During the mid-19th century, the abolitionist movement gained strength in the Northern United States. Free states prohibited slavery, but many of those living in slave states were forced to suffer backbreaking work and constant forms of degradation. In 1847, one heroic mother, a freed slave, received a letter from the master of her two daughters. She had given birth to the girls while still a slave, making her daughters slaves according to the law. In the letter, the master threatened to sell the girls and send them to Louisiana unless she could raise $400 to buy their freedom. She had no way to get the money but was determined to save her daughters. This is her story, told from clippings from the Green-Mountain Freeman in October 1847.
After finding a few men who were sympathetic to her story, and able to help transport and hide the girls after their rescue, the mother devised a rescue plan. She immediately set out on foot, walking about 35 miles to the home where her girls were kept. Arriving at night, she waited in the woods until the following morning. Not wanting to raise suspicion, she went to the house as she always did when she visited her children. “I stayed there on Saturday and Sunday, til Monday evening; cooked and washed for them, and then bid my children goodbye, as if I should never see them again; for I told ‘master’ that I could not raise the money.”
After leaving the house, the mother again hid in the woods until 11:00 pm. As she quietly approached the house, two dogs began to bark furiously. “I stopped a moment, and hid behind the fence, and saw ‘master’ get up and open the window, and look out. Not seeing anything, he shut down the window. I waited till I thought he was asleep, and then went forward. I hurried quick into the cellar kitchen, where my children slept.”
She waited until she heard the master snoring, then quietly woke the children and told them not to speak a word. “I got on their clothes as soon as I could, and fearing that if I went out by the door the dogs would bark again, I determined to go out by the back window. I found it fastened. I got up on the window sill to take out the nail, and as I was pulling at it, I prayed, ‘O Lord, defend me and my dear children this night; I commit myself and them to thee.’ At length I got out the nail, and opened the window, and lifted my children out; and then got out myself. The two dogs were there, but they only stood and looked at us, and never even growled.”
The three of them ran through the garden, over three different fences and palings, and walked four miles to a waiting carriage, reaching it about 1:00 am. Boarding the carriage, they drove as fast as they could towards the city, but had no intention of going to the city, “For I knew that ‘master’ would be there as soon as he could, after he waked up and found the children gone,” said the mother.
Instead, the three were secreted in a series of safe houses and transported first to Pennsylvania and then to Boston. Once in Boston, the mother was able to obtain work and her daughters enrolled in school and learned to read and sew.
Would you like to read other amazing and heroic stories about rescues from slavery? Search our archives for more amazing accounts, and check out our Underground Railroad topic page on Newspapers.com. To see a beautiful short film on the Underground Railroad, check out Railroad Ties here.
Thank you.
One think every historian is aware of is that we cannot judge people of past generations, with different values, and cultural, by our value system today.
If we had lived in the mid 19th century, our values concerning right, wrong, good, and bad, would be exactly the same as those around us.
I am always upset by people who say that if the had lived back them, they would not have done this or that, or not done this or that. If you grew up in a family of slave owners, you would have been a slaver owner yourself. It’s as simple as that. To think otherwise is lunacy.
This is not true! I grew up in home full of racists! I was not allowed to have black friends or spend nights at their homes and they were not permitted in mine. I was determined to stay friends with the little twin girls I had met after moving into a new house when I was 6 years old. I had my sister and I had met a set of twins that were African American. They were very sweet and we played the entire day until we were asked to spend the night. We promptly asked our mother and were told we could not “becuase they were black,” to use a better term. I was devestated my mother had acted and spoke the way she did and I had no understanding of why anyone be so hateful against another for the simple color of their skin. I did remained friends with those girls in defiance of my parents wishes and to this day I am not a racist and did not teach my children to be either. So I have to disagree with you, as I am proof that you are wrong in your assessment and view. Not everyone conforms to what the people around them do. I can also assure you I am not a lunatic.
There are going to be exceptions. No doubt there were native-born abolitionists scattered throughout the South in 1850. Yet there is (or may be) a difference in your case… what era did you grow up in? The era of Martin Luther King or later? The era of President Obama, even? Your family might have been one way, yet society maybe was another, so perhaps it was not so hard for you to think differently.
You are everything we need to make this world work better and thank you
I encourage you to read more. Many slave owners wrote of feeling a sense of guilt or of being chastised for owning or abusing slaves. The idea that it was immoral was prevalent and obvious enough. The idea that slavery was legal and common in the time does not absolve people from their inhumanity.. The abuse of humans to improve a slaveholder’s wealth and comfort was well understood by many slaveholders. To say otherwise is to buy into a strategy of excusing the behavior and dismissing the victims. The U.S. was so behind other countries in addressing this issue as well. Read more history.
All of these nice stories notwithstanding, Ronald is right. We cannot judge the past using standards of today. We must look at the way it was, realize that we have grown as human beings since then, and leave it at that. There’s a book by Alex Haley called Queen (about his great grandmother), in which a recent Irish immigrant to the US opposed the idea of slavery, but quickly realized that having slaves was the only way he would be able to grow and thrive in his business. This was not because he wanted free labor, but because it was unthinkable for white people in his milieu to do the work he needed, so he bought slaves. We cannot judge something that we don’t fully understand, because we weren’t there. History is there for us to learn from the past, not for judging.
You have made my point expertly. The Irishman you mentioned fully understood it to be wrong, yet committed to it for his personal benefit. Exactly as I stated. Figures lie, and liars figure, but examining the best sources for how many people and/or households owned slaves, we know that the majority did not. In some states it was far more common than others, but the worst few states didn’t meet 50%. Therefore, the fact that it was ‘unthinkable for white people in his milieu ‘ to do the work to be successful is the character flaw of a minority – surrounded by a majority in each state, in the South, in the U.S. and in the world. Success based on the abuse of others is not something to ignore … i am more than comfortable judging it because society still has an attitude that some things are ‘unthinkable to whites in their milieu’ and this continues to perpetuate the idea that one of God’s creations exists only to provide labor and disproportionate comfort to others. While it’s likely true some who did not own slaves would have if they had the means, it is also true as i have stated that many were advocating against slavery in that era. Conti uing to pretend slavery was the only way to live well is not only incorrect, it contributes to the anger of those indirectly affected. I have never u derstood this deep-seated need to distort the truth.
Have you read the book, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”? If one can get past the book’s (historically correct) use of the “N” word, the major theme of the whole book is Huck’s struggle to overcome the conflict between his own inner sense of right and wrong, and what society had taught him was right and wrong. Society had taught him that helping a black man escape slavery was immoral. This book was not a fantasy, as far as the social conditions of the 1840’s South were concerned… Samuel Clemens grew up in that period, in a slave state, and knew how things were.
Your lack of civility puts your opinions in a rather poor light. If people knew the difference between right and wrong today, there would be almost no abortions. But people then and now have had an amazing ability to rationalize away moral truths that seem obvious to me. Back then slave owners had themselves convinced that slavery was a “positive good” that trumped all the rights of the slave. Nowadays many believe that a woman has a right to control her body that trumps another person’s right to live at all. I don’t see a dime’s worth of difference.
what you say is a narrow view of the facts , partly true at best , because these things occur does not mean that good people find them disgusting and against proper behavior .
that lower lower forms of human existence practice them does not mean that all people do
Amazing story of courage and love.
I agree this is a heart felt story from the past but it’s half told, where is the bravely of the others who helped with the actual excape? Or the part about how it all began with their own putting them into slavery.
… the newspaper article is written by the person who actually put the plan in place to rescue the women’s children, did you not read it? He did not name anyone, probably for fear they would be murdered, jailed or face retribution for being decent human beings (I liked the term he used of ‘honest man’) amongst monsters. He did not focus on the actions of a few, he wanted to tell the story of this courageous women who had suffered greatly her whole life and found the will to face her fears and save her children. Or did you just go straight to the comments to try and ruin a great story by crying it didn’t feature more the people who weren’t enslaved and actually trying somehow to blame those who were enslaved? It’s amazing you read this story and scrolled down and made this comment, but I’m not surprised.
All Glory and Honor is GOD’S. Notice how the dogs didnt bark when they came out the window.
Notice how the dogs barking almost gave her away. And notice how countless others weren’t as lucky as her and were captured and reenslaved and murdered.
The dogs barked when they didn’t know who approached. The dogs didn’t bark when she left because they could see her and knew her and her children. Use common sense people.
Common sense tells me that you are not a believer. Fortunately, that line was put in the story for a very important reason. The reason is because Black enslaved people, my ancestors (whom I can speak of because I am a product of them) were a praying people of faith. This has been passed down to us generation to generation. It is unfortunate however, that some of our people have not been believers of God lately. No matter what your belief is that information was important enough to place in the article. Furthermore, the dogs would have still barked normally because they were trained to attack the slaves whether they knew them or not. It amazes me how you defended and reasoned why the author did not name the contributors of this feat, yet turn around and insult the mother and her faith. May God be with you and may wisdom always rule over common sense.
sigh. Instead of being defensive and using yes buts how about asking yourself real questions. Do you believe slavery is acceptable? My guess is you would say no and would want whoever was doing it put in jail.
Now the people who had depended on slavery because their crops were labor intensive were expected to see the light and change the way they had lived with no education, tools or inspiration. It underlined that they had lost.
So they set up systems that kept those who had been slaves from being truly free and insisted they were still superior. It had been illegal for slaves to be taught to read. The laws were changed so that if you could not read, you could not vote. The facilities everyone was now to share were instead duplicated with one being pleasant and the other being as unpleasant and demeaning as possible. That was their way of clinging to the belief that they were intrinsically better than those who had been slaves.
Those kind of laws lingered and repeatedly enforced by righteous sounding laws.
So, in almost all the states I have checked you had to have an address. That means that homeless people have no voice to vote for someone who hears them and will find help for them.
That is what is our responsibility is now. We need to take down laws that serve to make some people more influential than others. You know that every person who lives in our society is supposed to have a voice. We have to find a way to allow everyone an equal voice in our elections and using our laws and ingenuity to do it
None of us is responsible for what our ancestors did but we are responsible for what we do and don’t do.
I am betting that when you look at it like that, you are actually curious to find those sneaky barriers that have been erected and eliminate them.
Getting very far off topic here, but you mention giving voting rights to homeless people. I will ask directly, is that really a good idea? Cutting some slack for ex-slaves who had actively been held in an uneducated state is one thing, but modern homeless people seem another matter to me. One issue is property taxes. The American Revolution kicked off with cries of “taxation without representation.” So how about “representation without taxation”? Why should homeless people, who pay no property taxes and probably very little of any taxes, be given a voice in how my tax money is spent? My property taxes, combined with those of many others, are a big thing in government at the local and state levels. A more important issue than who pays is, who is prepared to make good choices? We rightly don’t let young children vote, because they are unprepared to make good decisions. Is a guy who apparently can’t run his own life properly, whether it stems from a matter of intelligence or education or mental health, really fit to have a voice in running the nation? This is important business… what are our standards?
Well said and applies to any western country.
Reading through this I cannot but help wondering how the mother could read the letter she received if she could not read.
Back then, if you could not read, you would take the letter you received to someone who could read and have them read it aloud to you.
Wish I had an eyeroll button. Half told. Or just a mothers recounting of getting her babies. This is an individual story, not a recount of the entire history of slavery. God don’t like ugly. You better check your heart.
Wow, what an amazing story. And I just watched “12 Years A Slave” last night. Needed tissues a few times! Such courage and bravery and determination…..I only wish America didn’t have such a history.
One can only learn from our failures of history to improve in our future of life.
Read some ancient history. Including the old testament. There has never been a time in history that people weren’t enslaved. Color and origins didn’t matter. I wonder how long the American people will have to carry this burden and be responsible for the choices of early settlers, not far removed their motherland. It was an abomination, not far removed from the millions of abominations inflicted on humanity of all the varying races and skin colors. Until we move forward, it will be one that all peoples of varying colors will burden their emotional growth with for generations. Until we self-destruct. Good job HUMANS!
One of the greatest histories in American history is that the U.S. was founded largely on Christian principles by most church-going people. And the Christian ancestors were Jews who suffered the horrors of slavery in Egypt and it is so roundly condemned in the Bible. And yet early Americans didn’t let any Biblical lessons get in the way of economic gain. We (our forefathers) tolerated human slavery in this country for 240 years. Negro slaves were treated as livestock, as if human beings with dark-pigmented skin could not think, or feel or dream…ENLIGHTENED people have been fighting the abomination of human slavery for centuries. The fact that it has existed in various places around the world for centuries still does not make it right.
That should have read, “One of the greatest ironies in American history…”
Nailbiter. Nothing like a praying mother. God hushed them dogs.
Ones faith can move mountains and shape the future.
In God’s time. I tend to get impatient.
ain’t that the 100% truth
The dogs understood what was happening.
Or they simply knew the woman and her children, she said she went there every weekend. They barked when they couldn’t determine who was approaching the house. They stayed silent when they could see who she and her children were.
Yes very likely…could also be they understood more… ether way, the dogs did well. It’s a wonderful story and I want to add my appreciation with the many who already expressed thanks to the author for sharing.
Dogs do not go by site alone. They go more off of smell. I am sure that if my dog can smell the mail man 2 blocks away and began barking at him and stops until he comes to the porch. Surely, those dogs knew the mother’s scent when she returned to the home that night. Faith is the most powerful tool one can have and I am so thankful to my grandmother, great grandmother, and great great grandmother for gifting me with their beliefs and presentation of faith. I am responding to you a 2nd time because you have responded again trying to distort OUR history. I will not stand by silently and allow you or anyone else to do that.
Well scent does depend on wind direction… no way around that.
Thank you for not allowing a nasty bore to try and trample your faith. How sad to think that his barking won’t be hushed until his knee bends and admits that Jesus Christ is Lord. Unfortunately for him, it he continues in his ignorance, he will experience the hounds of hell dragging him to a destiny he denied in life.
are you tryin to take the life outa the story with some dried up old scientific minded theory ?
If we are to continue to evolve we need to forget the long ago past. We need to forgive our ancestors for what they did so long ago. We can not keep dwelling on the past. As horrible as slavery was…that is something that we need to forget if we are ever to continue to go forward.
We cannot forget the past lest we make the same mistakes again!
So true, Don’t hide your light (of the right thing to do) under a bushel.
The trouble is, there is still racism in our country. It is hidden but it is there. Dolores Todd When will all stop looking at color? We each have unique experiences, many not good on either side.
When people start believing there is more to them, then the color of their skin.
We can forgive the people who caused the strife however, we should never forget. Why is it that it is ok to remember those acts of the past that are deemed to be heroic yet, it is wrong to remember those acts of the past that were horrific and inhumane. We learn from our past both good and bad. However, it is easier to hold a mirror up and look at ourselves made up and pretty than it is for some of us to see ourselves in truth, in our nakedness and without the makeup on. There is no lesson in acting as if something never happened. Until all of America can understand that we will never have a peaceful Union!
forget the past ? why ? one big fact everybody misses from the horror of slavery gig back then is altho it was a terrible way to make those africans come over here , all the descendants of those slaves get to reap the benifit of being citizens of a great nation with unlimited opportunity , unlike what they had back then in africa with tribal genocide and appauling poverty which HAS NOT CHANGED THERE TO THIS DAY !
Would never have found this wonderful story had it not been published in newspapers.com — thank you! Love that mom’s determination!
I don’t believe we need to forget the past nor should we. However, I believe we need to stop blaming the present day generations for what our ancestors did. If I could change their decisions on this issue I would. I live my life with a very different view point from theirs, but they are still my ancesters
I agree with you Linda that we should not forget the past. However, I think that you and many others have the wrong understanding of what African Americans are seeking from this generation of the descendants of our ancestor’s slave owners. You see we don’t blame you for your ancestors. We are holding you accountable for policies, decisions and inequlalities of TODAY that the majority of your current day people uphold and continue as a result of your ancestors teachings and the passing on of their beliefs about OUR people. We do not blame YOU if you are a part of the solution as those abolishionists were. However, turning a blind eye to the CURRENT issues that still haunt African Americans today by the descendants of slave owners gives descendants of slaves a cause to give the side eye to those who make statements such as the one you have made. Just as many White Americans are wealthy and continue to live off of the dividends of the money that was made off of my ancestors blood, the descendants of those very slaves must continue to fight for resources of education, healthcare, housing, recreation. You see this is not a game for us. We are the ones who continue to make beds in hotels, wash cars, take out the garbage or pick it up, stand at fast food counters and say “can I take your order please” as a majority. And trust I know that there are some White Americans who have come up in the same nieghborhoods that we come from because for some reason their families were not able to get a piece of the White American pie. But when we do become doctors, nurses, lawyers, pastors, athletes of high stature, we are doubted and hated by a large number of White Americans. Those very same White Americans who do not wish to help others, and when we do it in spite of the lack of their help they are angry because in THEIR eyes and mind WE were not supposed to overcome the obstacles they placed in front of us. But THERE IS A GOD!
Charette, are you and Linda both Americans. If so then there are no Your people and our people today. I’m a Canadian and our ancestors were horrible to our first nations people and our Metis and we will never forget what happened. However that was a result of the age they lived in. Today we should all be the people and just work together for a betterment for all people. No we should not forget or try to re-wirte the past, but we should also refer to ourselves as one, not yours and ours Always remember that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
Amen! There are many incidents that occurred in the past that will never be known. No one can possibly know what every person experienced in the past. We have literally millions of ancestors and none of us will ever know all of the individual experiences. Realize this…each and every one of us will face an end to our lives. Without doubt and without question. Is this how you want to spend that allotted time that God has given us, by rehashing the aberrations that, by the grace of God, were never personally experienced or inflicted on or by any of the United States citizens of today? One life folks. That’s all we get. And you want to spend it this way? By hating each other for something that none of us had a hand in. White or black. What a waste of the one God-given life that we have. If you love the Lord, you need to practice forgiving.
What??? No opinions here???
I am Cherokee Indian on my father’s side. Irish and Dutch on my mother’s side. Like you said everyone was slaves no matter what color they are. I worked hard for what I have today I did dishes clean people’s dirty filthy homes for pennies. I’ve cleaned white black Hispanic homes and I’m white and never got any respect. I’ve always felt like I was and all people slave.
My mother raised five kids on her own we live poorly. She struggled working two three jobs and even graduated from high school. My family, my daughters one is Puerto Rican and one is the same as me. My daughters when they got married, one married and Ecuadorian and the other one is Puerto Rican. My great-grandchild is black and she is confused because of all this race is stuff going on I see. It’s never going to stop between the whites and the blacks and the Indians and now fighting the Mexicans. It’s never going to end.
When my granddaughter watching TV and she’s black history month and what white people do or has done to the black man and women she looks at me like wow is that what you did my mom-mom? No!
The white man took my land and I’m not hating.
This story touched my heart. And I’m so happy that this woman got away with her too little girls. And I was so hoping it was going to be a good ending and it was.
It breaks my heart like you said in the story using the dog will go after the black African American people because I’ve seen a movie on that, true movie where they would sick dogs on black people and make them suffer and it breaks my heart so much did I say don’t hate the white man for what he’s doing because one day Justice will overcome.
Then when Obama became president I thought the world was going to be so much better, a big change but then… He brought Muslims in and trying to change the world to the Muslim way. I’m not into that. And we’ll never be.
I will read more on the stories now that I know they are available and maybe some way I can help the world be much better today.
A very beautiful story of a resilient mother rescuing her children from harm. I too believe we always need to move forward, it is the way of the human race. There are very ugly/dark times going back to the beginning of time. We should learn always from the past, but needn’t reopen wounds of the past to learn of the beautiful and brave resilience of the depressed souls along the way, including the slaves, the Jewish, my Irish and German families and the Japanese camps near my home in Colorado. There have been so many souls from many different places that received a very forbidding and grave welcome to our Home Country. There are discrimination’s and hurtful behaviors happening with immigrants TODAY. The resolve lies within each and everyone of us! Did you have any mean or harmful thoughts about ANYONE on the planet today? Remember always: Thoughts are seeds of actions, guard your thoughts well.
Margie, I agree with everything you said EXCEPT for “we needn’t reopen wounds of the past”. The problem with that statement is the wound has never healed for African Americans. All because a band aid is place on a wound does not heal the wound. You see in order for healing to occur, you must tend to the wound daily. You must acknowledge how the wound became in the first place. You must assess the damage that the wound is causing to underlying tissues. You must be careful not to hit the wound. You must protect the wound. You see the majority of White America have not done any of those things. They think that welfare (band aid) should have healed the wound. They think that the wound should essentially heal itself with the band aid on it. They don’t believe they need to nurture or protect the wound. How can the wound heal if the perpetrator of the wound never truly acknowledges why the wound occured in the 1st place? Every ethnicity of humans which you named above escaped their perpetrators. My ancestors’ blood is here in the soil of America. THEY helped this country become the wealthiest country in the world through their free and forced labor. Why should we leave? My blood and DNA is mixed with that of your ancestors who enslaved mine. DNA does not lie. The white recipients of the bountiful life which slavery afforded them in the past and the present must stop trying to put a band aid on this horrendous wound that lies deep in my soul and acknowledge it and nurture it and protect it. Then maybe it will heal correctly. Until then we must continue to deal with the pus of an open, nasty and infected wound.
In real life, the healing of a wound does not depend on the later feelings or thoughts of the “perpetrator.” Also, I am white but I “perpetrated” nothing against you. Even my ancestors mostly came from Finland and Sweden and England in the 1890’s or later, and the other main branch came through a man who was coincidentally born in Montpelier VT where this abolitionist newspaper was published and who enlisted TWICE in the Union Army to fight the South and who was shot through the guts in battle and very nearly died. It is actually racist for someone to think I have any responsibility for slavery, just based on the color of my skin.
W
When I have a wound I tend to it myself, unless I need specialized assistance. As a (forgive me) a white person who loves many black people, and they seem to love me back, I think all this is dredging up our ugly past which to me does no good. When I became friends with my black friends we started from there and off we went. No talk of slavery. Just now. Today. And without all that past slavery business we now have CURRENT slavery problems that need our attention. Let’s worry and talk about that!! And do something. We can no longer do something about my great great grandpa’s plantation and slaves. We can do something about abducted children TODAY. Watch in airports and at convenience stores on highways. If you see something awry CALL THE COPS!
I was just Googling the average price of slaves in 1850, which by the way appears to have been about $400 a head but with particularly skilled/productive/healthy slaves going for $1000 or even $2000. All these prices translate into tens of thousands of dollars in today’s money. Yet I noticed in passing that the average price for a slave TODAY is only $30. Only a fool would abuse a $30,000 “piece of property” but probably a lot of people would abuse a $30 slave. If that price is true, it is extra frightening to think of the dangers and degradations these modern-day slaves must face.
Thanks for sharing this!
This story began with a heartbroken mother, wondering if she would ever see her children again. With the help of others, black and white, her determination and grit and faith kept her going. She asked and our Father answered. She prayed and He was there. This is a story of hope for all the ages.
Amen! If we have no hope, we have nothing.
Thank you for sharing this story.
I mother’s True Love and bravery, Thank God. To this amazing mother and the amazing people that helped save her children.
I read the actual article once, and without reading it again I hope I’m correct in my impression that the master of the two daughters was formerly the master of the freed slave. Here she is, obviously healthy, intelligent and full of energy to pull this off… why had he set her free? The article definitely mentioned that the mother had been allowed to visit her daughters numerous times before. And then the slave owner did give the mother warning when he was apparently forced by his financial situation to sell the daughters.
I’m sure I will offend millions, but I think slavery was a more complex institution than the caricature of it we have in our minds today. It was an intolerable thing, yet it was effectively endorsed by the United States Constitution… an almost fatal flaw in the original DNA of our nation, one that almost inevitably had to lead to a bloody civil war.
Amazing story. Thanks for sharing
I can’t begin to know how they felt at that time Are there any living relatives from these women today?
Thank you for publishing this story that humanizes one family’s story of slavery. Also thank you to those who took time to comment on such a multi-faceted issue.
I am also surprised that no one has commented on the callous demand the “master” made by asking a poor woman for an exorbitant sum to buy her own children. Had he extended grace to her by requesting an affordable payment, we would never have heard this story.
I am white, with both Northern and Southern ancestry. I have DNA documented black cousins – and I am delighted to call them cousins!
I also agree that slavery has left our nation wounded, and I hope more of us will reach out with open hands and open hearts to form healing friendships. We don’t have to agree on every tiny detail to learn to love and appreciate each other. If people can play an online game together and have fun, just think what could be accomplished if we worked together to solve real problems!
My guess is that since this callous master had apparently set the woman herself free on good terms, and since he had repeatedly allowed the woman extended visits with her children, that his threatening to sell the children was that he simply had a severe need for the money. This was a last-resort decision on his part, or nearly so. I also suspect, offhand, that $400 was actually a very cheap discount price for two healthy slaves who I gather were out of diapers yet had their whole productive lives ahead of them. I am not saying it would have been easy for the woman to raise that type of money, however.
I do not have any black relatives that I know of, but I too would be absolutely delighted to find out there was some out there. More so because I do not believe I ever had any ancestors in the pre-Civil War South, so there would be no built-in “dark side” to such a discovery.
Speaking of Slavery. Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln on your 210th birthday!
Many of these comments are based only on the personal feelings aroused by the published story. With no place names and no names for the people involved – after more than 160 years how can we determine if this event actually happened? Was this known as a paper that supported abolitionist views? Did the event actually happen as recounted?
It is always a good idea to ask questions and look for alternative sources.
Yes, considering the story is in this abolitionist newspaper, I wondered in particular about the “send them to Louisiana” part. It just seems like such a cliché. He set the woman free, I guess. He allowed extended visits with her kids. Why would he specifically select Louisiana over some neighboring plantation?
“I only wish America did not have such a history”
Most of America (North and South) did not have slaves; mainly USA.
If US citizens want reversal of the 1% scam/syndrome (1% own 70% of everything, and rising) you need compulsory voting, voting on Saturdays and by mail, and an end to gerrymandering electorate boundaries (introduce an independent Electoral Commission for all election matters from local to federal).
And then we, the rest of the world, might agree the US is a democracy!
So if we forced all the people to vote who are currently too apathetic to do so, that would fix our problems? Those who do not care enough to vote probably do not care enough to read the newspaper or to stay awake in history class or to discuss or even think about the issues in any depth. In my opinion, apathy on election day is a useful (if highly imperfect) filter to strain out those who have no business running our government or in making important decisions for the nation. Sometimes people get fired up over idiotic causes, but I’d still rather have the country run by those who care than by those who don’t give a damn.
While I agree with what you say about abusing expensive slaves to death, your talk about Jews is vulgar and disgusting. My dad flew 35 terrifying missions in B-17’s over Nazi occupied Europe to put an end to that sort of hate, and here you are trying to resuscitate Adolf Hitler. Humans are individuals, and deserve to be judged as individuals whether the final verdict be good or bad.