Central Pennsylvania's journey
from enslavement to freedom
“Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.” —John Lewis, 01 March 2020.
Year of Jubilee back in print
The Afrolumens Project book, The Year of Jubilee (2 volumes), is back in print and available on Amazon. Updated with new covers, the volumes are at the links below.
The Year of Jubilee: Men of God, available here
The Year of Jubilee: Men of Muscle, available here
New Items
- July 1719: Johney Escapes From Virginia First newspaper ad for an escaped slave published in a Philadelphia newspaper.
- Fugitive Slave Recovery Document for Isaac, 1804 From slaveholder W. James Brown of Cumberland County.
- Image of a pass for free Black man Edward Butler issued in 1806 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
- Summary and text of the 1826 Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decision that ended the illegal enslavement of the children of term slaves.
- What does "Country-born" mean? What are pantaloons, castor hats and pistoles? Why would a captured runaway be put in a goal?
Escape notices, documents and advertisements for enslaved people are filled with obscure and archaic terms. The Afrolumens Project has created a quick-reference glossary: Afrolumens Glossary of Enslavement Terms..
On This Date
November events important to local African American history (see the whole year)November 1, 1910: A new publication, The Crisis, edited by W.E.B. DuBois, makes its appearance.
November 2, 1836: American Anti-slavery Society lecturer Jonathan Blanchard lectures in the town of Dauphin.
November 3, 1836: American Anti-slavery Society lecturer Jonathan Blanchard lectures in the town of Halifax.
November 4. 1836: American Anti-slavery Society lecturer Jonathan Blanchard lectures in the town of Millersburg.
November 4. 2008: Barack Obama is elected as the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to hold the office.
November 5, 1968: Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman elected to Congress.
November 6, 1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected sixteenth president of the United States.
November 7, 1775: Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, issues a proclamation promising freedom to slaves who would run away from rebel owners to fight for the British army. Several thousand would do so, including some from the Harrisburg area.
A detailed discussion of Lord Dunmore's Proclamation may be found here.
November 7, 1837: Elijah Lovejoy is murdered at Alton, Illinois and becomes a martyr for abolitionists.
November 8, 1775: Titus, a man enslaved by John Corlies of Monmouth County, New Jersey, escapes to start his own guerilla fight against local plantations in the name of the British. Known as Colonel Tye, he led a mixed race band of fighters, based in the cedar swamps of New Jersey, against Continental forces from July 1779 until his death from wounds in September 1780.
Read more about Colonel Tye here.
November 8, 1938: Crystal Bird Fauset is elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, becoming the first African American woman to serve in a state house of representatives.
November 10, 1983: Wilson Goode is elected as the first African American mayor of Philadelphia.
November 11, 1836: American Anti-slavery Society lecturer Jonathan Blanchard speaks at Harrisburg's Masonic Hall. The lecture is attended by local attorney Charles C. Rawn, who begins to reconsider his anti-abolitionist views.
November 14, 1849: Martin R. Delany arrives in Harrisburg to deliver lectures over the next five days. He stayed with John F. and Hannah Williams after discovering that no local hotel would rent a room to a black man.
November 14, 1865: Harrisburg welcomes the United States Colored Troops home, hosting a large parade, reception and public dinner. This Grand Review of Colored Troops featured speeches by William Howard Day, Simon Cameron, J. C. White and Octavius Catto. T. Morris Chester was Master of Ceremonies.
Modern Harrisburg commemorated this event in 2010. View photos of the event here.
November 16, 1877: Lincoln Cemetery in Harrisburg is dedicated as the burial ground for Wesley Union A.M.E. Church. Burials from the old cemetery, located at Boas and Rose Streets, began the following week.
Learn more about Harrisburg's Lincoln Cemetery here.
November 17, 1846: Trial in Gettysburg of infamous slave catcher and kidnapper Thomas Finnegan results in his conviction for kidnapping. He is sentenced to five year in Eastern Penitentiary, but is pardoned in June 1848 by Governor Francis R. Shunk due to failing health.
November 23, 1803: Abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld is born in Hampton, Connecticut.
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