1
100
6
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/bcefd587b60b4f5edc93d980b595a318.jpg
eaafb6ba24b0e3a6eb837efc99ed325b
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People
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Reverend Moses Broyles,
Eleutherian College
Description
An account of the resource
Moses Broyles was born in 1826 in Maryland [1]. At the age of four, he was separated from his parents and purchased by a Kentucky planter named John Broyles. John Broyles often entrusted Moses with the care of the Broyles children and eventually, he was entrusted with management of farm affairs. Moses learned to read and discovered a love of history through the books he read, including the Old and New Testament, books about United States History, the lives of George Washington and Francis Marion, and history of the Baptists, among others. While still enslaved, he traveled to Paducah, Kentucky, where he preached and helped establish the first colored Baptist meetinghouse [2].
When he was fourteen (1840), John Broyles told Moses that he would be freed in 1854. However, Moses could not wait, and in 1851 he began working to purchase himself. He had bought a horse and dray to earn money more rapidly and was eventually able to purchase his freedom. After extricating himself from slavery, Moses moved to Lancaster, Indiana, and attended Eleutherian College. Allegedly prone to coughing and choking spells during debates and public speeches, he was very bashful when he first attended the college. In spite of Broyles reserved personality, Dr. William T. Stott, the former president of Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana, said “Eleutherian Institute would have amply justified its existence and cost, if it had educated no other pupil than Moses Broyles" [3]. A second individual made a similar remark, stating “that school, even if it had done nothing more, justified its claim to recognition by the successful education of Rev. Moses Broyles, the leader of the colored Baptists of Indiana" [4]. Clearly, Moses Broyles was an exceptionally intelligent and high achieving student who was able to succeed in the face of challenging circumstances.
Broyles moved to Indianapolis in the spring of 1857 where he entered the ministry. He became a member of the Second Baptist Church, and hoped to become its pastor. By November of 1857, he was ordained as the pastor of the Second Baptist. Because the church could only pay for three years of lodging, Broyles worked as a schoolteacher for twelve years at one of the first African Americans schools in the city [5].
By the time Moses Broyles became a pastor, the Underground Railroad had been in use for nearly two decades, reaching its peak in the 1850s. The anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was published in 1852 and sold half a million copies within its first six months. The Civil War shook the young nation, and in the war’s last year, President Lincoln was assassinated, the Ku Klux Klan formed, and the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments soon followed, which changed the lives of African Americans in many ways but did not lead to complete equality. In 1871, Congress gave President Grant authority to use military force against the KKK and similar groups, but African Americans would continue to live in fear for decades.
Under Broyles’ leadership, the church’s membership grew, and by 1877 it had sent twenty-one men into the ministry. In 1864, the church outgrew its space as its membership doubled in size, and in 1867 it grew again, resulting in the purchase of a larger building for $25,000. Broyles was a major factor in the organization of a State Association of Colored Baptists in Indiana, as well as the establishment of six colored churches in the state since 1866 [6]. In 1876, Broyles wrote The History of Second Baptist Church. He was a known Republican and encouraged other African Americans to join the party of Lincoln and Grant. Broyles and his wife Francis had seven children by 1880. He remained the pastor of Second Baptist until his death on August 31, 1882 [7]. Rev. Broyles created many opportunities for African Americans in Indiana, especially in education and religion. It would be nearly another century before African Americans would be able to attend schools with whites, but like other civil rights leaders, Rev. Broyles was a single spark that fueled an inferno of social change which is still burning.
Source
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[1] Cathcart, William, "The Baptist encyclopedia: a dictionary of the doctrines, ordinances...of the general history of the Baptist denomination in all lands, with numerous biographical sketches...& a supplement" Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1883.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Carrol, J. C. "The Beginnings of Public Education for Negroes in Indiana." The Journal of Negro Education 8 no. 4 (October, 1939).
[4] Ibid.
[5] “History of Greater Indianapolis”, New York Public Library.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Brown, Ignatius, “Indianapolis Directory…History of Indianapolis”, Logan & Co., 1868.
Contributor
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Student Author: Melody Seberger <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/5.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for Eleutherian College</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Eleutherian College from northwest in evening, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eleutherian_College_from_northwest_in_evening.jpg
1800s
community
education
Indianapolis
Jefferson County
Marion County
religion
Slavery
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/79f703f82ce61af55699a50ac2e40f68.jpg
c99c2e432621680e93c6a9ba68d7299e
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Events
Text
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Title
A name given to the resource
Rhodes Family Incident,
Hamilton County
Description
An account of the resource
<span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">I</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>183</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">6</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Missouri</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">an</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>Singleton Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n, a<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">white<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">plantation owner</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>held an African American family —Sam Burk, his wife Maria</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">h</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, and their baby daughter Lydia--in chattel slavery</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.[1]</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>Prior to<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">coming to be owned by<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the Burk<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">family had<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">been illegally</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>retained in slaver</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">y</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>in<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the free<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">state of<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Illinois</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">According to the letter of the law, Burk and his family should not have been allowed to be held in bondage</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">. Prior to</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the Dred Scott decision in the Supreme Court</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, slaves living in a free territory<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">for a period of six months or longer </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">were entitled to declare their freedom</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>However,<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the reality of the situation was much different.<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">When the Burks’ owner left the state of Illinois for Missouri, he took the Burk family along with him – denying their right to manumission. He then approached </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Singleton Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, who </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">purchased the family<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">as<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">laborers for his Missouri plantation. </span></span>In 1837, with the fear of separation urging them on, Burk and his family ran away from Missouri, attempting to escape to freedom in Illinois. After reaching Illinois, the Burk family was captured as a result of Vaughan’s fugitive slave notices. The Burk family was broken out of jail by members of the Underground Railroad, and they headed into Indiana, with the ultimate goal of reaching Canada. However, when they reached Hamilton County, Indiana, they were too exhausted to continue.[2] The Burk family decided to stay in Hamilton County, which was a stronghold for abolitionism.[3] They settled in, changing their names to John and Louann Rhodes. <br /><br />In 1844 the United States was in the middle of a controversial presidential election. The presidential election of 1844 centered on the annexation of Texas, which added to concerns about the expansion of the institution of slavery.[4] Singleton Vaughan had not forgotten about the Rhodes (Burk) family, and seven years after their escape in the midst of the national debate about the reach of chattel slavery in the United States, he discovered where they were. He arrived in Hamilton County with two men and obtained a warrant from a local judge. Court records state that John and his family avoided recapture by claiming that a neighbor owed them a 50-dollar debt. Legally, payment for the debt would belong to Vaughan when he regained ownership of the Rhodes, so he allowed John and his family to go to the neighbor’s house to retrieve payment at once. In reality, no debt existed; the neighbor was a member of the Underground Railroad.[5] The Underground Railroad, which assisted the Rhodes family, was quite active in Hamilton County. Addison Coffin, a transporter on the line, stated that in 1844, “the Wabash line was in good running order and passengers very frequent."[6]<br />When other neighbors arrived on scene, the Rhodes’ Underground Railroad neighbors were able to convince all involved that the best course of action was to verify the legitimacy of Vaughan’s claim with a judge. The Rhodes family, Vaughan’s party, and some of their neighbors headed south towards Westfield to resolve the matter in court. However, knowing Westfield to be a location with heavy abolitionist sympathy, Vaughan insisted on a hearing in Noblesville instead. <br /><br />During the commotion, a man by the name of Daniel Jones, jumped onto the wagon and he and the Rhodes family sped away while Vaughan and his men were immobilized by the crowd. In the end, Vaughan attempted to sue members of the community for loss of property, since they had helped the Rhodes family escape. The local Quakers created a defense fund to pay for the trial. During trial the fact that the Rhodes family had lived in a free state prior to Vaughan’s unlawful purchase led the judge to rule in favor of the Rhodes family. Vaughan returned to Missouri empty handed.[7] <br /><br />The Vaughan v. Williams decision occurred prior to the Fugitive Slave Act and Dred Scott decision. According to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, fugitive slaves in any territory or state, could be reclaimed by their master, even from free territories. Finally, the Dred Scott decision in 1857 cemented the rights of slave owners to recapture their unfree laborer, stating “that a slave (Dred Scott) who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not thereby entitled to his freedom.”[8] According to this court ruling, since slaves were considered property regardless of their removal to a free state, the Missouri Compromise of 1850 was ruled unconstitutional. Had the Rhodes Family escaped after 1850, defending their right to freedom would have been impossible.<br /><br />This event is documented in a Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2008, in Asa Bales Park in Westfield, Hamilton County. The park is named after Asa Bales, whose home was part of the Underground Railroad and provided a safe haven for runaway slaves escaping to Canda.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Vaughan v. Williams, 16,903 (D. Indiana Cir. 1845)<br />[2] Heighway, David. “The Law in Black and White,” accessed February 6, 2019. www.westfield.in.gov/egov/documents/1376663863_54293.pdf, 1. <br />[3]Ibid <br />[4] Pecquet, Gary M., and Clifford F. Thies. 2006. “Texas Treasury Notes and the Election of 1844.” Independent Review 11 (2): 237–60. http://proxy.bsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=510657895&site=ehost-live&scope=site. <br />[5] Thornbrough, Emma Lou. The Negro in Indiana before 1900: A Study of a Minority. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. <br />[6]“The Underground Railroad,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed February 7, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/3119.htm. <br />[7]Vaughan v. Williams, 16,903 (D. Indiana Cir. 1845). <br />[8] United States Supreme Court, Roger Brooke Taney, John H Van Evrie, and Samuel A Cartwright. The Dred Scott decision: opinion of Chief Justice Taney. New York: Van Evrie, Horton & Co., 1860, 1860. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/17001543/.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/554.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Fugitive Slaves Escaping to Union Lines, attributed to NonCommercial 4.0 International, Public domain, via Slavery Images
http://104.200.20.178/s/slaveryimages/item/794
1800s
1837-1844
Hamilton County
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
law
quakers
Slavery
Underground Railroad
Westfield
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/d8e06e53a39006bfeac01e3189b89cef.jpg
f14b04a0be625cd77bbe728faad2330b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Frederick Douglass,
Abolitionist Mob in Pendleton
Description
An account of the resource
Frederick Douglass was born in his grandmother’s cabin in Tuckahoe Creek, Maryland.[1] He grew up as an enslaved child and was separated from his grandmother to work at the Wye House plantation in Talbot County, Maryland at the age of six. He was then given to Hugh Auld who lived in the city of Baltimore where Douglass felt lucky, as slaves in urban places were almost freedmen, compared to those in plantations.[2] At the age of twelve, Auld’s wife Sophia started teaching him the alphabet and treated him like a normal child, but was quickly stopped by her husband.[3] This first access to knowledge and education gave him the desire to learn more, but it also gave him a taste of freedom as he said: “Once you learn to read, you will forever be free.”[4] From then on, Douglass decided to continue to learn how to read and write by himself: for him, “knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom.”[5] <br /><br />His original name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, but he changed it to Douglass when he decided to escape as a way to break with his enslaved life and not to be recognized. In September 1838, Douglass successfully escaped from his owner Colonel Lloyd and reached Havre de Grace, Maryland. He became an influential activist for the abolition of slavery. In 1845, he described his experiences as a slave in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. It exposed the reality of slavery and his path from bondage to freedom. It became a crucial testimony of the horrors of slavery. <br /><br />Throughout his life, Douglass never stopped writing about slavery and became a prominent activist in the fight for abolition across the United States. In 1843, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society sent speakers to New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana to hold the “One Hundred Conventions” on abolition.[6] The Anti-Slavery Society was founded by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and Arthur Tappan, another abolitionist. Douglass became part of the Anti-Slavery Society, along with William Wells Brown and Micajah C. White, two other freed men. <br /><br />In September 1843, Frederick Douglass and other speakers went to Madison County, Indiana to give a speech at a meeting at the Pendleton Baptist church. The Anti-slavery society focused their action on small towns like Pendleton where the African American population constituted an important proportion of the inhabitants. Situated in the periphery of Indianapolis, people relied on the church to gather and get news on politics. Douglass wanted to prove that the fight for abolition should be everybody’s concern. However, the crowd they encountered was deeply racist: more than thirty white men marched in, armed with stones and brickbats, asking for them to leave.[7] Douglass and others were injured, even though they were defended by the local supporters. In his autobiography My Life and Times (1881), he described the event saying, “They tore down the platform on which we stood, assaulted Mr. White and knocked out several of his teeth (…).” Rioters went unpunished, showing that progress was still to be made in justice and that racial violence was still not publicly condemned, even in the North.<br /><br />In 2013, the Indiana Historical Bureau, Madison County Council, Madison County Council of Governments, Town of Pendleton, Historic Fall Creek Pendleton Settlement, Pendleton Business Association, and Friends installed a historical marker at the site of the 1843 mob.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom. Edited by John David Smith. New Ed edition. New York: Penguin Classics, 2003. P.44 <br />[2] Gopnik, Adam. “The Prophetic Pragmatism of Frederick Douglass,” October 8, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/15/the-prophetic-pragmatism-of-frederick-douglass. <br />[3] Douglass, Frederick, "Chapter VII", Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. <br />[4] Ibid. Chapter VI, P.52 <br />[5] Douglass, Frederick, "Chapter VI", Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. <br />[6] "Social Reform and Human Progress," The Liberator, February 17, 1843 <br />[7] "Of the Board of managers of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, to the Abolitionists of the Western and Middle States," The Liberator, June 16, 1843
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Emma Guichon <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4111.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Frederick Douglass (circa 1879), attributed to George Kendall Warren, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Douglass_(circa_1879).jpg
1800s
Abolition
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Madison County
Pendleton
Slavery
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/148a467d1acabbe5c416a34b6835bd62.jpg
81bc18dbd9d7609aaacf1b26646a375e
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/9444f82497f947c3dcd299547aeec3d3.mp3
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Interview 1 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)
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<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/28">Georgetown Historic District</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Allen Watson, who has lived in Madison, Indiana his entire life, describes mass migration out of Madison to find better paying jobs, particularly to industrializing cities in the northern United States.
<strong>***Transcript***<br /><br /></strong><em>Allen Watson</em>: They had to. To find good paying jobs, they pretty much had to leave town here and go to the bigger cities, like go North, you know, and that’s where most of them ended up, like Indianapolis and Toledo, Ohio, and some of those areas. They didn’t go too far South. They went mostly North.<strong><br /></strong>
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/7296da74e7aabca2b950f9e79bfb99fc.mp3
53c5f083df404bec6f492f4bd825a261
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Interview 2 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)
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An account of the resource
Allen Watson describes discriminatory practices towards African American patrons at his local theater in Madison, where African Americans had to sit in the balcony or in the back rows of the theater as the result of race-based discrimination against Black patrons.
<span><strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: You know, I was telling about the pool and the restaurants, but also, you know, </span><span>our theater was that was also, you know, our theater was, you know, you could sit in the very </span><span>back, you had to sit in the back three or four rows of the </span><span>theater, and sometimes you had to sit in </span><span>the balcony. If you sat downstairs, you had to sit there, but in the balcony, you could sit </span><span>anywhere in the balcony, and even, you know, the drinking fountains, they had white and black. </span><span>You know, I remember that, a</span><span>nd I wasn’t very old, you know, I was probably ten years old, and I </span><span>remember seeing stuff like that. You know, at ten years old, you can read, you know, white or </span><span>black or whatever. “Colored” is what the word they used back then.</span>
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The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/28">Georgetown Historic District</a>
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/f8bcf19857cdc97fa2222e04b142d8e1.mp3
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Interview 3 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)
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<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/28">Georgetown Historic District</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Allen Watson details when and how his parents discussed racism in his community with him at the age of 10 to 12. He also discusses discriminatory practices at the swimming pool in Madison, along with the drugstores located downtown.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: When we was probably around eleven or so, ten or eleven or twelve years old, you know, even when my dad would take us to get ice cream, and we were set out on the curb, we just thought, well, you know, it’s a nice pretty day, you know, we don’t go inside and sit, but later on, we found out why we couldn’t. We weren’t allowed inside the drugstore because of the color of our skin, so we couldn’t go in, so my dad went in and got it for us, and then the pool, it’s the same thing at the swimming pool, you could not swim.
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/43d52b22ab45850502e6d525fce06712.mp3
a60fbf5b3f3ddd7d45f485744077e078
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Interview 4 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)
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<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/28">Georgetown Historic District</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Allen Watson, a resident of Madison, Indiana, shares the story of a local hospital's intentional expansion into a Black neighborhood on Poplar Street. Many houses were destroyed along with the Black community in that area for a parking lot.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: The hospital, and I haven’t told this story much at all, but I think it’s a story that needs to be told. Back in the early [19]70’s, they started their expansion to the hospital. Well, they bought up some property on Poplar Street, and there was probably about nine homes on Poplar Street that they had bought and destroyed.<br /><br /><em>Carrie Vachon</em>: Just tore them down.<br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: Just tore them down. Nice homes. I mean, it’s just like all the other homes in downtown Madison on Second Street, Third Street and whatever, East Street, but they wanted that property, so the Black community was just destroyed, it was torn down. I mean, you didn’t have a say. I mean, they wanted that property. Most of the property that they bought is used for parking, a parking lot, a parking garage and a parking lot.
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Places
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Georgetown Historic District
Description
An account of the resource
Located in Madison, Indiana, the Georgetown neighborhood, now known as the Georgetown District, became home to free African Americans as early as 1820. [1] Madison is situated directly on the Indiana-Kentucky border at the Ohio River, and Georgetown “became a place in which many freedom seekers found a community of safe houses and conductors willing to give them aid to reach the next station toward freedom.” [2] Eventually, the neighborhood would develop into the central hive of Madison’s bustling Underground Railroad activity, becoming an “important settlement of free Blacks who assisted hundreds of enslaved African Americans to freedom.” [3]
Across several decades, Georgetown’s African American community continued to grow. In the 1820 census, there were 48 free black families listed as living in Madison, and by 1850, the number had increased to 298. [4] Along with the population increase came the additions of several black-run institutions including schools, churches, and businesses. [5] Several free black Georgetown business owners rose to a place of prominence in the community during this time, and used their influence to aid freedom seekers north along the Underground Railroad.
One such prominent resident was George DeBaptiste, who settled in Madison in 1837. Immediately upon his arrival, he protested against racist legislation by contesting an 1831 Indiana act which required new black residents entering the state to pay 500 dollars as “a bond for good behavior and self-support.” [6] After successfully suing to reside in Indiana without paying the bond, DeBaptiste conducted a wholesale shipping business between Madison and Cincinnati. Through this venture, he met William Henry Harrison, who hired him to be “steward of the White House” during his presidency. [7] After Harrison’s death, DeBaptiste returned to Madison and operated a barbershop for six years on the corner of Walnut and Second Streets. During this time, the barbershop was the heart of Underground Railroad activities in Madison. [8] Through these brave efforts, “DeBaptiste estimated that he personally assisted 108 fugitives to freedom, and several times that number indirectly.” [9]
Despite the relative size and success of the free black community, life for residents of Georgetown was not easy. Free African Americans were harassed persistently, facing discrimination at every turn. [10] Furthermore, the Georgetown neighborhood’s connection to the Underground Railroad had long been suspected. In 1846, a mob of slave owners crossed the border from Kentucky and, joined by pro-slavery allies from Madison, violently raided the homes of several black families in Georgetown. [11] The mob “took it upon themselves to search the homes of free African Americans for fugitive slaves and weapons,” [12] and any who resisted were “nearly beat to death.” [13] Several prominent community members, including George DeBaptiste, fled northward to continue their work as conductors in the Underground Railroad under safer circumstances. Although the neighborhood faced white vigilante attacks and the loss of some key leaders, “the system that DeBaptiste and his collaborators built continued to flourish” in Georgetown. [14]
Madison’s Georgetown neighborhood is representative of African American-led Underground Railroad networks across the nation. While the overall population of Madison was overwhelmingly white, the residents of Georgetown had carved out a small, thriving community for themselves. This neighborhood, like in many other black-led nodes of Underground Railroad work, allowed those escaping from slavery a method of camouflage “by blending in with the people around them.” [15] Community leaders like George DeBaptiste in cities across the United States were able to use their wealth, connections, and prominence to help propel freedom seekers northward while hiding their enterprise in plain sight.
The Georgetown neighborhood continued on as a black community nestled within white Madison well into the twentieth century. Madison was heavily segregated, with its black residents restricted to their own residential section, their own school, and their own churches. [16] Madison’s black citizens were not allowed to eat in restaurants, sit with their white peers in theaters, or even be admitted into the main area of the town’s hospital; instead, there were “two rooms in the basement set aside for black patients; if they were filled, no blacks could be admitted.” [17] Only when residents of the Georgetown neighborhood conducted their own sit-in protests modeled after those conducted in the South by civil rights activists in the 1960s was the town finally desegregated. [18] While many of the historic landmarks like churches and the houses of Underground Railroad conductors still stand as a testament to the Georgetown neighborhood’s black history, the black families who remain in Madison have now expanded their community across the entire city, taking advantage of the equal access they finally achieved.
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/228">Interview 1 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/229">Interview 2 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/230">Interview 3 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/231">Interview 4 with Allen Watson</a>
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[1] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] Ibid. <br />[4] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[5] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[6] Earl E. McDonald, “The Negro in Indiana Before 1881,” Indiana Magazine of History 27, no. 4 (1931): 297. <br />[7] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[8] John T. Windle. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Madison Historic District. Madison, IN. Historic Madison Inc, 1970 <br />[9] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 3. <br />[10] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[11] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 205. <br />[12] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[13] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 205. <br />[14] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 206. <br />[15] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[16] Don Wallis, All We Had Was Each Other: The Black Community of Madison, Indiana, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998), xi. <br />[17] Ibid. <br />[18] Don Wallis, “The Struggle Makes You Strong: The Black Community of Madison, Indiana,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 11, no. 3 (1999): 29.
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PHOTO & VIDEO
Sherman Minton Birthplace, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherman_Minton_Birthplace.jpg
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Molly Hollcraft <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/1.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Jefferson County
Madison
Oral History
Segregation
Slavery
Underground Railroad
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/031a8d6dff60600fc1673c5fc413e730.jpg
9965b2d5b7384d166f009c3fd855f38c
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Events
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Lasselle v. State,
Harrison County
Description
An account of the resource
The 1820 Indiana Supreme Court Case State v. Lasselle centered upon Polly Strong, a black woman enslaved in Vincennes, Indiana, who asserted her freedom from her master, Hyacinthe Lasselle. Before reaching the Indiana Supreme Court, the case was first tried in Knox County as Polly v. Lasselle. The suit began after Polly’s lawyer, Amory Kinney, petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, which the court granted on July 15, 1818, “directing Lasselle to bring Jim and Polly to the court to explain why he held them against their will.” [1] Jim was another enslaved person whom Lasselle had inherited from his father. [2] However, his case did not make it to the Indiana Supreme Court.<br /><br />Lasselle contended that he held Polly as an indentured servant, not as a slave. However, the indenture contract Polly had signed was a direct response to the writ of habeas corpus, dated two days after the court’s order. The date, along with the fact that Polly continued to pursue legal action after the contract was signed, showed that the document was a fraudulent attempt by Lasselle to avoid further legal action. [3] Furthermore, Polly’s lawyer argued that she had most likely signed the indenture under duress. As Kinney stated during the court proceedings, Polly “was imprisoned by the said Hyacinthe Lasselle and others in collusion with him […] until by the force and duress of imprisonment,” she signed the indenture. [4] <br /><br />Prior to statehood in 1816, Indiana Territory operated under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which established rules of governance for all territory northwest of the Ohio River. Article Six of the Northwest Ordinance stated that “there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory.” [5] However, the Knox County Circuit Court ultimately ruled in favor of Lasselle, claiming that because Polly’s mother had been enslaved before the passage of the Northwest Ordinance, Polly had been born a slave and as such, her status was grandfathered in. [6] With this ruling, the court refused to acknowledge the authority of the Northwest Ordinance and the Indiana Constitution of 1816 to emancipate anyone already enslaved before the adoption of either document. <br /><br />In 1820, the case was appealed and argued before the Indiana Supreme Court as State v. Lasselle, although Polly and Kinney were still the plaintiffs. The Indiana Supreme Court had only been established three years earlier, and State v. Lasselle was the Court’s first time hearing a case on the issue of slavery. [7] During this trial, Lasselle abandoned the argument that Polly was his indentured servant and instead claimed that he had the right to keep any enslaved people purchased before the Treaty of Greenville of 1795. [8] Lasselle’s attorney argued that before the passage of the treaty, the territory was still occupied by Native Americans, and thus not subject to any federal legislation such as the Northwest Ordinance. [9] Therefore, Lasselle claimed that because Polly had been born into slavery before the Treaty of Greenville, her enslaved status had been grandfathered in and could not be altered by the passage of any later legal code. <br /><br />The Indiana Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Lasselle’s argument of his “preexisting right” to own Polly, reversing the ruling of the Knox County Circuit Court and declaring Polly free. [10] She was also “awarded $26.12 in costs for her trouble.” [11] The Court found that the 1816 Indiana Constitution’s prohibition of slavery applied to Polly’s case, immediately emancipating her as well as all other enslaved people in Indiana. Justice James Scott’s opinion states that “it is evident that by these provisions, the framers of our Constitution intended a total and entire prohibition of slavery in this State; and we can conceive of no form of words in which that intention could have been more clearly expressed.” [12] <br /><br />While State v. Lasselle was being argued before the Indiana Supreme Court, the nation was also facing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the issue of the expansion of slavery into new states. In order to maintain a balanced Congress, the Missouri Compromise admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. It also banned the creation of any new slave states north of the latitude 36°30′. While this measure solved the immediate problem, it marked the beginning of the road towards the Civil War and the struggle between the North and the South over the expansion of slavery. This temporary solution “all but determined that the United States would never peaceably solve the problem of slavery’s expansion.” [13] The issue of slavery was not solved at a national level until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, but the decision in State v. Lasselle ensured that slavery would be abolished in Indiana more than 40 years before Lincoln’s definitive executive order. <br /><br />State v. Lasselle was one of the final blows against slavery in Indiana. The decision set an important precedent for later cases regarding slavery and indentured servitude in the state, establishing the Indiana Supreme Court’s “remarkably strong and usually steady affirmation of human rights” throughout the nineteenth century. [14] The case is also an early example of the importance of the legal system in the fight for civil rights. Courts have been some of the most decisive battlegrounds in the civil rights movement, with individuals like Polly able to sue for equal treatment under the law. In Indiana and across the nation, the courts became integral during the modern civil rights movement, forcing the issue on desegregation and equal opportunity in such famous cases as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka and Loving v. Virginia.<br /><br />This court case is commemorated with an Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2016, on the site of the first Indiana State Capital building in Harrison County.
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[1] Paul Finkelman, "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery," Indiana Magazine of History 111, no. 1 (2015): 79. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] Ibid., 82. <br />[4] Polly v. Lasselle, 90 116 4F, 2104 (Knox Co. 1818). <br />[5] “Northwest Ordinance”, July 13, 1787; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M332, roll 9); Miscellaneous Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789; Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, Record Group 360; National Archives. <br />[6] Paul Finkelman, "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery," Indiana Magazine of History 111, no. 1 (2015): 83. <br />[7] Sandra Boyd Williams, “The Indiana Supreme Court and the Struggle Against Slavery,” Indiana Law Review 30, (1997): 305. <br />[8] Paul Finkelman, "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery," Indiana Magazine of History 111, no. 1 (2015): 84. <br />[9] Ibid. <br />[10] Ibid. <br />[11] Randall T. Shepard, “For Human Rights: Slave Cases and the Indiana Supreme Court,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 15, no. 3 (2003): 36. [12] State v. Lasselle, (Indiana Supreme Court, 1820). <br />[13] John Craig Hammond, Slavery, Freedom, and Expansion in the Early American West (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007). 8.
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4267.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO AND VIDEO:
U.S. Supreme Court assignment of errors in Polly v. Lasselle, 1820 July 27, Digital Collections, Indiana State Library.
https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16066coll38/id/26
1800s
Court Case
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Knox County
law
Slavery
Vincennes
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/9839d67d230a6126ac5b8b6a85a38091.jpeg
f8f0c3d780f4e723df7c8111c0324167
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Description
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Lucy Higgs Nichols was born in Halifax County, North Carolina on April 10, 1838. [1] Lucy, along with her family, was held in chattel slavery by farmer Reubin Higgs. During this time, the Higgs family moved to Mississippi, then to Tennessee, taking Lucy and other enslaved people with them. In 1862, Lucy learned that she was to be moved south again, even further from freedom. Instead, she escaped with her young daughter, Mona, to the camp of the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment. According to some sources, Lucy was accompanied by her husband as well, who was said to have died later after enlisting in the Union Army. [2] Lucy managed to travel “some twenty or thirty miles” to the camp of the 23rd Regiment in Bolivar, Tennessee. [3] <br /><br />After making it to the camp of the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment, Lucy was pursued by her former master. However, under the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862, she was able to beg protection from the regiment, who ensured that she would not be sent back to slavery. [4] These acts declared that any property, including enslaved people, which was being used to aid the Confederate rebellion was to be seized by the federal government. [5] The Confiscation Act of 1862 went even further in describing the new protected status of enslaved people, declaring that: "All slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid of comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the government of the United States; and all slaves of such person found on or being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves." [6] <br /><br />Although these acts were intended to deprive the Confederacy of labor, it was also a step towards emancipation, which thoroughly benefitted Lucy and her family and allowed her to escape slavery with the help of the 23rd Regiment. To show her gratitude to the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment, Lucy, 30 years old at the time, “remained with the Twenty-third as hospital nurse, cook, laundress and sewing woman.” [7] She followed the regiment throughout the rest of the war, caring for soldiers on the front lines and on many long, arduous marches. [8] Lucy was present at such critical battles as the Siege of Vicksburg and the Siege of Atlanta, then followed the 23rd Regiment through General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea. [9] Lucy even remained with the regiment after her daughter Mona, no older than five, died just after the surrender of Vicksburg. Mona was apparently well-loved by the soldiers, and was given an “elaborate funeral” by the 23rd Regiment, as they covered her body with flowers and laid her to rest “in a long trench on the hillside above the city, where many a silent figure in blue was stretched out” in their own final resting places. [10] Lucy was heartbroken and “left absolutely alone, but she still clung to the regiment.” [11] <br /><br />After the war, Lucy followed the 23rd Regiment to Washington, D.C., where she proudly marched with them as part of the “grand review of the Federal armies.” [12] When the regiment was mustered out of service, the men invited her to return with them to New Albany, Indiana, where many of them were from. [13] There, she was “employed as a servant in the families of several of the officers” of the 23rd Regiment. [14] In 1870, she married laborer John Nichols, and they lived together on Nagel Street in New Albany until his death in 1910. [15] After her husband’s death, Lucy remained in the city “as a boarder and a laundress.” [16] <br /><br />While living in New Albany, Lucy maintained contact with her fellow members of the 23rd Regiment. She attended every regimental reunion and marched in each Memorial Day parade. [17] Lucy provided care for ill former troops, nursing them “as she did in war times,” while they cared for her in times of sickness and need as well, affectionately calling her “Aunt Lucy.” [18] Lucy became a member of the New Albany chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of veterans of the Union forces. [19] Despite the remarkable recognition for her service by her immediate compatriots, Lucy was not recognized for her work as a Union Army nurse by the federal government. In 1892, Congress passed an act granting pensions to “all women employed by the Surgeon General of the Army as nurses, under contract or otherwise, during the late war of the rebellion” who were in need of financial assistance. [20] Lucy applied for pension, citing medical issues which impacted her ability to work, but was rejected twice. [21] Finally, in December 1898, a special act of Congress was passed and Lucy was approved for a $12 per month pension for the rest of her life. [22] After the death of her husband John, Lucy was admitted to the Floyd County Poor Farm on January 5, 1915. [23] She died there just weeks later, on January 29, 1915, and was buried with military honors in an unmarked grave in West Haven Cemetery in New Albany. [24] The exact location of her grave is unknown because there was no written documentation and no tombstone. On July 3, 2019, a statue of Lucy Higgs Nichols and her daughter Mona was erected in New Albany, Indiana. [25] It joined a 2011 state historical marker outside the Second Baptist Church, where Lucy was a member of the congregation. [26] These monuments stand as a testament to her valor, from escaping slavery, to serving as a nurse on the front lines of the Civil War, to fighting for her right for compensation. <br /><br />Unfortunately, Lucy Higgs Nichols was not the last black American veteran to be barred from receiving the benefits earned through their service. In 1944, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, popularly known as the G.I. Bill of Rights. [27] This landmark legislation provided American veterans with four major entitlements: special job placement services, unemployment compensation, home and business loans, and educational subsidies. [28] While there was no language in the bill that definitively excluded black veterans on the basis of race, the G.I. Bill was unequally implemented to the benefit of white veterans. Black World War II veterans, especially those living in the south, experienced difficulties when they attempted to access the benefits due to them through the G.I. Bill, “because of a combination of racial discrimination and the poor administration of the bill’s benefits.” [29] Like Lucy Higgs Nichols, many black veterans fought for their benefits after World War II, but many found that access blocked by racist white administrators, and unlike Nichols, were unable to appeal their mistreatment. [30]<br /><br />An Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2011, in New Albany, Floyd County, commemorates Lucy Higgs Nichols' life.
Title
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Lucy Higgs Nichols, New Albany
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[1] Pamela R. Peters, Curtis H. Peters, and Victor C. Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols: From Slave to Civil War Nurse of the Twenty-Third Indiana Regiment,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 22, no. 1 (2010): 36. <br />[2] “A Female Civil War Veteran,” The New York Times (New York, NY), Dec. 27, 1898. <br />[3] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[4] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 38. <br />[5] Matthew Pinsker, “Congressional Confiscation Acts,” Dickinson College Emancipation Digital Classroom, July 14, 2012, http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/emancipation/2012/07/14/congressional-confiscation-acts/. <br />[6] Steven F. Miller, “The Second Confiscation Act,” University of Maryland Freedmen & Southern Society Project, last updated August 26, 2019. http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/conact2.htm. <br />[7] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 38-39. <br />[10] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[11] Ibid. <br />[12] “Negress Who Nursed Soldiers is a Member of the G.A.R.,” The Freeman, (Indianapolis, IN), Sep. 3, 1904. <br />[13] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 39. <br />[14] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[15] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm. <br />[16] Ibid. <br />[17] “Negress Who Nursed Soldiers is a Member of the G.A.R.,” The Freeman, (Indianapolis, IN), Sep. 3, 1904. <br />[18] Ibid. <br />[19] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 35. <br />[20] Fifty-Second Congress. Sess. I. Chs. 375,376,379. (1892). Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/52nd-congress/session-1/c52s1ch379.pdf. <br />[21] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm. <br />[22] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 39. <br />[23] Ibid. <br />[24] Ibid.; Amanda Beam, “New Albany Bicentennial: Floyd County Poor House,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2013. <br />[25] John Boyle, “Celebrating an Icon: Statue of New Albany’s Lucy Higgs Nichols Unveiled,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2019. <br />[26] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm.; John Boyle, “Celebrating an Icon: Statue of New Albany’s Lucy Higgs Nichols Unveiled,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2019. <br />[27] David H. Onkst, “’First a Negro…Incidentally a Veteran’: Black World War Two Veterans and the G.I. Bill of Rights in the Deep South, 1944-1948,” Journal of Social History 31, no. 3 (1998): 524. <br />[28] Ibid., 518. <br />[29] Ibid. <br />[30] Ibid., 519.
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Lucy Higgs Nichols, attributed to 1898 photo, Public Domain, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucy_Higgs_Nichols_head_shot.JPG
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1800s
Civil War
Floyd County
Healthcare
New Albany
Slavery
Women