jersey counties such as Cape May, Cumberland and Salem. Slavery and the rights of Black Americans were at the forefront of the region's attention including stories such as a melee in a Cape May hotel between Black waiters and white patrons, the covert signaling of boats ferrying fugitive slaves across the Delaware River and the daring rescue of a runway slave from the hands of slave catches by local church worshipers. Author Ellen Alford reveals the history of abolition and the Underground Railroad in South Jersey.

Underground Railroad in New Jersey and New York

Underground Railroad in New Jersey and New York PDF Author: William J. Switala
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 9780811732581
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Maps of the major escape routes. Identifies houses and sites where slaves found refuge. Chapter on Canada discusses the final destination.

The Ragged Road to Abolition

The Ragged Road to Abolition PDF Author: James J. Gigantino II
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812290224
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Contrary to popular perception, slavery persisted in the North well into the nineteenth century. This was especially the case in New Jersey, the last northern state to pass an abolition statute, in 1804. Because of the nature of the law, which freed children born to enslaved mothers only after they had served their mother's master for more than two decades, slavery continued in New Jersey through the Civil War. Passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 finally destroyed its last vestiges. The Ragged Road to Abolition chronicles the experiences of slaves and free blacks, as well as abolitionists and slaveholders, during slavery's slow northern death. Abolition in New Jersey during the American Revolution was a contested battle, in which constant economic devastation and fears of freed blacks overrunning the state government limited their ability to gain freedom. New Jersey's gradual abolition law kept at least a quarter of the state's black population in some degree of bondage until the 1830s. The sustained presence of slavery limited African American community formation and forced Jersey blacks to structure their households around multiple gradations of freedom while allowing New Jersey slaveholders to participate in the interstate slave trade until the 1850s. Slavery's persistence dulled white understanding of the meaning of black freedom and helped whites to associate "black" with "slave," enabling the further marginalization of New Jersey's growing free black population. By demonstrating how deeply slavery influenced the political, economic, and social life of blacks and whites in New Jersey, this illuminating study shatters the perceived easy dichotomies between North and South or free states and slave states at the onset of the Civil War.

Parallel Communities

Parallel Communities PDF Author: Dennis C. Rizzo
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614234590
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
The true story of the small African American communities that formed in southern New Jersey during the era of slavery—includes photos. For slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad, names like Springtown and Snow Hill promised sanctuary and salvation. Under the pressures of racial prejudice, many free blacks, runaway slaves, and even Native Americans formed island communities on the periphery of South Jersey towns. While Lawnside and others continue to thrive today, others, like Marshalltown and Timbuctoo, now exist only in memory. In this discussion of these primarily African American communities, Dennis Rizzo validates their role in the preservation of tradition, definition of extended family, and creation of a social bond between diverse peoples; together they formed parallel communities based on, but independent of, the larger towns and villages familiar to residents of the Garden State.

"Steal Away, Steal Away--"

Author: New Jersey Historical Commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad PDF Author: William Still
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1528793013
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1048

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Book Description
William Still (1821–1902) was an African-American abolitionist, businessman, writer, historian, civil rights activist. He was also a conductor on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses created in the United States during the early to the mid-19th century for use by African American slaves in order to escape into free states or Canada. In 1872, he published “The Underground Railroad”, an account of the underground system and the experiences of 649 slaves who escaped to freedom. An incredible collection of real-life stories that provide a unique insight into the adversity faced by pre-emancipation African-Americans. Contents include: “Seth Concklin”, “Underground Rail Road Letters”, “William Peel, alias William Box Peel Jones”, “Wesley Harris, alias Robert Jackson, and the Matterson Brothers”, “Death of Romulus Hall—New Name George Weems”, “James Mercer, Wm. H. Gilliam, and John Clayton”, “Clarissa Davis”, “Anthony Blow, alias Henry Levison”, “Perry Johnson, of Elkton, Maryland”, “Isaac Forman, William Davis, and Willis Redick”, etc. Read & Co. History is proudly republishing this classic book in a brand new edition complete with an introductory biography by William Wells Brown.

Slavery & the Underground Railroad in New Hampshire

Slavery & the Underground Railroad in New Hampshire PDF Author: Michelle Arnosky Sherburne
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1625856377
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
New Hampshire was once a hotbed of abolitionist activity. But the state had its struggles with slavery, with Portsmouth serving as a slave-trade hub for New England. Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Nathaniel Peabody Rogers and Stephen Symonds Foster helped create a statewide antislavery movement. Abolitionists and freed slaves assisted in transporting escapees to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Author Michelle Arnosky Sherburne uncovers the truth about slavery, the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement in New Hampshire.

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad PDF Author: William Still
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
ISBN: 1788284755
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
First published in 1872, The Underground Railroad is a fascinating collection of slaves' own narratives of their escapes from bondage. Their accounts provide a horrifying window into the reality of the 'peculiar institution' and the trials they had to endure to escape it. This abridged collection consists of a wide variety of slave narratives faithfully recorded by William Still, a conductor on the underground railroad. Along with the narratives are contemporary newspaper articles and personal correspondence between slaves and members of the underground railroad that place the reader back into the world of the abolitionist movement in America.

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad PDF Author: Ann Malaspina
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438131291
Category : Abolitionists
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
When the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed by Congress, the flight to freedom for runaway slaves became even more dangerous. Even the free cities of Boston and Philadelphia were no longer safe, and abolitionists who despised slavery had to turn in fugitives. But the Underground Railroad, a secret and loosely organized network of people and safe houses that led slaves to freedom, only grew stronger. Since the late 1700s, blacks and whites had banded together to aid runaways like Maryland slave Frederick Douglass, who disguised himself as a sailor to board a train to New York. Virginia slave Henry Brown packed himself in a box to get to Philadelphia. The minister John Rankin, who hung a lantern to guide runaways to his house by the Ohio River, endured beatings for speaking against slavery. Quaker storeowner Thomas Garrett was put on trial for helping fugitives in Delaware. Meanwhile, the nation marched on toward Civil War. At its height, between 1810 and 1850, these secret routes and safe houses were used by an estimated 30,000 people escaping enslavement. In The Underground Railroad: The Journey to Freedom, read how this secret system worked in the days leading up to the Civil War and the pivotal role it played in the abolitionist movement.

The Underground Railroad (Illustrated Edition)

The Underground Railroad (Illustrated Edition) PDF Author: William Still
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 1435

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Book Description
This book chronicles the stories of some 649 slaves who escaped to freedom via the Underground Railroad, a secret network formed by abolitionists and former slaves who helped them escape to the North. This book's original aim was to reunite those slaves with their families. But now it has turned into an important historical document that visiblises the existence of those who suffered inhuman cruelty at the hands of Southern Slave Owners and yet had the courage to break free. These unknown heroes and heroines were in true sense the founding fathers of African American Communities. This is why their stories must be heard and brought back from oblivion. A MUST READ! Excerpt: "Like millions of my race, my mother and father were born slaves, but were not contented to live and die so. My father purchased himself in early manhood by hard toil. Mother saw no way for herself and children to escape the horrors of bondage but by flight. Bravely, with her four little ones, with firm faith in God and an ardent desire to be free, she forsook the prison-house, and succeeded, through the aid of my father, to reach a free State. The old familiar slave names had to be changed..." William Still (1821–1902) was an African-American abolitionist, conductor on the Underground Railroad, writer, historian and civil rights activist. He was chairman of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and directly aided fugitive slaves by keeping records of their lives and helping families reunite after the abolishment of slavery.