African American Civil War Memorial Museum

1

African American Civil War Museum

SCRIPT FOR P3.1 through 3.7

Section Panel Text Notes

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Introducti

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theater

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P3.1 The Glorious March to Liberty

Civil War to Civil Rights

The African American Civil War Museum honors the Americans of African descent who

fought to save the Union and secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity.

The struggle for liberty and equality under the law has characterized the experiences of

Africans and their descendants in the United States. This is only a fraction of their story.

Image 3.2.1_Map7 (LOC)

P3.2 The American Colonies

Building a Nation

Skilled labor was desperately needed in the American colonies. The colonization of America

depended heavily on artisans brought from mostly West Africa. Enslaved Africans were

blacksmiths, metallurgists, toolmakers, sculptors and engravers, silversmiths and goldsmiths,

tanners, shoemakers, saddle-makers and soldiers. Their skills not only supported the fledgling

colonies, their cultures shaped the very character of America. [3.2.1_Map7]

A Portolan Chart (Navigational Map) of the Atlantic Ocean and

Adjacent Continents 1633

The transatlantic slave trade began on the West Coast of Africa.

This map was used by 17th century captains transporting their human

cargo from Africa to America.

Courtesy of Library of Congress

Africans Arrive in America

The first Africans brought to North America during the transatlantic slave trade arrived at

Jamestown in the Virginia colony in 1619. These Africans had initially been brought across

the Atlantic by a Spanish ship built in Japan, the San Juan Baptista. The legal status of these

Africans as slaves or indentured servants is ambiguous. However, the courts in Virginia

clearly recognized Africans and their children as “property” in the 1640s. Tobacco planters

discerned that slave labor was more profitable than indentured and free laborers. From 1645

to 1660, the African descent population increased from 5,000 to 20,000.

[3.2.3_SlaveShip]

Africans were crowded onto slave ships to maximize profits.


Image 3.2.2_Jamestown

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[3.2.2_Jamestown]

First Africans Arrive at Jamestown on the Dutch Man of War in 1619


Ship Shackles

These shackles were used to secure African captives in the belly of ships

on their Middle Passage, from Africa to the Americas.

Merchants of Human Cargo Dutch ships were the primary suppliers of Africans to the British colonies until 1672 when the

British crown chartered the Royal African Company (RAC), which monopolized the African

slave trade until 1698.

Coffle Shackles

In shackles like these Africans were marched from inland kingdoms to the coast and sold to

European slave traders.

(LOC)

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005696251/

Image 3.2.3_SlaveShip

(LOC)


P3.3 Cargo for the Middle Passage

Laborers and Warriors

The slave trade often reflected the purchasing of African captives based on the skills required

in the colonial economy. Across the colonies, agrarian skills, industrial experience, and

domestic knowledge were highly valued. Africans from urban and rural areas were among the

human cargo brought to North America on the Middle Passage, across the Atlantic to the

Americas. They were sedentary farmers and nomadic herdsmen. They were peasants and

princes, high priests and warriors.

[3.3.1_Map8]

Map of Africa corrected based on the observations of the

Royal Society of London and Paris 1725

The map shows boundaries, rivers, forests, and principal

settlements, with tents symbolizing areas inhabited by

nomads, and notes.

Quote to use:

There are certain nations from the interior of Africa… such as Bornon, Houssa,

Zanfara, Zegzeg, Kapina, Tombootoo, all are near the river Niger… they do not

arrive in any considerable numbers and always confounded with other nations who

have made them prisoners.

William Dunbar, Natchez, Mississippi, Letter to Slave Traders, February 1, 1807




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P3.3 Prisoners of War

Warfare among African kingdoms and federations contributed significantly to the number of

Africans captured and sold to European traders. Fulbe (Fulani), Hausa, Wolof, Susu, and

Mandingo were among the soldiers and officers captured as prisoners of war and brought to

North America. In 1788, the headquarters element of a Fulani cavalry regiment was

ambushed and captured by a Susu army. Sold to Mandingo merchants, the Fulani cavalrymen,

including the regimental commander, Colonel Abd al Rahman Ibrihima, were subsequently

sold to the captain of the British ship Africa.

Colonel Ibrahima was born and educated at Timbuktu. The son of the king of the Futa Jallon,

he was a graduate of the University at Sankore Mosque. Known as Prince in America, he

would spend forty years in captivity near Natchez, Mississippi. Prince was one of many

educated African soldiers brought to North America after being captured as prisoners of war.

Such Fulani warriors believed that liberty was a gift from God.

[3.3.2_Moor]

African Moor

After the fall of Andalusia (Moorish Spain) in 1492, African soldiers returned to the Africa. Over

the next three centuries, they and their descendants fought in the various wars that resulted in

thousands of Africans being captured as prisoners of war and brought to America as slaves.

[3.3.4_SlaveCoffle]

Slave Coffle, Sierra Leone, 1793

Africans captured as prisoners of war and by raids on villages were taken from the African interior

to the coast and sold to Europeans. Courtesy of the Caird Library, National Maritime Museum,

London

[3.3.5_FulaniVillage]

“A Fulani Village,” West Africa, 1809

The Fulani were principally nomadic herdsmen. A class known as the town Fulani provided

diplomatic relations for the herdsmen with their agrarian neighbors. The chief diplomat was the

Fulani blacksmith. The towns Fulani, also known as the Tourabe, were typically literate and

multilingual. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University

[3.3.3_WestAfricanNative]

West African Native

This young man with spear in hand has the locks and the look of a Fulani warrior.

Courtesy of Library of Congress (Photo taken early 20th century)

Image 3.3.2_Moor

(Museum Collection (Note: Need print

scanned for high-resolution image.))

Image3.3.3_WestAfricanNative (LOC)


Image 3.3.4_SlaveCoffle

(Caird Library, National Maritime Museum,

London)

Image 3.3.5_FulaniVillage

(JCBLBU)

Quote: General, we come of a fighting race. Our fathers were brought here slaves because they

were captured in war, and in hand to hand fights, too. We are willing to fight.

Andre Cailloux, August 8, 1863

Fulani Sword, Spearhead and Shield

These weapons are from the northern region of modern day Nigeria. They come from the Fulbe

(Fulani) ethnic group.

Ghanaian Drum

This drum is from modern day Ghana. Drums were used to entertain and communicate.


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P3.4 Freedom Fighters

The War for Independence

The British offered emancipation to slaves in exchange for military service shortly after the

American Revolution began. Lord Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia, issued a

proclamation in 1775 granting freedom to enslaved Africans who joined the British army.

Within a month, over 800 men had enlisted in Lord Dunmore’s Royal Ethiopian Regiment.

For the new American government, arming men of African descent was a contentious yet

strategic issue. Generals, preachers, and legislators weighed in on the issue, revealing deep

divisions within the new nation between North and South. By the end of the war, more than

5,000 men of African descent had fought for liberty.

[3.4.1_BostonMasacre]

First Fatality

On March 5, 1770, Crispus Attucks, led a group of young men against

British soldiers on King Street in Boston. Shouting, “The way to get rid of

these soldiers is to attack the main guard; strike the root; this is the nest,”

Attucks became the first fatality in what resulted in the War for

Independence. Attucks was memorialized in the Boston Gazette, March

12th, 1770.Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Image 3.4.1_BostonMasacre(LOC)


[3.4.2_ViewinAmerica]

Blind to the military necessity

“A View in America in 1778”

This cartoon addresses the question of enlisting men of African

descent into the Continental Army. It shows an African lying on

the ground, wounded by cannon shot. Standing over him are

several men; the one on the left is a congressman suffering from a

visual disorder, blind to the necessity of enlisting the African. An

officer gestures at the wounded soldier while looking towards the congressman. Courtesy

of the Library of Congress

An essential part of the plan is to give them their freedom with their muskets. This will secure

their fidelity, animate their courage, and, I believe, will have a good influence upon those who

remain by opening a door to their emancipation.

Alexander Hamilton, 1776

Image 3.4.2_ViewinAmerica(LOC)


Additional quote:

The only way pointed out to prevent this

threatening evil is to set the blacks at liberty

ourselves by some public acts and laws, and

then give them proper encouragement to labor,

or take up arms in the defense of the American

cause.

Reverend Samuel Hopkins, 1775, “Dialogue

Concerning the slavery of the Africans”

Soldiers, Sailors and Marines

African Americans served in the Continental Navy and Marines. The navies of the

Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and Virginia, employed them as pilots. African American marines

served aboard the largest vessel in the Connecticut navy, the Oliver Cromwell, when she made

successful cruises off the Lesser Antilles and the Azores in quest of British vessels. [3.4.3_ADSoliderwithGWash]

A Continental soldier of African descent holds General George Washington’s Horse

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Not in the

Exhibit



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[3.4.5_CrossingtheDelaware]

Soldiers of African descent were with General Washington on his

famed crossing of the Delaware


[3.4.6_Yorktown]

The surrender at Yorktown was made possible by an

African descent Spy

James Armistead, an enslaved Virginian, was a double agent.

British General Cornwallis assumed he was a spy for the

Crown when in fact he was a spy for the Continental Army.

Armistead’s information was critical in the victory at Yorktown. The Virginia General Assembly

emancipated him in recognition of his contribution. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

[3.4.7_NavalBattle]

Naval battle between John Paul Jones of the Bonhomme Richard and Captain Richard

Pearson of the British vessel Serapis, September 22, 1779


Quote to use:

It has been represented to me that the free negroes who have

served in this army are much dissatisfied at being discarded. As

it is to be apprehended that they may seek employment in the

Ministerial army, I have presumed to depart from the resolution

respecting them, and have given license for their being enlisted.

General George Washington, December 1775

Image 3.4.3_ADSoliderwithGWash

(LOC)


Image 3.4.5_CrossingtheDelaware

(LOC)

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det19940230

76/PP/

Too small to use web file, needs ordering from

LOC

Image 3.4.6_Yorktown

(LOC)


Note: LOC has extremely high res version

available at this link; downloaded smaller

work file, but bigger is available.

Image 3.4.7_NavalBattle

(LOC)


P3.5 Conceived in Liberty

The existence of slavery in a nation conceived in liberty was a glaring hypocrisy. Slavery was

sanctioned in all of the original thirteen states. However, soon after independence, seven

northern states abolished slavery or implemented a gradual compensated emancipation

program soon after independence. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts were the first to end

slavery in their respective states. Emancipation in Pennsylvania, however, was gradual, while

emancipation in Massachusetts came immediately after the state Supreme Court ruled the

institution of slavery illegal in 1785.

[3.5.1_Map13]

The United States of North America 1793

The Northwest Territory was the first territory added to the new nation for which slavery became a

major issue. The states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were

formed from the Northwest Territory. Courtesy of the Library of Congress



http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994023076/PP/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994023076/PP/



6

P3.5 Delicate Balance Slavery fostered tensions between free and slaveholding states as the nation expanded. After

the Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory in1787, Thomas

Jefferson predicted civil conflict would result from the slavery issue as the nation expanded

into new territories. In September 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened in

Philadelphia. Compromises were sought to gain the support of both proslavery and

antislavery interests. One compromise led to a promise to prohibit the transatlantic slave trade

by 1808; and another, the Three-fifths Compromise, allowed slaveholding states to count three

of every five persons held as slaves for the purpose of representation. In spite of these

compromises, Virginia Governor Patrick Henry argued that the Constitution gave Congress

the authority to abolish slavery in time of war. [3.5.2_HenryonLiberty]

“Give me liberty, or give me death!”

Patrick Henry delivering his great speech on the rights of the

colonies, before the Virginia Assembly, convened at

Richmond, March 23, 1775, concluding with the above

sentiment, which became the war cry of the revolution.


[3.5.3_Constitution_p1] The Constitution of the United States, 1791

In 1791, over seventeen percent of the United States population was enslaved and referred to in the

Constitution as “all other persons” and “persons held for their labor.” Though the Preamble of the

Constitution established anti-slavery goals, the new Constitution protected the right of one man to

claim another as property, to hold him for his labor. The Constitution was ratified on December

15, 1791.Courtesy of the National Archives Records Administration

[3.5.7_SlaveTrade]

The Abolition of the Slave Trade

This 1792 cartoon depicts “the inhumanity of dealers in human flesh,” illustrating how Captain

Kimber treats a young girl of 15 and her virgin modesty.

Early Civil Rights Leaders

Americans of African descent established mutual aid societies in the late 18th

century to

counter the neglect of and assault on their rights by the federal and state governments. The

African Union Society established in November 1780 in Newport, Rhode Island, was among

the first. In April 1787, the Free African Society was established in Philadelphia under the

leadership of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen. Through the efforts of Prince Hall, an active

member of the Boston Free African Society, a Masonic lodge, African Lodge No. 459, was

established in Boston in 1787. Such organizations as well as churches were important in the

struggle for self-improvement and liberation. [3.5.4_Preacher]

The African Descent Preacher

From the pulpits of African churches, preachers encouraged the people to endure, and they also

helped organize the people in their efforts to secure their rights as citizens. Courtesy of the Library

of Congress

Image 3.5.2_HenryonLiberty

(LOC)


Image 3.5.3_Constitution_p1

(NARA) (Note: only want the “Preamble”)

Image 3.5.4_Preacher

(LOC)


Image 3.5.5_PaulCuffee

(LOC)

Image 3.5.6_Prince

(NYPL)

Are men rational or mortal beings, possessed

of feelings and rights and hopes and souls?

Shall we remain unmoved while they are

reckoned up as the beasts of the field?

Reverend John Kennedy, July 4, 1828, Sixth

Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia

Not in the

Exhibit



7

To Secure the Blessings of Liberty

At African Churches, services were held on January 1, 1808, “on account of the abolition of

the African slave trade.” In the African Church of New York, Peter Williams described the

author of the Declaration of Independence and the framers of the Constitution as “instruments

of divine goodness.” Absalom Jones speaking in Philadelphia’s African Episcopal Church

referred to the Constitution as an instrument of God’s deliverance. Jones said that God had

come down to Philadelphia when the framers of the US Constitution came together. African

descent leaders such as Jones and Williams argued that slavery would be brought to an end in

league with the Constitution in accordance with God’s will.

This government founded on the principle of liberty and equality, and declaring them to be the free

gift of God, if not ignorant of their declaration, must enforce it...

George Lawrence, January 1, 1813

[3.5.5_PaulCuffee]

Captain Paul Cuffee, 1812

Revolutionary soldiers and sailors such as Prince Hall and Paul Cuffee led the effort to abolish

slavery and secure the right to vote in Massachusetts. Through their activism, “the Bay State” was

the first state to grant men of African descent the right to vote in 1783. Courtesy of the Library of

Congress

[3.5.6_Prince]

The Prince makes a Northern speaking tour

In 1808, on the streets of Natchez, Mississippi, Dr. John Cox recognized the son of a West African

king whom the Irish surgeon had known while in West Africa. Held as a slave, the Prince had

become the manager of a successful plantation. Cox offered to assist Prince in securing his liberty. Prince turned down the offer. Yet, in 1828, Prince, a senior military officer when captured as a

prisoner of war, was liberated with the assistance of President John Quincy Adams. This known

African royal in the United States gained public attention, but his presence had always been of

importance in the African knowledge circles formed by educated Africans of faith like Prince.

After liberation, Prince Abraham made a northern speaking tour. David Walker of the Prince Hall

Lodge in Boston was his personal escort during the tour. While in Philadelphia, Prince spoke at the

Sixth Presbyterian Church on the Fourth of July 1828. That night in the city of brotherly love,

Prince Abraham shared the story of his African life, his captivity, his desire to redeem his family,

and his belief that God had endowed all men with the gift of liberty. Courtesy of the New York

Public Library

P3.6 The War of 1812

A Military Necessity

Thousands of men of African descent earned their freedom fighting for American

independence. Yet Congress banned the enlistment of men of African descent into the army

with the United States Volunteer Militia Act of 1792. President George Washington signed

the legislation into law. When Congress declared war on Great Britain on June 17, 1812, they

could not legally serve in the federal army. Most free men of African descent were residents

of the North, and they enthusiastically volunteered to defend their country. Excluded from

enlisting in the army, many enlisted in the navy. Naval commanders such as Commodore

Image 3.6.1_LakeErie(LOC)


I have nearly fifty blacks on board of this

ship, and many of them are among my

best men…

Commodore Isaac Chauncey

Not in the

Exhibit


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Isaac Chauncey believed that the color of a man’s skin did not determine “a man’s

qualifications or usefulness.”

[3.6.1_LakeErie]

The Battle of Lake Erie, Commodore O. H. Perry’s Victory

In the Battle of Lake Erie, sailors and marines of African descent contributed significantly to

the victory. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Quote to use:

Sure this was not the conduct of the late war; for then they marched shoulder to shoulder,

brother soldier and brother soldier, to the field of battle; let who will answer; he that despises

a black man for sake of colour, reproacheth his Maker.

Prince Hall

Jackson’s Colored Soldiers

Military necessity influenced the states of New York and Louisiana to pass legislation in 1814

to authorize the arming of men of African descent. When Britain’s war with France came to a

close with the capture of Napoleon, the war in America became the focus. The British army

won victory after victory, and military necessity resulted in General Andrew Jackson’s appeal

to free men of color in Louisiana. As the British prepared to attack New Orleans with a

superior force, General Jackson called men of African descent to arms on September 21, 1814:

“Through a mistaken policy, you have heretofore been deprived of a participation in the

glorious struggle for national rights in which our country is engaged, this shall no longer

exist.” On October 24, 1814, the Louisiana state legislature passed an act authorizing the

raising of two regiments of free men of color. Quote to use:

I expected much from you... But you surpass my hopes. I have found in you, united to these

qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deeds.

General Andrew Jackson, to the men of color at the Battle of New Orleans, 1815

[3.6.2_JacksonatBattleofNO]

Battle of New Orleans (printed 1922)

This print of General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans includes African descent

soldiers. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

[3.6.3_BattleofNO]

Scene of the Battle of New Orleans, with the Mississippi River in the foreground

The victory made General Jackson a national hero, and the African descent soldiers of Louisiana

were recognized nationally as courageous soldiers. One of the most famed members of the African

descent battalions was Jordon B. Noble, a fourteen-year-old drummer boy who played the long

drum roll as the battle came to a conclusion. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

[3.6.4_Auction]

Still auctioned to the highest bidder

In spite of the service of persons of African descent during the War of 1812, slavery became more

Image 3.6.2_JacksonatBattleofNO

(LOC)


Image 3.6.3_BattleofNO

(LOC)


Image 3.6.4_Auction

(LOC)


Image 3.6.5_CottonGin

(LOC)


Image 3.6.6_KingCotton

(LOC)







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entrenched and rights of free persons of African descent became more restricted.

[3.6.5_CottonGin]

Enslaved Americans using the first cotton gin

Though some of the framers of the Constitution thought that slavery would not be profitable in the

decades following the 1787 convention, the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 resulted in slavery

becoming far more profitable. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

[3.6.6_KingCotton]

Cotton became King

Cotton planters became the most powerful slaveholders in the Republic in the early 19th century.


P3.7 Life, Liberty and Slavery

Awakened by Fear

Thomas Jefferson wrote that the conviction in the minds of the people that liberty is a gift

from God had been removed by the continued existence of slavery. Jefferson wrote: “can the

liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed the only firm basis, a conviction

in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be

violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just;

and his justice cannot sleep forever.” Jefferson feared that the conflict over the disposition of

new territories as either slave or free would lead to a civil war. He wrote in 1820 after

receiving news of the Missouri Compromise that he was gripped by terror, as if “awoken by a

firebell in the night.”

[3.7.1_Map16]

Map of Mexico, Louisiana, and Missouri Territory

The conflict over slavery in the Missouri Territory was met with compromise. Parts of Northern

Mexico were annexed by the United States in 1846 after the Mexican American War. And eight

years later, the conflict over slavery in territories acquired in the Louisiana Purchase would result in

Bloody Kansas.

Image 3.7.1_Map16(LOC)

Rights Secured in Providence

In 1792, Prince Hall admonished his followers to “have no hand in any plots or conspiracies or

rebellions.” Hall argued that liberty would be secured with the awakening of God’s justice. A

member of the Prince Hall Lodge in Boston David Walker wrote in 1829: “Never make an

attempt to gain our freedom or natural right, from under cruel our oppressors and murderers,

until you see your way clear.” He believed that God would deliver the “afflicted” from their

oppressors in the United States just as God had delivered the Israelites from the hands of the

Egyptians. Like Hall, Walker argued that freedom, their natural right, would be gained by

positive actions in God’s Providence.

[3.7.3_DomesticTrade]

United States Slave Trade, 1830

After the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed in 1808, domestic slave traders provided slaves for

the cotton, rice and sugar plantations in the lower South and West. Humans were bought and sold

Image 3.7.2_WalkersAppeal

(LOC) (Note: small file available, ordered)


Second edition of

David Walker’s

Appeal to the

Colored Citizens of

the World

Southern planters

went to great lengths

to prevent the circulation of this pamphlet,

which they label an “insurrectionist pamphlet.”

It was often smuggled into the South sewn into

the coats of sailors. Courtesy of the Library of

Congress

Not in the

Exhibit


10

by “Negro speculators” or “soul-drivers,” and thousands of families were separated. In this

illustration, this human traffic is being conducted in the shadow of the United States Capitol.


[3.7.5_NatTurner]

Nat Turner’s Demonstration

Martin R. Delany described Nathaniel Turner’s actions in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831,

as a “demonstration” that warned the Great Houses, which means Pharaohs. God was certain to

visit them with the curse of bloodshed if the Great Houses did not set their captives free. Turner

was executed in Jerusalem, Virginia, becoming a martyr in the struggle for freedom. Courtesy of

the Library of Congress

[3.7.4_SouthandLiberty]

Southern Ideas of Liberty

“Sentence passed upon one for supporting that clause of our Declaration viz. All men are born

free & equal.” This illustration portrays the violent suppression of abolitionist activities in the

South. Free speech, trial by jury, the right to assembly, freedom of the press and of worship

was all severely curtailed. Liberty and equality became contrary to Southern society.


Image 3.7.3_DomesticTrade

(LOC)


Image 3.7.4_SouthandLiberty

(LOC)


Image 3.7.5_NatTurner

(LOC) (Note: small file available, ordered)


Organizing the Underground Railroad

As Southern society became more repressive, Americans of African descent in the North organized

Negro Conventions. In these conventions, they coordinated their efforts to assist those seeking to escape

from slave states into free states. They also sought the assistance of sympathetic Americans of European

descent. The combined activities of Americans of African and European descent as escorts to liberty

became the known as the Underground Railroad, and thousands were led to freedom by this secret

network of routes and safe houses.

[3.7.6_UndergroudRR]

The Underground Railroad: Enslaved Americans in wagon and on

foot escaping slavery


Image 3.7.6_UndergroudRR

(LOC)


3.8 Header Quote:

But the time shall yet come, when the name of the despised, neglected American patriot, in spite of

American prejudice, shall rise superior to the spirit that would degrade it and take its place on the

records of merit and fame. – Martin R. Delany, the North Star, December 8, 1848

Not in the

Exhibit





11

The Anti-Slavery Movement

Crimes Against God and Man

Men, women, and children escaped from the “prison-house of bondage” via the Underground Railroad.

They came from cities and plantations, rice swamps and cotton fields, kitchens and machine shops, cruel

masters and mild masters, Border States and Gulf States,. Some were guided only by the North Star,

some braved the perils of sea, some eluded howling bloodhounds, and some hid away for months and

years in caves and swamps waiting for a chance to escape to the North. William Still noted that due to

the secrecy of the network, it is not possible to recognize all those who labored suffered to aid the

oppressed.

Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad

Harriet Tubman became one of the most prolific conductors on the Underground Railroad. Born on a

slave-breeding plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1823, she escaped from the plantation in

1849 with two of her brothers. Afraid of being recaptured, the two brothers returned while Harriet

continued. Traveling by night and using the North Star as a guide, she finally arrived in Philadelphia.

She returned many times to Maryland to bring her family members and many others to the North and

freedom. Harriet Tubman never lost a passenger.

Photo of Harriet Tubman

Courtesy of the Tennessee State Library & Archives – Image has been altered from original

Organizing the Underground Railroad

As Southern society became more repressive, Americans of African descent in the North organized

Negro Conventions. In these conventions, they coordinated their efforts to assist those seeking to escape

from slave states into free states. They also sought the assistance of sympathetic Americans of European

descent. The combined activities of Americans of African and European descent as escorts to liberty

became known as the Underground Railroad, and thousands were led to freedom by this secret network

of routes and safe houses.

Image: The Underground Railroad: Enslaved Americans in wagon and on foot escaping slavery.

Courtesy of LOC

The Mystery

Dr. Martin R. Delaney of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a part of the anti-slavery conventions that

coordinated the efforts of Americans of African and European descent to form what became known as

the Underground Railroad. In 1843, he began publishing the abolitionist newspaper The Mystery. The

paper ceased publication in 1847 when Delany collaborated with Frederick Douglass to establish The

North Star.

The paper shall be free, independent and untrammeled, and while it shall aim at the Moral Elevation of

the Arico-American and African race, civilly, politically and religiously, yet, it shall support no

distinctive principles of race- no sectional distinctions, otherwise than such as be necessary, for the

establishment of true and correct principles pertaining to the universal benefit of man, since whatever is

essentially necessary for the promotion and elevation of one class of society…” –Martin R. Delany, The

Mystery, December 16, 1846

Image: The North Star was co-founded by Martin R. Delaney and Frederick Douglass. Courtesy of

LOC

Image: Anti Annexation Procession in opposition to the annexation of Texas as a slaveholding

12

state: This 1844 cartoon has William Lloyd Garrison (far left) leading a group of “Abolitionist Martyrs”

who have been tarred and feathered for their activism. In 1831, Garrison began publication of an anti-

slavery document and was considered a radical abolitionist. Courtesy of LOC

Image: James G. Birney_ a former slaveholder from Kentucky: James G. Birney emerged as the

leading conservative abolitionist after emancipating his human property in 1834. Birney argued that the

Constitution was an anti-slavery document. He was a candidate for president on the Liberty Party ticket

twice, in 1840 and 1844. Courtesy of LOC

In Their Own Words

Slave narratives were major recruiting tools for the anti-slavery movement. Harriet Jacobs’ Inncidents in

the Life of a Slave Girl was a shocking example of the cruelty of cruelty and sexual perversion endemic

to chattel slavery. Frederick Douglass’ narrative propelled the author into the national spotlight and

launched his career as a spokesmen and recruiter for the abolitionist movement. The Narrative of

William W. Brown: A Fugitive Slave chronicled the cruelty of slavery in Missouri, which was reported to

be one of the most humane environments for the enslaved. While planters and their spokesmen argued

that slavery was a benign paternalistic institution, the slave narratives provided firsthand accounts of the

tyranny and cruelty of slavery.

My escape to a land of freedom now appeared certain, and the prospects of the future occupied a great

part of my thoughts. What should be my occupation, was a subject of much anxiety to me; and the next

thing what should be my name?- From The Narrative of William W. Brown: A Fugitive Slave

Image: William Wells Brown_(1814-1884; William Wells Brown was born enslaved in Lexington

Kentucky. He escaped from slavery in 1834 and became a novelist and playwright as well as an agent

and orator for the anti-slavery movement.

Image: “The author pursued by bloodhounds,” From the Narrative of William Wells Brown: Courtesy of the University Library, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Documents

African American Civil War Memorial Museum