Journal of Capt. Jonathan Heart on the march with his company from Connecticut to Fort Pitt, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from the seventh of September, to the twelfth of October, 1785, inclusive : to which is added the Dickinson-Harmar correspondence of 1784-5 ; the whole illustrated with notes and preceded by a biographical sketch of Captain Heart by Consul Willshire Butterfield
Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-196) and index.
Contents
A short history of fugitives in America and an African named James Somerset -- The original meaning of the fugitive slave clause -- The Fugitive Slave Act, kidnapping, and the powers of dual sovereigns -- The rights of slaveholders and those of free Blacks in Pennsylvania's Personal Liberty Law of 1826 -- Black sailors, kidnapped freemen, and a crisis in northern fugitive slave jurisprudence -- Arresting Margaret -- Arresting Edward Prigg -- Before the court -- Deciding Prigg -- After the court.
Summary
Margaret Morgan was born in freedom's shadow. Her parents were slaves of John Ashmore, a prosperous Maryland mill owner who freed many of his slaves in the last years of his life. Ashmore never laid claim to Margaret, who eventually married a free black man and moved to Pennsylvania. Then, John Ashmore's widow sent Edward Prigg to Pennsylvania to claim Margaret as a runaway. Prigg seized Margaret and her children, one of them born in Pennsylvania and forcibly removed them to Maryland in violation of Pennsylvania law. In the ensuing uproar, Prigg was indicted for kidnapping under Pennsylvania's personal liberty law. Maryland, however, blocked his extradition, setting the stage for a remarkable Supreme Court case in 1842.
This volume includes the complete text of two orations made at the reunion as well as a history of the regiment. There are many details concerning the formation, the logistics, and the tasks of the 122d Regiment.
Movement and place in the African American past -- The transatlantic passage -- The passage to the interior -- The passage to the north -- Global passages.
Summary
Four great migrations defined the history of black people in America: the violent removal of Africans to the east coast of North America known as the Middle Passage; the relocation of one million slaves to the interior of the antebellum South; the movement of six million blacks to the industrial cities of the north and west a century later; and, since the late 1960s, the arrival of black immigrants from Africa, the Americas, and Europe. These epic migrations have made and remade African American life. This new account evokes both the terrible price and the moving triumphs of a people forcibly and then willingly migrating to America. Historian Ira Berlin finds a dynamic of change in which eras of deep rootedness alternate with eras of massive movement, tradition giving way to innovation. The culture of black America is constantly evolving, affected by (and affecting) places as far away from one another as Biloxi, Chicago, Kingston, and Lagos.--From publisher description.
The ladies of the White House, or, In the home of the presidents : being a complete history of the social and domestic lives of the presidents from Washington to the present time
''Child Heroes of the Underground Railroad illuminates the vital contributions of specific, underappreciated child activists within the extremely local circumstances of their daily work. It also provides meaningful context to the actions of these young activists within the much broader social practice of resisting slavery, and offers fresh insight into the complicated question of who was responsible for ending slavery. Through a thorough examination of these subjects, author Jonathan Shectman proves his central thesis: in many specific cases, children were the essential lifeblood of the Underground Railroad's operational workforce." ( amazon.com )
Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-208) and index.
Contents
The dictates of humanity -- Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave -- Ran away from the subscriber -- Tell them I love them all -- Let not the sun go down on your anger, my boy -- Up like bucks: the Rankin boys -- States of matter divide the states -- Deeds of bold daring -- Many years under the yoke -- The conductor was, himself, presently enslaved.
Part I. Radical, young, and quaker: child pioneers of the underground -- Part II. Up like bucks: the line through Ripley -- Part III. Taking their freedom: young free blacks and fugitive children.
