![]() |
![]() Central Pennsylvania's journey from enslavement to freedom |
|
Study AreasEnslavementAnti-SlaveryFree Persons of ColorUnderground RailroadThe Violent DecadeUS Colored TroopsCivil WarYear of Jubilee (1863)20th Century |
CommunityAnnouncementsSite NewsEvents of InterestOn This DayLetters on Various TopicsStories |
|
|
||
Site NewsJust uploaded--"Port of Philadelphia Slave Manifests." Including fascinating stories about the Ganges Families, an enslaved woman who sucessfully sued a Texas slaveholder for her and her two sons' freedom, and scandal, suicides and ghost stories. Check it all out here: Philadelphia Slave Manifests. New Section--"Former Slaves." News items about formerly enslaved African American residents. Check it out here: Newly restored: Photos and video from Harrisburg's 2010 "Grand Review of Colored Troops." Check it out here: Featured Links
In the News
| ||
On This Date September events important to local African American history (see the whole year) September 1, 1780: The first Harrisburg area slave holder to register slaves according the 1780 Gradual Abolition Act is Elizabeth Carson, who registered her “Negro Male,” Pompey, aged fourteen years, as a “slave for life.” September 1, 1835: A follow-up meeting of Harrisburg anti-abolition supporters is held in a market shed on the square, after being barred from meeting in the county courthouse. Impassioned speeches are delivered by J. J. Clendenin, publisher Henry K. Strong, and attorney Charles C. Rawn. September 2, 1914: Artist Romare Bearden is born in Charlotte, North Carolina. September 3, 1838: With the help of local free Black woman Anna Murray, Frederick Douglass, an enslaved man in Maryland, escapes from slavery in Fells Point, Baltimore. Douglass would become a tireless lifelong campaigner for African American social, political, and legal rights. September 4, 1838: American Anti-slavery Society agent Daniel Alexander Payne visits with William C. Goodridge in York, as part of his lecturing circuit of Pennsylvania. During his trip, he met with anti-slavery leaders in each location and distributed literature. September 18, 1895: Booker T. Washington delivers his Atlanta Compromise speech at the Cotton States and International Exhibition in that city (“Cast Down Your Buckets Where You Are.”) September 22, 1862: President Lincoln declares that all slaves in states in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, would be free. September 25, 1838: AAS agent Daniel Alexander Payne arrives in Carlisle, where he stays with William Webb and visits barber and anti-slavery activist John Peck. September 25, 1851: Harrisburg is panicked as four African American strangers passing through town are rumored to be murderous rioters from Christiana. With the help of local men from Matamoras, the four are arrested and taken back to Harrisburg. There, District Judge John J. Pearson dismisses charges for lack of evidence against the four men accused of having participated in the Christiana Rebellion. To Judge Pearson's dismay, Federal Fugitive Slave Commissioner Richard McAllister immediately seizes the men in the courtroom and remands them south as fugitive slaves, after a short hearing.
|
||