"Remember the Train"
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Posted By: Gregory V. Boulware, Esq. on December 14, 2008 /* (Pt.1) "Remember the Train" Presented by Gregory Vernon Boulware THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN THE POCONO MOUNTAINS THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD HISTORIC PENNSYLVANIA LEAFLET No. 29 Pt. 1 On The Susquehanna River twenty miles north of the Maryland boundary is the borough of Columbia, Pennsylvania. In the early nineteenth century Columbia attracted a considerable settlement of former Negro slaves had legally procured their freedom from their Virginia owners. In the succeeding decades, before the Civil War, these fugitives made their settlement a refuge for those of their race fleeing the bonds of slavery from the South. Tradition says that slaveholders lost their runaways so often around Columbia that they concluded, “there must be an underground railroad out of here.” This illegal and informal “conspiracy,” which hastened and shielded the escape of runaway slaves, became known as “the underground railroad.” The conspirators, naturally enough, began to talk the language of railroading; “Conductors” guided the slaves from “station to station.” Stockholders” financed the venture and discussed the movement of “valuable pieces of ebony” or “prime articles” – anything but Negro slaves! Because secrecy was crucial, few records of the “railroad’s” activities survive. Most information comes to us from recollections put on record many years later. Most participants probably knew nothing about the activities of the Underground Railroad beyond their immediate neighborhoods. They simply fed and hid the fugitives and passed them along to the nest station. They asked few questions, and when the slave hunters knocked, there was, in reality, little they could tell them. Federal law had long asserted the responsibility of residents of free states and territories to return escaped slave property to its owners. The Constitution of the United States had a fugitive slave clause that Congress implemented with the first Fugitive Slave Law in 1793, placing a fine on anyone rescuing, harboring, or hindering the arrest of a fugitive. This law was rendered ineffective by a decision of the United States Supreme Court in Prigg vs. Pennsylvania in 1842. Congress, however, enacted a stronger Fugitive Slave law as part of the Compromise of 1850 between the slave and non-slave-holding states. Under this compromise, in part, the South agreed to the admission of California as a free or non-slave state and was compensated by a law requiring federal authorities to hunt runaway slaves and return them to their masters. The pursuit and return of fugitive slaves was certain to meet resistance in Pennsylvania, and did, though many condemned this kind of civil disobedience and urged compliance with the law. It is noteworthy that the General Assembly, dominated by a Whig party majority, acted in 1847 to forbid the use of jails for the detention of fugitive slaves. This law, however, was repealed in the 1850’s under Democratic Party leadership. Because of its dependence on individual action and the need for secrecy, the Underground Railroad was not a highly organized system with well-defined routes. In areas, where fugitive slaves often traveled, stories or legends of the railroad’s routes and stations still persist. These routes wove a criss-crossing network of lines, with the stations in some areas so close that fleeing slaves could seek refuge wherever expedient. Ohio was a natural escape route because of its long border with the slave states and its nearness to Canada. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa all got fugitive traffic from the adjacent slave states. Most of the traffic through Pennsylvania entered in the Southeastern part of the State, where public opinion was the most sympathetic. > Acknowledgment: Published by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg. Second printing, 1995, Text by Mrs. Linda McCabe McCurdy. Edited by Harold L. Myers. > Pt.2 - Next Week - Stay Tuned Thanks, Greg. gvb1210me@yahoo.com http://www.BoulwareEnterprises.com */ If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Gregory V. Boulware, Esq.
Assistant Managing Director, Managing Director's Office, City of Philadelphia Other College... class of 2004 Member Since January 2008 |
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