"By following the story of my great-grandmother Isabella Ford's life, and adding to it with information from available sources, I have been able to get a better understanding of the circumstances of Lancaster's free blacks. Her story provides a sense of life in mid-nineteenth century Lancaster County and shows how free black families held their own, despite an environment that was often unfriendly and that restricted their opportunities by both law and custom."
"The present work is a substantial revision of our earlier work entitled No Crooked Death, published by the University of Illinois Press in 1991"--Introduction.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-158).
Contents
"That quiet sabbath evening" -- "A conspiracy of silence" -- "A disgraceful travesty of justice" -- "To humiliate the administration of justice" -- "An American tragedy."
Summary
"On a warm August night in 1911, Zachariah Walker was lynched--burned alive--by an angry mob on the outskirts of Coatesville, a prosperous Pennsylvania steel town. At the time of his very public murder, Walker, an African American millworker, was under arrest for the shooting and killing of a respected local police officer. Investigated by the NAACP, the horrific incident garnered national and international attention. Despite this scrutiny, a conspiracy of silence shrouded the events, and the accused men and boys were found not guilty at trial. On the 100th anniversary of the lynching and the 20th anniversary of the books original release as No Crooked Death, authors Dennis B. Downey and Raymond M. Hyser bring new insight to events that rocked a community."--Page [4] of cover.
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, v. 136, no. 1, January 2012.Lancaster History Library - Periodical Article905.748 HSP v. 136, no. 1
"On April 17, 1865, eighteen year old John Rakestraw left the family farm in Bart Township, Lancaster County, to attend Unionville Academy, a small Quaker boarding school in Chester County. During the time he was away his two older sisters wrote to him regularly. Ten of those letters have survived and they provide a candid and often painfully honest glimpse of life on a Lancaster County farm in the 1860's. Diaries and ledgers kept by John's father, William I. Rakestraw , provide additional insight into that that time and place." [excerpt from the text]
Includes Accountability matrix, Acknowledgments, and Citations.
Summary
"This plan is a blue print and a series of first steps to build that kind of community and those kinds of systems. It is open-ended enough to allow residents who are struggling with these issues to sit at the leadership table and guide not just the details of the implementation of this document, but also its inevitable and expected evolution. What works on Duke Street may not work on Queen Street. What works in the Southeast may not work in the Southwest. This plan must remain flexible. This plan is also firm in its insistence that residents who understand poverty best must be at the table shoulder to shoulder with clergy, employers, policymakers, academics and the nonprofits that have initially agreed to be accountable for the process. Every sector of our community must be engaged. This plan is a call to action: to bring your wisdom and energy to bear on this crucial starting point,and work with us to make this imperfect plan more perfect through your effort. There will be much to do now that this document has been bound and released: specialized action teams to fill with people who can get things done across a broad spectrum of goals. We hope you’'re one of those people." [from the forward]
"May God have mercy on the deeply affected congregation" : the divisive 1825 language dispute at Lancaster's Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity
The following mills are discussed: Martic Forge Mill; Horse Hollow Mill/Pequea Roller Mill/Sickman's Mill; Burnt Mill; Millvale Mill/Baumgardener's Mill; and Goods Mill. "Although the Goods were primarily farmers, they were also involved in milling, lime burning, distilling, and taverns, and were involved in local and county government. John J. Good, known as Squire Good, was a Justice of the Peace. His courtroom was in a tavern he owned."
