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July 2019 Volume XIV, Number 79

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July 2019 Volume XIV, Number 79 12 July 2019 Volume XIV, number 79 ® s UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREE PRESS Independent reporting for today’s Underground Railroad community urrFreePress.com Mnuchin, at Trump's Urging, Kicks Tubman Off of New $20 Bill At the behest of President Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin In This Issue has scuttled the plan approved in the Obama administration to honor Weak excuses are used to mask the American heroine Harriet Tubman by racism behind reversing the decision putting her image on the $20 bill. to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Mnuchin said that the change might 1 take place in 2026 after Trump is no tions of Harriet Tubman. This delay longer in office, but he made no sends an unmistakable message to Just when a neighborhood thought it promises. women and girls, and communities of had its preservation battle won, a de- color, who were promised they’d see veloper rears its ugly head again. The Tubman design was announced 1 Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.” in 2016 by Obama's Treasury Secre- tary, Jack Lew, after nearly a year of Hearing rumors that Mnuchin might Throughout the Civil War there was soliciting public opinion. Said Lew, torpedo the Tubman $20, Sen. Sha- a mole in the Confederate president's “The decision to put Harriet Tubman heen earlier introduced the Harriet household and she was black. 2 on the new $20 was driven by thou- Tubman Tribute Act of 2019 directing sands of responses we received from the Treasury to print Tubman’s por- Americans young and old. I have trait on all new $20 bills starting in Write one. Let us and, if you choose, Free Press readers know what is on been particularly struck by the many 2021. your mind. comments and reactions from chil- Passage of the House of Representa- 2 dren for whom Harriet Tubman is not tives companion bill, sponsored by just a historical figure, but a role Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and model for leadership and participa- tion in our democracy.” John Katko, R-N.Y., is assured in the Democratic House but not Sen. Sha- Nominate a person or group you know for a Free Learning of Mnuchin's action, Sen. heen's bill in Mitch McConnell's Sen- Press Prize awarded each September. The prizes Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said, “The ate. However, as six of the fifteen are for preservation, leadership and advance- needless foot-dragging on this im- House cosponsors were Republicans, ment of knowledge in the Underground Railroad portant effort is unacceptable. Our there might be strong enough Repub- community. Visit urrfreepress.com for a fillable currency tells our country’s story and lican sentiment in the Senate to hold nomination form. Nominations close August 31. it is past time to honor the contribu- McConnell at bay. At It Again, Developers Threaten Only Known Brooklyn Safehouse tear down the home, which quickly triggered As far back as our January 2008 issue, Free Press has been reporting on the saga of a a Change.org petition by the Circle for Justice homeowner and preservationists versus a de- Innovations group urging the city's Land- veloper and the City of New York over marks Preservation Commission to designate whether to preserve or demolish the last the building as an official landmark so that it known Underground Railroad safe-house in cannot be torn down. Local preservationists the city's Brooklyn borough. From 1851 to plan a museum for the property to illuminate 1863, the home was owned by prominent abo- Brooklyn's Underground Railroad heritage. litionists Thomas and Harriet Truesdell. The Commission is currently evaluating the application. It was a long bureaucratic battle, but by March 2016 we were able to report that the City's de- Petitioners identify the building as "the last cision to seize the home at 227 Duffield Street known standing historic site in Brooklyn by invoking eminent domain had been where well-known abolitionists lived and thwarted despite the developer's having where people found freedom through the Un- poured over $500,000 in legal fees into the derground Railroad." fight. Visit urrfreepress.com and click on Ar- Several local City, State and Congressional chives for the article. elected officials are supporting groups trying 227 Duffield Street in Brooklyn Last month the City received an application to to save the building. 12 Underground Railroad Free Press 2 Free Black Mary Bowser Worked as Union Spy in the Confederate Capital In spycraft, access to an adversary's plans doesn't get much better than being able to Underground Railroad Free Press wel- plant an agent among an opposing lead- comes guest articles, Lynx database er's personal staff. Such was the case with entries of Underground Railroad sites Mary Bowser's position as a servant in the and organizations, notices of forthcom- household of Confederate President Jef- ing events for Datebook, and display ferson Davis during the Civil War. Bow- advertising. Visit us at urrfreepress.com ser was no ordinary servant or spy. for information on these programs. We make it easy. Born enslaved as Mary Jane Richards about 1839, she grew up in the household of Eliza and John Van Lew whose daugh- Underground Railroad Free Press® ter, Elizabeth L. Van Lew, a well-known Independent Reporting on Richmond society figure, grew to abhor Today’s Underground Railroad slavery. Peter H. Michael, Publisher [email protected] At some point apparently in her teens, 301 | 874 | 0235 Richards became free, probably by man- umission, as the Van Lew family grew to Underground Railroad Free Press serves as the favor abolition. At age seven, Richards nexus of the international Underground Railroad community, maintains its central registry, calen- was baptized not in Richmond's First Af- dar and surveys, and publishes its free epony- rican Baptist Church where other Van The Jefferson Davis home in Richmond, mous newsletter at Underground Railroad Free Lew slaves were baptized, but in the Van Virginia, where Mary Bowser worked as Press, 2455 Ballenger Creek Pike, Adamstown, Maryland, 21710. Lew family church, suggesting that the a Union spy throughout the Civil War Free Press is distributed by email. Send new sub- Van Lews took special notice of Richards' scriber email addresses and changes to the email high intelligence. federate States of America, where the address above. Back issues are available free at alert, well educated Bowser served as our web site. When the couple renounced slavery and Mrs. Davis's dressmaker. We welcome news articles and letters to the edi- moved to the North, Elizabeth Van Lew tor. All rights to submissions including emails remained in the family mansion near Said historical novelist Lois Leveen who and letters will be treated as unconditionally as- Richmond. From there, she sent Richards has written a book on Bowser, "Bowser signed to Free Press for publication and copyright purposes, and subject to our unrestricted right to north to school in Princeton, New Jersey, used the assumption that she was far less edit and comment editorially unless otherwise 100th Anniversary and in 1855 to a missionary community in intelligent than her white employers agreed with authors. Liberia. against them. By playing to that stereo- Free Press accepts tasteful nonpolitical advertis- type, she becomes an intelligence agent ing which we reserve the right to reject for any In spring of 1860, Richards returned to and, therefore, proves the value of black reason that in our sole judgment is not accepta- ble. Submit advertising in pdf, jpg or text for- Richmond and in 1861 married Wilson intelligence at undermining the institu- Bowser becoming Mary Bowser, the mats. Visit our website for rates and layout spec- tion of slavery itself." ifications. wedding taking place just four days after Adds University of Virginia historian Contents of any Free Press issue are protected by Confederate troops opened fire on Fort copyright and may not be used in whole or part Sumter, South Carolina, starting the Civil Elizabeth Varon who wrote of Bowser’s for any reason without prior approval of the War. When Bowser was arrested soon af- spy career in her book, Southern Lady, publisher. Underground Railroad Free Press is a ter, as it was illegal in Virginia to return Yankee Spy, "This is a humdinger of a registered trademark. there after living in a free state, Van Lew tale." bailed her out. Elizabeth Van Lew had an Within days after the Confederacy's sur- ambitious plan for Mary Bowser. render and demise at Appomattox, Mary As the Civil War broke out and Rich- Bowser was teaching freed slaves in things you can mond became the Confederate capital, Richmond and giving lectures in the do at Free Press Elizabeth Van Lew recruited a spy ring North under pseudonyms for protection. which became known as the Richmond By early 1867, under the name Mary J. Underground. Though not expert, her Richards, she founded a freedmen's spycraft was highly successful, with intel- school in Saint Mary's, Georgia, where Click on links at urrFreePress.com to: ligence gathered by her agents crucial she taught children by day, adults at Subscribe throughout the war, particularly to Gen. night by herself. In June of that year, she Join the Community or View Lynx Ulysses S. Grant during the Battle of began going by her new married name, Make a Free Press Prize Nomination Richmond. Mary Jane Richards Garvin. At the close Read Underground Railroad Surveys of the school year, it appears, though it is Soon after the war began, the socially not certain, that Mary Jane Richards View or Add to Datebook well-connected Elizabeth Van Lew, all Garvin relocated with her new husband Submit News, Letters, Articles or Ads along passing as a loyal Confederate, ar- to the West Indies.
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