Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-239) and index.
African American resources at Lancaster County Historical Society
Contents
Chapters: THE ESCAPE // BLACK IMAGES IN WHITE MINDS // THE CHASE // THE RIOT // AFTERMATH // STRATAGEMS // THE TRIAL // RACE, VIOLENCE , AND LAW // RACE, RIOTS AND LAW // CONCLUSION
Summary
"This book tells the story of a riot that erupted on September 11, 1851 at Christiana, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and of the people whose lives were changed forever by that violent event. Shortly after dawn on that day, Lancaster's African-American community rose up in arms against attempted enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850; and, in the course of saving four men from the federal posse charged to reenslave them, rioters killed the Maryland farmer who was trying to reclaim his human chattel." [from the introduction]
Includes bibliographical references (p. [319]-330) and index.
Summary
"But We Have No Country" examines how William Parker and the Christiana Resisters tested the basic tenets of American democracy and law, especially the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. In doing so, they exposed the contradiction between the theory of the American creed and the reality of the enslavement and oppression of black Americans. Ultimately the Christiana Resistance was a contest of wills between Parker and his self-defense organization, with natural law on their side, and Edward Grosuch and other white slave owners, armed, literally with civil law. Their struggle encapsulized the more immense battle of how to incorporate the institution of slavery in a so-called free society which was waging nationwide. It was a clash that Parker and the valiant Resisters won. [from Amazon.com]
Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Volume 15, number 8 [supplement] (1911), p. 1-134Lancaster History Library - Journal974.9 L245 v.15
Information files are created for specific subjects that are associated with Lancaster County, e.g. "Rebman's scrap pile", "Ten-hour house". The files contain newspaper and magazine articles about the subject.
Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, 110, no. 2 (Summer 2008) .
Notes
Bibliography: p. 59 - 61.
Summary
The Gap gang was blamed for virtually every crime committed in this part of southeastern Pennsylvania - with good reason. From petty theft, armed robbery, arson, to counterfeiting, the loose-knit group terrorized the community, particularly its African - American members after 1850. This article focuses on the gang's pursuit of run-away slaves for profit.With the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, slave owners were emboldened in pursuing slaves who had escaped across the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania. The law required civilians to assist in returning slaves to their owners, and it became profitable for the Gap Gang to sell former slaves in Pennsylvania back across the Mason Dixon line to slave owners. The gang developed a reputation for pursuing this line of business. This article also speaks of the formation of an African American Self Defense League in Lancaster County which meant to resist attempted captures of run-away slaves.
Introduction / Dr. Leroy T. Hopkins, Jr. -- Foreword / June Burk Lloyd -- Slavery in Pennsylvania and the early abolitionist movement -- The early growth of the Underground Railroad -- Prigg v. Pennsylvania -- An open pathway for fugitives -- From discord toward dissolution -- The bloody road to emancipation -- Afterword / James McClure -- Appendix A : Reported Underground Railroad conductors in York County -- Appendix B : The slaveholder's prayer.
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".
