Imagine that it is 1855
and you work on a farm in northern
Georgia. You work hard six days a week from sunrise to sunset, and
the
farmer you work for provides you with a dirt floored cabin to sleep in
and some food, usually table scraps and leftovers. If you get
too
hungry, you can grab a chicken or pig and take it into the woods to
slaughter, but you will have to hide the meat and bury the carcass.
If
you are caught at it, you can be whipped or worse. The farmer makes
a
good living from your labor and that of others like you. You BELONG
to
him. He paid $1400 for you. You are a slave.
You hear rumors of escape,
of freedom in Canada. They call it
"going to shake hands with the Loin's paw" because British Canada
refuses to extradite runaway slaves. You've heard stories of Harriet
Tubman, a former slave who made it to freedom and then returned to
rescue others. They call her Moses because she leads her people out
of
bondage. They say to follow the North Star, and that a lantern on a
hitching post, or a gourd on the porch, or a quilt on the clothesline
with a chimney on it means a safe house. People there will give you
a
warm meal and a place to sleep before you move on north. You are a
"passenger," they call these people "conductors," and their houses are
the "stations" on the Underground Railroad.
What we know of as the
Underground Railroad was neither underground
nor a railroad. Between the American Revolution and the Civil War,
perhaps 100,000 enslaved people walked hundreds of miles, risked
bloodhounds, chains, and whippings; suffered separation from their loved
ones; trudged over mountains and through uncharted forests; stowed away
in wagons, trains, and ships to get to freedom. This was a large,
secret operation supported by white abolitionists and free blacks who
believed that slavery was so wrong that they were willing to break the
law to oppose it.
For many years, Northern
cities were relatively safe, but under US
law, you were still your owner's property. If you were a person
of
color, Ohio law even required you to post a $500 bond to prove that you
were free: equivalent to 3 years wages. After 1850, the Fugitive Slave
Act required police and courts to aid bounty hunters who were paid up to
$150 to track down and return runaway slaves. Most slaves were
unwilling to take the risks. Only a fraction of the 4 million slaves
in
the South fled to the North, but many more fought slavery in more subtle
ways: working slowly, sabotaging machinery, and playing sick or stupid
rather than submit to their enslavement.
The Underground Railroad
was most active from 1830 to 1865, as the
Abolitionist Movement gained strength and popularity. "Stations" dotted
all of the Northern states from New York to Indiana. Southern Ohio
was
very active, including our own area here in Greene County. Especially
important were Quaker communities such as Spring Valley and the free
black community of Wilberforce. There are several dozen homes and farms
in the area with evidence that they were Railroad "stations." Of
course, during the time that this illegal activity was going on and some
"conductors" were facing stiff fines and imprisonment for harboring
slaves, nobody would admit to knowing anything about it. Later, when
the practice was considered to be brave and honorable, many came forward
with tales of their secret hidy holes in the basement or barn. Such
is
human nature.
Several houses on East
Market St. in Xenia were owned by prominent
abolitionists and were said to have secret rooms in their cellars or
carriage houses. At least 5 sites are known in and near Wilberforce
including one with a false hayloft and a small cave, another with a room
under a trapdoor in the house, and another with the remains of a false
well leading to a tunnel and a hidden cellar room. Most "stations" were
not so elaborate and would have put up "passengers" in the hayloft or
cellar and provided food and directions or possibly a ride to the next
"station" further north. Not everyone was sympathetic, however.
One
local house has indications of manacles and may have been used as a
holding area for runaway slaves who had been captured.
Eventually the luckiest
and most persistent made it across the ice
on Lake Erie or managed a boat ride to Canada and freedom. Their
problems were not over, but at least the problems were now their own.
Many were captured and returned to their masters, some several times.
Many lost their families or their lives in the attempt. Currently, the
National Park Service is considering a proposed Underground Railroad
Monument which will probably include as many as 50 prominent sites
throughout the north, including some in Ohio, as well as cooperative
efforts with states and local agencies to preserve what remains of the
history of the Underground Railroad.
No one will ever know
the entire story, but what remains holds chilling
reminders of how different things were for some Americans who lived here
or passed this way in the 1800’s. Are we all better off today?
Without
doubt. Can we continue to improve? Again, without doubt.
© 2001 Alan
D. King
Comments are welcome at: king1075@sbcglobal.net