Greensboro

Greensboro. Threatened by Ideas. , More than cargo flowed through commercial towns like Greensboro. Abolitionist ideas and freedom seekers on the move created tension within a society dependent on slavery., Site of the northern-most bridge over the Choptank River, Greensboro served as a link between the river and overland traffic. Dockworkers loaded and unloaded grains, timber, and manufacturing goods. Transferred to wagons, cargoes lumbered along to markets in Delaware, Philadelphia, and beyond. In return, news and ideas of liberty, abolitionism, and equality flowed to the Eastern Shore, influencing and energizing social discourse., Greensboro resident Peter Harrington served as president of the Choptank Abolition Society during the 1790s. Formed in a pro-slavery community where abolitionist beliefs threatened economic interests, the society was short lived. Its legacy lived on in the secret activities of Underground Railroad agents. , [Caption:] , Right: Born into slavery in nearby Talbot County, Frederick Douglass learned to read despite the fact that the law forbade teaching an enslaved person to read or write. “Knowledge,” Douglas wrote, “is the pathway from slavery to freedom.”