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on July 4th 1776 a marvelous experiment in democracy was conceived with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence it's Noble if imperfect parents pledged their lives fortunes and sacred honor to bring to fruition this heroic idea undo government in which all men are created equal endowed by their creator with the unalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness from birth the fledgling American nation was a lofty work in progress plagued by a double standard that enabled even its greatest leaders to engage in the practice of enslaving other human beings it was a cruel anomaly that would continue to burden citizens of all races for decades even centuries to come but settlers brought the first Africans to this new world in the early sixteen hundreds and forced labour fueled the rapid development of colonial America the plantation of John Dickinson still stands in coastal Delaware as a symbol of the ironic nature of the young Republic Dickinson was also a slave over by the mid 19th century the peculiar institution of slavery in the United States was more than 200 years old America remained both of freedom-loving and slave holding nation because slave labor particularly in the south remained the backbone of the agrarian economy by 1840 cotton was the most valuable thing this entire nation exported no it was more valuable than everything else this nation exported put together by 1860 the worth of slaves the dollar value of slaves was greater than the dollar value of all the banks all the railroads all the manufacturing facilities of this nation put together slavery was no sideshow in American history it was the main event the economies of the so-called eastern border states of Maryland and Delaware largely continued to rely on agriculture with the exception of a few larger plantations most slaveholders here on the Delmarva Peninsula only fewer than five slaves and with the changeover from labor intensive crops like tobacco or capital-intensive grain production slaveholding in these states was becoming a financial liability by this time the northern states were firmly established as the center of American commerce and industry and religious groups here now openly opposed the practice of slave holding an uncompromising abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison rallied anti-slavery sentiment with his newspaper The Liberator our country is the world brute garrison our country men are all mankind and knew strong voices of opposition were rising from the population of free black Americans including former slave Frederick Douglass the great orator and editor of another abolitionist paper the North Star these contingents refused to recognize the rights of slave masters and encouraged their captives to sleep don't forget that these people were held on the plantation by more than just the white families on the plantation but ultimately if you had tried to defeat the institution of slavery you would have had to defeat the power of the plantation the power of the local government the power of the state government and ultimately the power of the national government that slavery was protected by the full force of the United States of America so that when you think about people running away or people striking out against the institution they are in embarking on a pretty ambitious journey let's take a case in point let's talk about - who was a slave not too far from Bridgeville Delaware in Sussex County - just before the Civil War tried to escape he tried three times he was captured three times because immediately when a slave escaped not only was the sheriff after him and his and sheriff had bloodhounds but also there would be a posse made up of volunteer white people in the neighborhood and once - was captured he would be punished this meant that every time he tried to escape he would face punishment so three times - would be punished and the punishment of would of course come from the whip or it could be something else but it would be very stern indeed so to try to escape from slavery took a lot of courage because you knew that chances were you wouldn't get through the first time for fugitive slaves in the border states the terror of capture and sale to the deep south was a fate equated with death being so South meant being sold away from family members never hearing never seen from seeing them again and it was the worst thing because it meant that person did not exist for you anymore so that it last them if you did not hear from a family member in about two months the perception is that that person was dead so you started a new life it wasn't that they did not care for each other it was simply that there was the impression that you would not hear from them to see of them ever again they would dare to you it has been said that most enslaved Americans resisted captivity in a thousand small ways no doubt others who felt powerless to control their own destiny simply leave it on until they died just a very fact that slaves had names that slaveholders didn't know and the naming practices among slaves which linked families together even people in families had been long sold away to make the point to those left behind that their relatives though gone physically spiritually or with them that was a form of resistance in a variety of very imaginative ways African Americans resisted the institution of slavery and preserve their dignity as human beings a few like the dissident preacher and slave Matt Turner of Southampton County Virginia took matters into their own hands claiming a commission from Jesus Christ turn a letter bloody revolt on slaveholding White's that resulted in the death of sixty-one men women and children the incident sent shockwaves through the neighboring white communities it terrorized slave populations living as far away as Carolina who justifiably feared the brutal retribution that ensued today the historic portrayal of the Turner evil remains controversial with some historians who questioned the methods used in the reporting of the incident as the century wore on and the national debate intensified the small state of Delaware came to embody the middle ground between north and south between slavery and freedom a number of rather remarkable things happen in Delaware they reversed movements afoot that were challenging the institution of slavery by 1810 only 24% of all african-americans in Delaware were still enslaved so from 1775 when 95% of the African American population in Delaware was enslaved suddenly it decreases to only 24% by 1810 it's because of this this very strong abolitionist movement here in Delaware both Pennsylvania and Delaware had been charted by William Penn and heavily settled by members of a religious community known as the Society of friends the Quakers as they were commonly called harbored a religious contingent that had condemned the practice of slavery early on Quaker worship services were called meetings where men and women were encouraged to openly speak on issues of conscience as early as 1776 the Philadelphia yearly meeting had directed all Delaware Quakers to free all of their slaves it was part of a Great Awakening that Inc rooted Methodists and other religious groups there was a belief that American colonists had lost their spirituality and religious itinerant ministers traveled around this region preaching the gospel as a part of that Great Awakening more and more people began questioning the morality of slavery now not every Quaker not every Methodist not every person healthy strong believes but there was there was enough I believe at this point to encourage their fellow church members their fellow Delawareans to question the morality of owning their fellow human beings despite growing support from anti-slavery activists in the North enslaved Americans particularly those isolated in rural regions continue to live in punishing conditions most were engaged in hard brutal words and no pay but coolest of all was the constant threat of being sore Ariat Tubman who would become the Moses of her people wrote I grew up like a neglected weed ignorant of liberty having no experience of it then I was not happy or contented every time I saw a white man I was afraid of being carried away one fifth to one-third of all slave marriages were broken when families were forcibly separated some opted to remain in bondage lured by the promise of eventual menu mission but many others took their chances on fleeing north to the free states there were many reasons why slaves sought to escape one was the fact that there was no protection for family members especially the women in the family there was no protection for them and they could be sexually abused by the owner by his sons by friends neighbors visitors what-have-you and there was no punishment for that it was merely the abuse of a slave okay the use of their owner property Frederick Douglass said if a slave has a cool master he longs for a kind one and if he has a kind master and he longs to be his own master the most important thing about slavery may not be the physical part of it it's the psychological part of it that you are a prisoner and you don't have the freedom to do what you wish to do with your life your children are going to be prisoners for life as well and in general although there may be certain laws on the book the master isn't really restrained and what he can do to you in the end enslaved Americans ran not so much from the cruelty of the master but to ward that most fundamental of all human rights freedom not surprisingly it was often the brightest strongest most skilled and daring who ran it is thought that many fugitive slaves simply relocated anonymously in the same state and that a relatively small number actually made it to the free North it was not uncommon for months even years to pass before family members would receive news of a runaway safe passage fugitive slaves used a combination of courage initiative and mother with to navigate but the road to freedom was often long and treacherous and many early escapes were unorganized and doomed to fail but it did not stop them from trying I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves said Harriet Tubman but I have never seen one who was willing to go back and be a slave if a person would send another into bondage he would it appears to me be bad enough to send him into hell if he could both federal and state law gave slaveholders complete control over the life and death of their holdings with little or no repercussions for violating their human rights the worth of an average slave could be equated with the worth of an average car today some were worth more some less running away was considered theft of property and slave catchers could hope to collect handsome rewards for the return of more valuable fugitives for the most part these entrepreneurs were also left to their own devices and posed a serious threat to fugitives and even free blacks oral tradition dictates that one of the more notorious and ruthless bounty hunters on the Delmarva Peninsula was a white woman named patty cannon known as the queen of kidnappers and murderers Cannon and her interracial gang are said to have captured and sold large numbers of both fugitives and free blacks chaining them to trees on small River Islands a short distance below the woodland ferry on the Nanticoke River when I interviewed my great aunt Minerva Blockson at the age of 100 she lived to be 109 and I asked her did she ever hear patty cannon even this woman who at the age of a hundred she her face became contorted she'd said the old folks used to tell us we didn't behave they would get paddy cannon after us so even in her mind patty cannon was a woman who operated a gang of thieves and cutthroats they would kidnap free black men women and children here so can you imagine what my great-grandfather and it sounding felt livin not too far from patty cannon cannon and her gang terrorized the region until 1829 when she was indicted and convicted of multiple murders she is said to have poisoned herself while waiting to be hanged legend has it that the skull stored in a hat box at the public library in Dovan Delaware is that of patty cannon as America moves steadily down the road to Civil War those who supported the movement toward freedom stepped up their efforts to undermine the rights of slaveholders free citizens both black and white who dude slavery as the greatest immorality of the time openly supported African American initiative step-by-step they evolve the covert network of conductors routes and hiding places known as station both all designed to assist the fugitive slaves in getting north to the free states and even Canada these pathways to freedom and the greater resistance movement became known as the Underground Railroad there was an often told story that it started around the mid 1830s after the building of the railroads and the started in this country some slave catchers were chasing a slave and I believe that area was Ohio and he really the slave ran away in to a wooded area and the slave catchers followed him there he suddenly disappeared It was as if he ran away on an underground railroad well it became a joke but the joke caught on when the abolitionists and the anti-slavery people got involved with helping slaves escape they took that term on and those who were helping slaves escaped they called conductors these were the people who went right into slave territory and got the slaves and brought them out and when they brought them out they brought them to places where they could get food and shelter and these places were houses or barns where abolitionists and anti-slavery people were at and they call these houses stations and the people who lived in these houses and who provided this information in this stuff they called them station masters and then others who became involved like this for example they contributed money they called them stockholders and those who watched they call them pilots any term that they used in the railroad they used to describe the people who worked on the Underground Railroad both runaway slaves and those who helped them faced harsh penalties if discovered in most instances conductors agents and station masters remained anonymous and fugitives were forced to trust in information that was often here saying passed on in a whisper then any first-hand information exists at all concerning activity on the Underground Railroad is due largely to the remarkable efforts of one historian who is said to have operated the Grand Central Station of underground railroad stops William still was a free black man who first began work in the office of the Pennsylvania anti-slavery society in 1847 as a janitor and clerk his greater abilities were soon recognized and still quickly rose to head the organization's general vigilance committee to aid runaway slaves his duty as chairman was to keep a record of every fugitive that came to the committee a mandate that brought him into contact with more runaway slaves than perhaps any other person on the Underground Railroad still interviewed hundreds of fugitives who passed through the office meticulously recording the details of their escapes years later in 1872 he would publish these eyewitness accounts in his massive landmark work the Underground Railroad William still although he was a free man living in Philadelphia his family had risks because his mother had benefit was a fugitive her some of her children had been born in slavery and if she were ever found out or if the her owner had made a big attempt to come after her she could have been returned to slavery too so he was often leading a secret life he had to keep the family history quiet while he was working and he was at some risk of keeping all of these records too because the records were clear evidence of this scale of help that they were giving William still was that the hub of one of the underground railroads most critical routes the eastern line it stretched from Maryland's Eastern Shore through the length of Delaware into the free state of Pennsylvania and on up to Canada the eastern line covered a grueling distance of some 150 miles made up of vast open fields pockets of forests and thick marshlands linked and the will to be free and usually t ey came to an area and african-american community I secured some of them at times were directed to certain homes of white president Unitarian whether Quakers or others but on the whole they made it on their own now if you were trying to escape to the north particularly through Delaware you generally came from the Eastern Shore of Maryland or from the Eastern Shore of Virginia or from areas further south it was very difficult to escape slavery however if you lived in South Carolina or in Alabama Mississippi or Florida because you had to go through so many slave states to get to the north most fugitives simply set out walking to freedom at the onset of the eastern line much of the landscape look the same making it easy to become lost or worse to unknowingly circle back for obvious reasons most fugitives traveled at night navigating as best they could through treacherous terrain and winding waterways and in truth many were taught to look for the North Star and to follow the drinking gourd another name for the constellation Big Dipper group travel was discouraged as it might draw suspicion do you run away with your children knowing that with a child along your chances of success were greatly diminished especially for example if they were babies how do you tell a baby not to cry a strong individual might make as many as 18 exhausting miles in one bite before sunup only about 5% actually made it to freedom in the north they were primarily young males without family attachments one of the greatest supporters and station masters along this route was the formidable Quaker abolitionist Thomas Garrett Thomas Garrett was headquartered in Wilmington Delaware the last stop to freedom on the eastern line as a young man he successfully intervened in the unlawful kidnapping of a free black woman who worked for his family from that moment on Garrett committed his life to abolishing slavery like abolitionist nat turner John Brown and Harriet Tubman Garrett believed he was divinely inspired to mediate in this great injustice Garrett had little patience for slaveholders he had little patience really for anybody who didn't believe in the immediate emancipation of slavery and and this really made him unique I think among Quakers because he had an insatiable integrity when it came to this particular issue and he took it to the highest levels an iron merchant of modest means Thomas Garrett's home was located two strategic blocks from the Wilmington riverfront in an area known as quick a hill Garrett had long assisted fugitives making their way from this last critical stop to a network of quicker abolitionists in nearby Chester County Pennsylvania and the yard we need to know that Thomas Garrett was totally committed to helping the runaway slaves that he was emotionally tied into this it dominated his life and therefore when he helped a runaway slave he had to know that that slave was going to receive the best attention that he can get and he knew that it be sent it to William still that's what was going to happen Garrett and still may never have met face to face but their extraordinary collaboration and ensuing friendship resulted in the safe transport of thousands of fugitive slaves they supported the heroic work of Harriet Tubman including the safe rescue of her whole mother and father Garrett would send a trusted person with the letter often and would introduce the person who was bringing the letter and would say something like this as a trusted trusted friend could be an employee of his could have been a free black man who was who was regularly helping out so he would introduce people to William still dear friend William still since I wrote to thee this morning and forming V of the safe arrival of eight from Norfolk another man from lower Delaware arrived since noon our friend Harry Craig will take the man woman and two children from here with him we may take Carrie as a brother true to the cause he is one of our most efficient aides on the railroad and worthy of full confidence may they all be favored to get on safely I hope herself and her children may be enabled to find her husband who was sold off some years ago and that the rest of their days be happy together I am Thomas Garrett Thomas Garrett would confront his greatest test of faith after aiding in the escape of a fugitive slave family in 1845 it was on this route that Samuel and Emmaline Hawkins their six children and several able-bodied men had set out one night from Queen Anne's County Maryland crossing into Delaware the family traveled north stopping at the home of Samuel Burris and Campbell the free black community was the heart of the Underground Railroad they did a variety of things I mean it is certainly true that the initial problem for a runaway was to leave the immediate local area and get into an area a freedom but once you got there your problems weren't over a free black man and daring conductor on the Underground Railroad foressi ventrally guided them to the home of the young Quaker John Hahn in Middletown they arrived on a cold December morning in 1845 but alas it was determined that a neighbor had observed the wagon in persons walking with it approaching the house and had alerted a constable amidst many tears and lamentations off they all went under the charge of the Manhunters to Newcastle jail a distance of 18 miles the sheriff's daughter overheard these proceedings and immediately sent off a note to our Reverend friend Thomas Garrett through attorney John Wales he was able to obtain a writ of habeas corpus from Judge booth of Newcastle the judge discharged the prisoners at once as being illegally detained by the sheriff he then granted Garrett permission to dispatch a carriage to transport the fugitives to his home in Wilmington he was paradoxical in the sense that he was a very powerful and even at times intimidating individual yet to those who he befriended he was extremely gentle and soft-spoken but when he went against the slave hunters and the slave catcher the slave masters he was bold fearless and defiant Thomas Guerin and his co-defendant John hun were tried in the Newcastle courthouse but their part in helping the Hawkins to escape the decision went badly for Gavin the fine imposed nearly equalling his total wealth in typical fearless fashion he asked to address the court look at the nations around us the cause of freedom is progressing with railroad speed their object is about to be accomplished I have not read the signs of the times correctly if the days of slavery in this country are not numbered the South will have to yield to the growing anti-slavery feelings of the north and the west or before 10 years from this date there will be a dissolution of this Union well I hope so that you are satisfied you will not meddle in this matter of slaves again I have assisted over 1400 slaves in 25 years and might view the penalty imposed as a license for the remainder of my life but be that as it may if any of you know of any slave who needs assistance send him to me right now publicly pledged myself to double my diligence and never neglect an opportunity to assist a slave on his way to freedom Garrett was down but not out his friend Samuel Burris was not so lucky Samuel Burris was a black man who was born free in Delaware sometime as a young adult he moved up to Philadelphia Samuel Burris felt very strongly about the institution of slavery he wanted to do what he could to free blacks from that institution and so from time to time he would cross over the mason-dixon line the southern boundary of Pennsylvania into Delaware but in 1846 Samuel Barris had some bad luck he went down to Kent County to help a number of african-americans escape from slavery he was captured by the authorities they gave him a trial he was sentenced to 10 months in jail and then after the 10 months would be up he would be sold as a slave to one of the deep southern states later William still would faithfully record details of Samuel Boris's ordeal at last his trial came on and the court decided that he must be sold in or out of a state to serve for seven years john hung and thomas garret were as faithful to him as brothers but no change pardoned or relief could be expected from the spirit and power that held sway over delaware at that time finally a faint ray of hope was entertained Isaac Flint an uncompromising abolitionist living in Wilmington was elected to by Burris at the sale his coal bearing a perfect knowledge of what he had read of the usages of slave traders fitted him to play the part when the hour arrived the doomed man was placed on the block of course Flint had left his abolition name at home and adopted one suited to the occasion that Quaker who had been sent down to to try to help out Samuel Burris outbid the other slave bidders and got occupation of Samuel burrs Burris held up heroically but when the Criers hammer indicated the last bid he labored under the impression that his freedom was gone few moments were allowed to pass before Flint had the bill of sale for his property and the joyful news was a whispered in his ear that he had been involved with abolition gold and then Sam lubbers was whisked away to the north and Samuel Burris never again went south of the mason-dixon line it was a close shave the following year in 18-49 a diminutive slave woman from Bucktown Maryland would find the courage to say no more guided in her own words by the voice of God she set out on a historic journey to freedom that she would repeat many times she was such a great humanitarian that she went back into enemy territory time and time again some said 19 trips but it really doesn't matter the fact is that she went back she had the courage the will the spirit and the determination to free her family and others so that they could feel the same freedom that she had felt on at least eight of these trips Harriet Tubman would meet Thomas Guerin when she started going back to bring more people out of the Eastern Shore she needed financial backing she needed places to stay she needed contacts and Garret was that contact Thomas Garrett had money he had social position and as a result he was given Harriet money he also gave her passageway and shoes and claw as well as clothing in food he would tell the story in his letters to two ladies in Scotland who was sending money over the Harriet Tubman how she came to his house and practically demanded money she would say to him for example well I know you've got money for me cuz God said so and he would tease her he'd be saying well how do you know I got money for you Harriet you know I gave my money to most of the black people here in Wilmington I don't have any money she said oh no you've got money for me and you've got shoes because God told me and he would be non plus that has saved this but he would have it in 1850 the second federal fugitive slave law was passed further vindicating the property rights of slave holders armed with federal law they could freely proceed into the free states to retrieve their human assets not only did it not allow those who are accused of being a fugitive to testify in their own defense to have a trial to have a lawyer or to even be brought before a court one of the things it did was to provide that people on the street could be deputized on the spot and impressed into service in the capture and return to fugitives Thomas Lincoln Abraham Lincoln's father actually served on these patrols in Kentucky even though he owned no slaves is sort of a militia draft of requirement or service that was required of all citizens well this strengthened that provision on the federal level you could be deputized on the spot and you could be jailed and fined if you refuse to participate in the capture and return a fugitive slave now that spoke directly to white people and as many white abolitionists argued was an infringement upon their individual rights this was a slave power reaching out from the south and grasping not only slaves but citizens of the North who had to participate resistance on the Underground Railroad intensified in September of 1851 Maryland slaveholder Edward Gorsuch traveled to Philadelphia hoping to recover four of his runaway slaves he enlisted the help of local lawman and kidnappers eventually tracking two of the slaves to rural Lancaster County and the home of William Parker in Christiana paka was a former slave who headed the local freedom society William still had learned of these events and warned him of the posses approach a confrontation ensue and quickly escalate author's wife sounded an alarm summoning an armed force of area residents the great majority of whom were free blacks prepared to resist to the death a gunfight follow and Gossage was killed in all 38 people were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit treason in an unusual decision for the time when the first two were found not guilty all were released the incident became known as the Christiana riot it was the first armed resistance to the new Fugitive Slave Law the idea of the slaves being docile and submissive is something that has to be reexamined as a matter of fact I think many historians are really exploding that myth today they were really actively involved in helping slaves escape and doing all sorts of things they were harboring them in their house they were putting lights in their window they were pretending to be docile many of them were and in cases where they had to fight they fought they shot their way out of slavery they see hidden swamps they they disguise themselves men dressed as women women dressed as men William and Ellen crafts were slaves in the state of Georgia their desire to be free was very strong and for this jewel they were willing to make any sacrifice or to endure any amount of suffering as Ellen was fair enough to pass for white they decided to act the part of Master and servant all that was needed to make this important change was for Ellen to be dressed in a fashionable suit of male attire and a style usually worn by young planters by muffling the face it appeared as though the young planter had a toothache with his right arm placed carefully in a sling he would not have to write or register as they journeyed north he would further appear to be lame and heart of sight a young gentleman very much indisposed who need only put on a bold air of superiority and be dependent on his servant arriving in Baltimore the ticket master informed them that a bond was required before a ticket could be issued for any Negro traveling north William responded that he knew nothing of the rule but that any delay would endanger his young master who needed medical treatment in Philadelphia without further parley the Ticket Master waived the rule and the young master and his faithful servant were safely in the Khans for the City of Brotherly Love the desire for freedom could not be dampened determined slaves continued to take their chances on getting north finding new and ingenious means of escape Henry box Brown was a man of invention as well as a hero he was an unhappy piece of property in Richmond Virginia when he decided that he could no longer remain in the condition of a slave Brown hit upon a new invention altogether which was to have himself boxed up and forwarded to Philadelphia the door was locked mr. McKim rapped quietly on the lid of the box and called alright instantly came the answer from within all right sir I will never forget that moment me too sir I waited patiently on the Lord and he delivered with the help of his abolitionist friends Garrett had be covered from his financial losses activities on the railroad were now particularly dangerous defiantly and quietly Garrett and still correspondent sometimes daily at times more often to assist the flood of to tative that continued to flow northward they developed a great respect for each other and their letters were always addressed dear friend or esteemed friend yours in the cause of the oppressed in the cause of humanity and they began to see themselves I think as equal partners in this in this work of freeing the oppressed with the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 the fundamental conflict between free and slave societies was given a voice it was broadcast by the thousands of copies that were old during its first year of publication membership and local anti-slavery societies in the north increased but pro-slavery forces hung on and in 1857 were further encouraged by the US Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case ruling that the language in the Declaration of Independence did not apply to blacks the building of the myth of racial inferiority in some ways becomes the most destructive long term destructive effect of slavery see if we had just been able to argue that slaves were held in bondage because those people who were the masters had the power to do it well then when that power was no more when slavery was abolished it's over but see we had to concoct a different story we had to concoct a story that said these people are being held in bondage because somehow these people are themselves fitted for this position in an effort to survive and sustain hope of living better lives enslaved Americans eventually turned to a higher power what he bawled was an original and dynamic method of worship that blended the African soul with Christian dogma in a prayer for justice that would surely reach up to heaven for black people along the eastern line the movement toward religious independence had been more successful in 1813 Peter Spencer a former slave coalesced the african-american independent church movement when he founded the Union Church of Africans in Wilmington a year later Spencer's church will organize the big quarterly an annual african-american celebration of solidarity and freedom that continues to this day and those days it was the faith you know it's like the old Songdo sometime I feel discouraged and think my life and is in vain then the Holy Spirit revived my soul again there is a bomb in Gideon the bomb is a healing did the spiritual healing that we believe believe in what they had no one else to trust independent black churches would evolve to play a central role in Underground Railroad activity providing not only prayer but also safe havens and critical resources for fugitives along escape routes most importantly they would become the caretakers of oral tradition an invaluable tool and source of record in a time when most lays were forbidden to learn to read or write we could be punished for reading during slavery so all we had was the lessons and the stories that we could tell those who came after us so that they could pass on bits and remnants of our history in 1859 as candidate Lincoln warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand the national debate on slavery escalated into preparation for war Americans on both sides openly prayed for vindication for those enslaved the answer to prayer continued to come and the burst of courage that enabled them to free North for religious Crusader John Brown it came in the form of a fateful decision to fuse an uprising that would once and for all put an end to the ungodly institution of slavery his forces established Brown intended to use the Underground Railroad for his supply line interestingly John Brown had come to Philadelphia to seek support to the african-american community and still was one of three who attended a meeting with John Brown and still was not enthused about it he was concerned that any provocative action like this John Brown was trying to provoke a slave uprising that this kind of action would endanger the Underground Railroad in the early hours of October 16th 1859 John Brown in his small provisional army of the United States seized control of the armory at Harpers Ferry West Virginia federal troops from neighboring states quickly arrived by the next morning 12 Marines led by robert e lee broke into the armory and took the badly injured Brown and his Raiders into captivity then and his papers was a note wrote today to William still many people encourage still to flee the country temporarily Harriet Tubman was sent to Canada during this period to put her out of harm's way because John Brown had met with her and that still did not flee and in fact some of the men who had helped Brown came through Philadelphia and were hidden by still and Leticia in their home so even though he thought this was a bad idea he risk his life and his family to protect some of the men who have participated in the raid before being hanged on December 2nd in Charlestown a resolute Brown stated you may dispose of me very easily I am nearly disposed of now but this question is still to be settled the Negro question I mean the end of that is not yet fearing the compromise of railroad activities it is thought that in the days following Browns execution the aging Garrett burned the letters he had accumulated from William still William still hid his correspondence from Thomas Guerin in the cemetery and would recover it after the war Garrett's warning issued at the conclusion of his trial now rang true every sentiment of my nature is opposed to war he wrote in a letter to wave Lloyd Garrison but non-resistant as I professed to be I have not been able to see how the North could have avoided war it could not the issue of slavery had indeed divided the Union and initiated a vicious conflict in which more Americans were dive and in any war before or since by the time the war began there were approximately one-half million free black people living in America we know that on June 20th of 1862 Garrett led a small committee of progressive friends to the White House to meet with President Abraham Lincoln and Garrett and these other friends sympathized with Lincoln over his particular position of having to fight a war to preserve the Union but more important in that meeting Garrett and the others pointed out to Lincoln that it was hypocritical really to fight this kind of war with this kind of bloodshed and not emancipate the slaves On January 1st 1863 a resolute President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation but the war would drag on for more than two agonizing years before the South would surrender to the north news of emancipation would not reach slaves in Texas until June 19 1865 more than two months after the war ended June teeth is the day that many slaves in some areas of especially down in Texas and Louisiana found out that they were free slaves why don't they they were free but in many areas that was also true it was true not just in Maryland but also in Missouri and other border states William stills work at the anti-slavery society slowed during the war and he left to form his own business a successful entrepreneur still remained politically active and in 1867 propelled the passage of state legislation requiring streetcars in Pennsylvania to carry passengers of color Thomas Garrett more than 30 years older than still was now nearing the end of his life's journey but the two great station masters would share one last common cause ratifying the Fifteenth Amendment which would give black men the right to vote they collaborated in a way that I think was was unusual I don't think we see it again in American history until the 1960s during the civil rights struggles of the 60s when the cause of justice is so clear that it brings people together on January 25th 1871 at the age of 81 Thomas Garrett died news accounts reported that that thousands of mourners black and white lined the streets for half a mile and overflowed the meeting house to which his body was born on the shoulders of his black friend in the spring following Garrett's death the Pennsylvania anti-slavery society convened for the last time one of its final tasks was to Commission William still to formally prepare an account of the work of the Underground Railroad still succeeded beyond anyone's expectations publishing a 780 page volume the following year self marketed the Underground Railroad was a national success in 1902 William still died like his friend Thomas Garrett he was 81 years old America today remains a great social experiment people buy the world it Labor's to fulfill the pledge of its founders to the least of its citizens I think by looking back at the legacy of slavery and what happened afterwards once African Americans were freed they were still third class citizens here in the United States if we feel that the past explains the present we want to make sure that our future is not going to be explained by our present that we have to make some changes each year on the anniversary of Thomas Garrett's death community members gather at Wilmington Friends Meeting to remember the man who devoted his life to helping those he called God's poor and to abolishing that greatest of all evils slavery a new dramatic musical celebrates the remarkable life and work of William still and his family and inspires audiences to learn more about this great humanitarian and in communities throughout the country societies have formed to study and to honor the work of the woman called Moses in many ways the most daring and courageous conductor on the Underground Railroad the real numbers of fugitive slaves and the numbers of those who conducted them may never be known for the success of the Underground Railroad depended totally on secrecy and trust here both fugitive and free Americans were for a critical time in history drawn by a cause then impelled them to come together there have been times in American history when we have been able to form alliances cross racial lines the fact is that we don't hear as much about that as we ought to and it's important that we do because it's awfully hard to imagine that we can form racial alliances in the 21st century unless we understand that there's a strong tradition that we can draw upon and although there have always been hostilities there have always been difficulties cross racial lines they have also always been some people who were able and willing to put their fortunes in their lives on the line for other people and I think that's a tradition that we need to draw on that's a tradition of the Underground Railroad you can visit the program website to learn more about Thomas Garrett and William Steele