Underground Railroad Free Press
News & Views on the Underground Railroad • Vol. XIV, no. 104, November 2023
Published bimonthly since 2006, we bring together organizations and people interested in the historical and the contemporary Underground Railroad. Free Press is the home of Lynx, the central registry of contemporary Underground Railroad organizations, and the Free Press prizes awarded annually for leadership, preservation and advancement of knowledge, the community's highest honors. Underground Railroad Free Press is emailed free of charge around the 15th of odd-numbered months. Readership is about 26,000.
In This Issue
New York City gets its act together
New Underground Railroad trails
An obituary
A national book prize nomination
An Unassisted Triple Play from Fergus Bordewich
Underground Railroad Free Press regularly monitors the international Underground Railroad community for the news that we report but we also receive frequent alerts from readers about report-worthy information that we might miss. Over the years, Free Press readers have sent us innumerable “hot news flashes,” calendar items, reminders, guest articles and more, most of which makes it into the publication. If there were a prize given to the one who has done us this favor most often, it would probably go to Pulitzer-nominated historian Fergus Bordewich. This issue contains the following three news items that he alerted us to, all since our last issue. Thank you, Fergus.
Bordewich is the author of Bound for Canaan (2005), in our opinion the best Underground Railroad history yet written. Just published is his Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, the history of the Grant administration’s at first successful, then thwarted, attempt to safeguard the Reconstruction era civil rights gains after the Civil War. fergusbordewich.com/klan-war.html
New York City Gets Caught Up
Some of this article is based on recent reporting by Matthew Fenton of The Broadsheet, a New York City neighborhood newspaper.
Until now, New York City has not had a good record of official attention to its Underground Railroad heritage, especially its safe-houses. Two of the annual Free Press prizes for preservation have been awarded to residents who spent years getting the city to take protective action when it should have taken months. Now, City Council legislation has been introduced to create a historical trail in New York’s Manhattan borough and beyond to raise awareness about the role New York City played in the Underground Railroad.
The legislation, called the “Road to Freedom Act,” will impanel a 13-member task force of government officials and academic experts to plan a walkable tour of relevant historical sites, linked through unifying signage, programs, or maps. The route will include sites that are well-known to local history enthusiasts, as well as sites that have been overlooked. The legislation calls for two such trails: one in Manhattan, the other spanning the City as a whole.
Many of the Manhattan buildings used as stops on the Underground Railroad were demolished, but one that remains is Two White Street at the corner of West Broadway. This is the landmarked Gideon Tucker House, which dates from 1809, but was by the 1840s the home of Rev. Theodore Wright.
Ohio Underground Railroad Trail
This article is based on recent reporting by Bryce Buyakie of the Akron Beacon Journal.
Planning for another Underground Railroad trail is underway in Ohio. A new trail will take people from Cincinnati to Columbus and from Akron to Toledo to learn about the long-reaching history of slavery in the U.S. and the role Ohioans played in the Underground Railroad. The trail has been named the Ohio Historical Underground Railroad Trail.
Said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, “We’ve created this new trail to show both visitors and Ohioans how to learn more about Ohio’s history as an important connector on the Underground Railroad.”
The trail will take visitors to 15 historic stops including the John Brown House in Akron and the Haines House Underground Railroad Museum in Alliance. Additional sites include the Spring Hill Historic Home and Underground Railroad Site. Articles and audio stories from the Hudson Library and Historical Society will be available to complement each of the locations.
New York State Underground Railroad Corridor
The Mid-Hudson Antislavery History Project reports that the Underground Railroad Consortium of New York State has received funding for the development and promotion of a Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Corridor across the state. The Corridor will run a contiguous 450-mile route connecting New York City to Niagara Falls, passing through the Hudson River Valley. The Corridor will be managed by the Consortium. Through collaborative programming, marketing and economic development, the Corridor will promote New York State’s historic role in the struggle to end slavery in New York State and the nation.
Chicago to Detroit Freedom Trail
By Joseph Pete, Northwest Indiana Times
An estimated 800 to 1,500 freedom seekers who escaped slavery passed through Northwest Indiana on their way to Canada. A new project aims to unearth their stories.
The Chicago to Detroit Freedom Trail initiative is looking to chronicle the journeys of freedom seekers along the Underground Railroad in Northwest Indiana. It’s seeking volunteer researchers to help flesh out more details about known Underground Railroad sites and the people who passed through them on the way to freedom.
Tom Shepherd and Larry McClellan, community activists who also are behind the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project, are looking to retrace the steps of freedom seekers for the Chicago to Detroit Freedom Trail. It will have interpretative signage and digital resources explaining the history. They’re also seeking to flesh out stories in Bronzeville, the South Side, the Chicago south suburbs, Elkhart, Goshen and South Bend.
Much of the existing history focuses on the people who operated Underground Railroad stops. But the hope is to flip that to focus more on the freedom seekers themselves, said McClellan, who wrote the book “Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois” and “The Underground Railroad South of Chicago.”
He estimates about 6,000 to 10,000 freedom seekers, many from Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas, made their way to Illinois between the 1830s and 1861.
“There are two great stories: people who were enslaved went north to the northern states to seize their freedom. And people responded to them in farms and towns by being helpful, giving them food and places to stay.”
McClellan said it’s also time to retire language like fugitive slaves.
“That’s the unjust laws and languages of the 19th century,” he said. “The fundamental human intention is that they were going to be free. The Underground Railroad was the responding networking, not the initiating network. But a lot of history was written by old white men like me and they told the stories of old white men like them who were abolitionists. We need to expand that set of stories to have a diverse set of stories.”
Initial research uncovered about 60 places in Northeast Illinois and 19 places in Northwest Indiana where freedom seekers found assistance on the Underground Railroad.
“These journeys happened right in our backyard,” he said. “We need to uncover more of these stories.”
Caroline Quarlls for instance was enslaved in Missouri and decided at 16 years old she was going to be a free person so she ran away. She made her way to Wisconsin, before passing through Chicago on route to Detroit so she could cross into Canada. She had light pale skin with freckles that let her pass as white but knew if she were caught she would be kidnapped and enslaved again.
“She had a remarkable journey,” he said. “One of the great honors of my life has been getting to know her descendants. We know she stayed in Crete overnight and in Westville. She went right through Valparaiso and right through the Middle of Merrillville. We have all kinds of stories like this we can find. We’ve only begun to do the digging.”
Freedom seekers who made their way through Chicago to Detroit geographically all had to pass through Northwest Indiana. They often took the Sauk Trail, an indigenous pathway, or the Chicago to Detroit highway that’s now known as the Dunes Highway.
Initial research has unearthed some Underground Railroad spots like Hohman’s Bridge in Hammond, Gibson’s Tavern in what’s now Gary, the Doctor Henry Palmer Home in Merrillville, the Aberdeen Inn in Valparaiso and the Daniel Low Estate in Michigan City. There also are potential sites that need more investigation like the Alpha Wreck in Odgen Dunes that is rumored to have ferried freedom seekers across Lake Michigan.
A Quaker community of abolitionists and a community of free African Americans by LaPorte also helped freedom seekers.
“We need to revisit sites in a different way to look at who traveled through this region, who was traveling on foot and in wagons along ancient Native American trails,” he said. “It used to take six hours by stagecoach to go from Michigan City to Chicago or six days if the weather was bad. They rode on the beach as it had the finest hard surface before there was road.
Stagecoaches didn’t cross rivers even as sluggish as the Calumet River. They followed it to Lake Michigan where it formed a sandbar out into the lake. They would go across the sandbar and back onto the beach. They went full speed and never told the passengers they were going into the lake so you had women fainting and passengers fearing they had gone completely crazy.”
The project is seeking volunteers who will gather more details and stories about known Underground Railroad sites in the Calumet Region.
“We need to move from a general level of understanding to developing these stories,” he said. “It deserves some real work to develop guidebooks and maps We know the outline. We know the trail. We know the national mythology. For the next several years, we need to figure out how freedom seekers move through our backyard. Any way you could be of help would be terrific. Every bit we can uncover helps.”
For more information or to volunteer, email tomshepherd2001@yahoo.com or find the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project on Facebook.
Charles Blockson Dies
This story originally appeared in The Philadelphia Tribune.
Charles L. Blockson, the architect behind some of the most prestigious collections of African American artifacts in the United States, died on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at his home. He was 89.
“I and countless others will carry my father’s memory in our hearts and will find comfort and strength in the profound and impactful legacy he leaves behind,” said his daughter Noelle P. Blockson.
Often described as a bibliophile, scholar, activist, historian, and curator emeritus of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University, Blockson traveled extensively around the world acquiring rare African American publications and artifacts dating back to the 16th century.
“Charles Blockson spent a lifetime collecting the most precious African American artifacts and in 1984 he donated that collection to Temple University, providing an enriching campus experience not only for our students, faculty and staff, but also for the Philadelphia community and beyond,” said JoAnne Epps, Temple University interim president, in a statement.
“He was a kind soul, devoted to preserving and recording America’s history,” she said. “He will be missed.”
He was born on Dec. 16, 1933 in Norristown, Pennsylvania to Charles Edward and Annie Parker Blockson. He was the oldest of eight children. As a child, he had a love for books and started collecting them at a young age.
He was educated in the Norristown Area School District where he excelled in athletics including football and track and field. As a star athlete at Norristown High School and Penn State University, he won state and national honors and participated in the Penn Relays.
He would later marry Elizabeth Parker in 1958, and from this union they had one daughter, Noelle P. Blockson.
In 1984, Blockson donated his personal collection of rare publications and artifacts to Temple University to start the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection.
It is one of the nation’s leading research facilities for the study of the history and culture of people of African descent, Africa and its diaspora. The catalog, which dates back from 1581 to the present, contains more than 700,000 books, documents and photographs.
Blockson is the co-founder of the African American Museum in Philadelphia and has contributed to the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora at the Pennsylvania State University and the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
In 2016, Blockson donated Harriet Tubman’s signed hymnal and other personal items to the Smithsonian. He once said that when he inherited Harriet Tubman’s 39 personal items from her great-niece Merlie Wilkens, including the shawl that Queen Victoria presented to Tubman, “it was the crowning point of his life as a collector.”
Last year, Norristown’s Historical Centre Theatre opened up a third location of his renowned collection.
“Mr. Blockson is well-respected because of his passion for collecting, preserving and disseminating the histories of people of African descent,” said Diane Turner, curator of Temple University Blockson Collection, in a statement.
“His collections make accessible rich and diverse stories about their histories and cultures,” she said. “He has been a great influence on numerous scholars, students and people of all nationalities.”
As a writer, Blockson authored 13 books and wrote several magazine articles. In 1984, he was the first African American to write a cover story in National Geographic.
The article, “Escape from Slavery: Underground Railroad,” was the first cover story pertaining to African American people and is one the most popular stories in the history of the National Geographic magazine.
He also lectured around the world including at the Sorbonne in Paris, France in 1991 at the African Americans in Europe Conference, in the African countries Egypt and Senegal, and in Sweden, Iceland and Denmark with the U.S. Department of the Interior about the Underground Railroad.
“No African American that I can recall has ever had an impact on the genealogical study of African people as Charles Blockson did,” said Molefi Kete Asante, Temple University professor and chair of the Department of Africology and African American studies, in a statement.
“Using his vast knowledge and his family background as a platform, he tremendously advanced our understanding of contemporary African history. Blockson was a man who hunted in the forest of knowledge, and the books that he discovered became trophies that did not sit on shelves but instead actively energized an entire population,” he said.
“He is, in my judgment, one of Temple’s most legendary figures. He was also, for me, a personal friend, a mentor, and a fighter for justice. He hated racism and he was determined to ensure that all humans recognize the African source of information and knowledge,” he added.
Throughout his career, Blockson was the recipient of numerous awards and honors. In 2017, he was the 96th recipient of the Philadelphia Award. He also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Penn State University, and three honorary doctorate degrees from Lincoln University, Holy Family University and Villanova University.
He was a co-founder of the African American Museum in Philadelphia, founding member of the Pennsylvania Black History Committee of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and director of the Philadelphia African American Pennsylvania State Marker Project, the largest African American marker program in the United States.
“Mr. Blockson forged an incredible legacy, preserving and promoting the vibrant histories of Black people,” said Linn Washington, Temple University professor of journalism in Klein College of Media and Communication.
“He enriched my life tremendously, learning from him and being encouraged by him. His frequent directive to me is set in my soul: ‘Keep writing to right wrong. Bring truth to our people,’” he said.
Blockson is survived by his daughter, Noelle P. Blockson; his siblings, Betty Thompson, Caroline Caulker, Gertrude Poage and James Blockson and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, godchildren, friends and associates.
2023 Book Award Nominee
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo has been named as one of 25 nominees for the 2023 Goodreads prize in history and biography. Prizes in all categories will bhe announces on December 7.Following is Goodreads.com’s synopsis of the book which became a New York Times best-seller.
The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as “his” slave.
In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history. Posing as master and slave, while sustained by their love as husband and wife, they made their escape together across more than 1,000 miles, riding out in the open on steamboats, carriages, and trains that took them from bondage in Georgia to the free states of the North.
Along the way, they dodged slave traders, military officers, and even friends of their enslavers, who might have revealed their true identities. The tale of their adventure soon made them celebrities, and generated headlines around the country. Americans could not get enough of this charismatic young couple, who traveled another 1,000 miles criss-crossing New England, drawing thunderous applause as they spoke alongside some of the greatest abolitionist luminaries of the day—among them Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown.
But even then, they were not out of danger. With the passage of an infamous new Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, all Americans became accountable for returning refugees like the Crafts to slavery. Then yet another adventure began, as slave hunters came up from Georgia, forcing the Crafts to flee once again—this time from the United States, their lives and thousands more on the line and the stakes never higher.
With three epic journeys compressed into one monumental bid for freedom, Master Slave Husband Wife is an American love story—one that would challenge the nation’s core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for all—one that challenges us even now.