Slaveryto
freedom
Study Areas
Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad in Central Pennsylvania
Incidents and History
- Cross-Dressing as a Means of Escaping Enslavement
- Accounts of Racially Mixed Dance Houses in Harrisburg, 1837
- Chronology of Underground Railroad Activity in Harrisburg
- Freedom Seekers Abraham and Patrick in Johnstown, 1837
- J. Miller McKim Visits a Washington Slave Prison, 1838
- William Jones' Home Invaded by Slave Catchers, 1842
- Oliver Gilbert Reaches Freedom in Lancaster, 1848
- George Solomon, Daniel Neall, Benjamin R. Fletcher and Maria Dorsey Reach Harrisburg, 1856
- Maryland Freedom Seekers Fred Fowler and John Shaw Reach Harrisburg, May 1858
- Fugitive Slave Incidents in Central Pennsylvania
- Kidnapping and Murder: How the Rachel Parker Case Galvanized Pennsylvania Popular Opinion Against the Fugitive Slave Law
People
- Daniel Bell, African American UGRR Operative
- Rev. Edward E. Bennett, Community Leader and Activist
- George and Jane Chester Biographies
- George Chester appointed agent for The Liberator
- The Daughters of William Churchman, East Nottingham, Chester County
- Jacob T. Cumpton, Anti-Slavery Man and Soldier
- Anti-Slavery Acitivities of the Alexander Graydon Family in Harrisburg
- John Harder, Underground Railroad Conductor
- David and Elizabeth Harris, UGRR Stationmasters
- Junius Morel and Caroline Richards, Anti-Slavery Organizers
- Who's Who in Pennsylvania Underground Railroad History
Places
- Black Ducks' Dowse-the-Glim Cave, Gettysburg
- Adams County Runaway Slave Removal List
- Yellow Hill Census: African Americans in Butler and Menallen Townships, Adams County, Compiled by Debra McCauslin, | MS Excel spreadsheet
- Historic Bensalem AME Church, Bucks County
- Underground Railroad Sites in Harrisburg
- Other Dauphin County URR Sites
- Miscellaneous UGRR Items from Centre County
- Evidence of Early Quaker Activity in Uniontown, Fayette County
Reference and Databases
- Notices for Freedom Seekers in Harrisburg, 1766-1820
- Notices for Freedom Seekers in Lancaster County
- Notices for Southern Freedom Seekers
- Regional Fugitive Slave Advertisements
- Harpers Ferry Warning to Harrisburg's Black Community
- Upper Allen Freed Slave Cemetery
Reference Tools
- Densmore's Index to R.C. Smedley's History of the Underground Railroad
- Souders' Alphabetical Index to S.M. Janney's Memoirs
- Souders' Sequential Index to S.M. Janney's Memoirs
- Christopher Densmore's Underground Railroad Newsletters
- UGRR and Anti-Slavery Research Tools on the Web (primary sources)
Research and Correspondence
- Research into the 1851 kidnapping of Thomas Hall of Chester Co.
- Attempted capture of kidnapper McCreary, 1853
- Christopher Densmore--connection between shape note singing and the UGRR
- Reflections on John Brown: Correspondence from Jean Libby
- Reflections on John Brown: Essays from Louis A. DeCaro:
- Correspondence from Enid Mastrianni on Prestonia Mann Martin: Making Connections with the Past
- Correspondence with David Smith on Colonization, Abolitionism and Racism
- Mysterious Markings Discovered
Are these markings,
found in a Chester County
farmhouse, from
Underground Railroad
freedom seekers?
Underground Railroad News
- Thaddeus Stevens' Lancaster Home Added to Network to Freedom
- Christiana UGRR Center Opening Photos (see below)
- Afrolumens Project review of Bound For Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America, by Fergus Bordewich
- The Underground Railroad Center at Historic Zercher's Hotel opens September 11
"The 1851 Resistance at Christiana – a local flashpoint event that helped spark Civil War in America – will be commemorated in Lancaster County with a preview opening of a new visitor center from noon until 4 PM on Sunday, September 10, the eve of the event's 155th anniversary.
"Located at 11 Green Street in the Borough of Christiana in the former Zercher's Hotel, the new center has been designed to give visitor’s an orientation to the significance of the Christiana Resistance, originally known as The Christiana Riot, which occurred near the Center on September 11, 1851." - Underground Railroad Quilts (research link)
Smithsonian Institution Folklife presents an updated discussion of the quilt code theory, what is known, what is disputed, and ultimately its value to the study of folklife.
Now Back in Print
The Year of Jubilee
Vol. 1: Men of God and Vol. 2: Men of Muscle
by George F. Nagle
Both volumes of the Afrolumens book are now back in print and available to order from Amazon. Digital versions are also available on this website. Click this link to read.
The Year of Jubilee is the story of Harrisburg'g free African American community, from the era of colonialism and slavery to hard-won freedom.
Volume One, Men of God, covers the turbulent beginnings of this community, from Hercules and the first enslaved persons, the growth of enslavement in central Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg area plantations that used enslaved labor, early escapes by enslaved people, to the birth of a free Black community. Men of God is a detailed history of Harrisburg's first Black entrepreneurs, the early Black churches, the first Black neighborhoods, and the maturing of the social institutions that supported this vibrant community.
It includes an extensive examination of state and federal laws governing slave ownership and the recovery of escaped slaves, the growth of the colonization movement, anti-colonization efforts, anti-slavery, abolitionism and radical abolitionism. It concludes with the complex relationship between Harrisburg's Black and white abolitionists, and details the efforts and activities of each group as they worked separately at first, then learned to cooperate in fighting against slavery. Buy it here.
Non-fiction, history. 607 pages, softcover.
Volume Two, Men of Muscle continues the story from 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 through the explosive 1850s to the coming of Civil War to central Pennsylvania. In this volume, Harrisburg's African American community weathers kidnappings, raids, riots, plots, murders, intimidation, and the coming of war. Caught between hostile Union soldiers and deadly Confederate soldiers, they ultimately had to choose between fleeing or fighting. This is the story of that choice. Buy it here.
Non-fiction, history. 630 pages, softcover.