Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Post date: Mar 11, 2015 6:27:15 PM

Our president, Amanda Black, presented for our members this month. She decided to speak on Windsor and the Underground Railroad, the Path to Freedom in acknowledgment of Black History month.

She spoke about how after the War of 1812, many black people had settled in the Northern United States and in Canada. Then the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted in 1850 and things got really bad for black people. The act stated that ever escaped slave in the US was liable to be seized and sent south. The problem was any black person, regardless of being an escaped slave or not, were targeted. By 1860 over 100,000 slaves fled the US to Canada.

It is stated that Quaker Abolitionist Levi Coffin was the creator of the railroad terms used for the different people involved in the Underground Railroad. They used quilt symbols to inform users of the railroad of safe zones, pathways and other information. Amherstburg and Windsor were key entry points into Canada and freedom. They, in turn, provided our area a knowledge of tobacco farming, which proved to be a boom to our local economy.

There are several sites in our area that are linked with this history, they include the Baptist Church in Sandwich, the North American Black Historical Museum in Amherstburg, and the John Freeman Walls Historic Site and Underground Railroad Museum in Puce. Another site is Uncle Tom's Cabin in Dresden which was the home of Josiah Henson, an escaped slave from Kentucky. One of the last stops on the Underground Railroad was the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum. The last stops were so far from Windsor Essex because our area was too close to the boarder and bounty hunters who would chance coming into Canada and grabbing people.

Thank you Amanda for an insightful presentation.