The Underground Railroad: What Was It? Traveling by foot, wagon, boat, or railroad, between 100,000 and 150,000 African Americans sought freedom in Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean or the northern U.S. before the end of U.S. slavery in 1865. . . . — — Map (db m138801) HM
"What is life to me if I am to be slave in Tennessee? My neighbors! I have lived with you many years… My home is here, my children were born here… I don't respect this law — I don't fear it — I don't obey it! It outlaws me, and I . . . — — Map (db m138792) HM
”… numbers of persons, who have never felt any interest in the cause of the slave, before, now seem to have all their sympathies awakened, in his behalf.” —from Diary of Ellen Birdseye Wheaton (Boston, 1923) . . . — — Map (db m138793) HM
"The president of the railroad… humanely provided me with free passes for the fugitives on the road to Canada and freedom."
— Charles Merrick, Reminiscences of the Jerry Rescue, 1893
The Wesleyan Methodist Church was a . . . — — Map (db m138794) HM
”It is treason, treason, TREASON, and nothing else.” - Daniel Webster, about refusing to carry out the Fugitive Slave Law, 1851.
On September 18, 1850, President Millard Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act, requiring federal marshals . . . — — Map (db m138795) HM
”…when Susan B. Anthony urged Republicans to take a stand against slavery, Syracusans burned her in effigy in Hanover Square.”
Hanover Square (1) was a busy commercial district and civic gathering place in the mid-19th . . . — — Map (db m138796) HM
In 1827, the State of New York was among the first in the Union to abolish slavery. By the mid-1800's, Syracuse was known nationally as a hub of anti-slavery activity. Harriet Tubman, Gerrit Smith, the Rev. Samuel J. May, and the Rev. Jermain W. . . . — — Map (db m138797) HM
”A strictly honest man…”
Born about 1807 in Oneida County, Prince Jackson was one of the earliest African American settlers in Syracuse and the earliest to have a documented deed for property. He came to Syracuse about 1827, married . . . — — Map (db m138798) HM
"No man ever possessed a more generous heart, or more honorable feelings." — from Enoch Reed's obituary, Syracuse Standard, June 10, 1853
Born free in Ohio about 1813, African American Enoch Reed was one of more than a . . . — — Map (db m138799) HM
By the 1820s and 1830s, families such as the Allens, Jacksons, Reeds, Robinsons, Thompsons, Wales, and Wandells formed a coherent black community.
Rose Hill Cemetery
Established in 1841, Rose Hill was the burial place of many . . . — — Map (db m138800) HM
” …take into consideration the Principles of the American Government, and the extent to which they are trampled under foot by the Fugitive Slave Law.” —a call for a mass convention, signed by George Barnes, 1851
George and Rebecca . . . — — Map (db m138791) HM
