![]() The Todd House stands in Tabor, where the Rev. The end of the American Civil War and the enactment of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, rendered this network no longer necessary, but remnants remain. The exact number of former slaves who made their way to freedom, or at the very least, acceptance, in Canada in not known, but it is estimated that approximately 100,000 were successful in their odyssey along the Underground. Once bounty hunters had parted, the abolitionist hosts would frequently disguise the escaped slave as a woman in mourning (dressed in black) or hide them beneath a stack of grain and carry them by buggy to the next link where they would be fed and protected until finally crossing the Mississippi River. During the reign of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, less than 500 escapees who made it to the North were ever returned. So well disguised were the trap doors and fake walls that few escaped slaves were found. When bounty hunters arrived, the homeowner or family would simply sit at the kitchen table or affront a fire in the fireplace or stove, and act as though they knew nothing about the missing men or women. To prevent being charged with giving asylum to a criminal, the abolitionists would dig a cellar space accessible by secret trap doors beneath the house, or, in some cases, install fake walls with a room behind it to house their secret guests. You will begin to receive our Daily Opinion updates and our topical Pints & Politics newsletter. Another popular route lay to the east, with escapees crossing the border into Iowa at towns such as Farmington or Croton.Ībolitionists would greet the “contraband” as they arrived at their homes and provide food and shelter until they were ready to proceed to the next link on what came to be known as the Underground Railroad. The escaped slaves would enter the state southwest of Tabor, near the Nebraska Territory border, and make their way through Lewis, Des Moines, Grinnell, and finally at Clinton, where they could cross into Illinois. The network of paths and refuges spread from the South and through border territories and states such as Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa. Seeing this as an unjust violation of civil and human rights, many Iowans joined in acts of civil disobedience, violating the Fugitive Slave Act, and putting their lives, and livelihoods, on the line.Įscaped slaves would make their way north by traveling mostly at night and hiding in attics, basements, or secret crawlspaces within abolitionists’ homes. Congress passed the bill in September 1850 and the New Fugitive Slave Act became federal law. To reinforce that, it furthermore added that any civilians who aided and abetted escaped slaves were subject to fines and jail time, or, if caught by slave bounty hunters, could even face death without penalty for the bounty hunter. He drafted legislation that would allow California to join as a free state, but to supplicate the South, also enacted the Fugitive Slave Act, which stated that federal and state law enforcement of every state, free or proslavery, must assist in locating and sending escaped slaves back to their masters. Douglas, who would later defeat Abraham Lincoln as his opponent for re-election, proposed a solution to the vexing problem. Declaring that they would be a free state prohibiting slavery, southern states realized this would tilt the balance of Congress in favor of the North, and raised objections, threatening to secede or band together and form their own nation. Slavery was dividing the nation in the 1840s after Iowa became a state and the residents of California petitioned to join the Union. But what about Salem, Iowa, Grinnell and Denmark, Iowa? These were some of the leading communities conducting acts of civil disobedience during the mid nineteenth century. The movement he led was largely in the South with civil disobedience in cities such as Montgomery, AL, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. It is a day when we acknowledge the leading civil rights leader of the 20th century who risked his life eyeing the prize of equality for all. holiday has been observed every third Monday of January since 1986 and was Jan. Escaped slaves in Missouri often relied on Iowans to help them reach freedom in northern states and Canada via the Underground Railroad. This 1854 poster shows a Missouri slave owner's attempt to find a slave named Ann.
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