"Harry Bradshaw Matthews' history discusses antislavery movements in African American communities in New York State, as well as Pennsylvania and South Carolina, and their role in national movements during the 19th century. His identification and discussion of black leaders, historic sites, and instruction on conducting genealogical research is an outstanding addition that enhances the work. By compiling hundreds of illustrations consisting of newspaper articles, editorials, notices, and the name indexes of the 20th and 26th Regiments of the United Sates Colored Troops, Matthews gives a unique wealth of genealogical information that is a treasure-trove sure to aid scholars and family historians for years to come." [from GoodReads.com]
Originally published: Lancaster, Pa. : Office of the Journal, 1883.
Includes index.
African American resources at Lancaster County Historical Society.
Summary
This book was written in 1883 by Robert Clemons Smedley, a Chester County Pennsylvania physician who interviewed participants in the underground railroad. He was not a historian and was not unbiased. But he is considered to have been conscientious in his efforts to record the stories he was told. He wrote about events as described to him by person who themselves were involved, both those fleeing slavery and those assisting them.Topics in chapters 1 & 2 include William Wright and Columbia, PA. Chapter 8 is about the "Christiana Tragedy".
"Enter into the centuries-long debate about justice for the African and African American inhabitants of Pennsylvania with this history, which spans from William Penn's colony to the twentieth-century political achievements of black political leaders. Learn about the growth of African American communities through the experiences of James Forten, Richard Allen, Octavius Catto, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, and many others. This is the ongoing story of 'making a home' in Pennsylvania." [from the publisher]
The Pennsylvania Abolition Society & the Pennsylvania Black : two hundredth anniversary exhibition, April 17, 1974-July 17, 1974, at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania : from its collections, those of Charles L. Blockson, and others
African American resources at Lancaster County Historical Society
Contents
Contents : Colonial Pennsylvania --- Anti-slavery Pioneers --- The Abolition Act of 1780 --- Work of the Abolition Society --- The Free Negroes Organize --- The American Colonization Society ---Garrisonian Abolitionism --- The American Anti-Slavery Society --- Negro Disfranchisement --- The Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society--- The Burning of Pennsylvania Hall --- Conflict Within Abolitionism --- The Underground Railroad --- Growth of the Negro Community --- Civil War and Reconstruction --- The Struggle For Equal Rights --- Suffrage Restored --- The School Question --- Cultural Progress
I. Slavery: the colonial and early national period -- II. Free black life in the antebellum period: political, legal and socio-economic status -- III. The Civil War period -- IV. Reconstruction and the late nineteenth century -- V. The early twentieth century and World War I -- VI. The twenties and the New Deal decades -- VII. World War II and the modern era.
Notes
African American resources in the Lancaster County Historical Society.
