Joshua Glover And The End of Slavery Biography written by:

Becky Marburger Educational Producer Media Lab Glossary abolitionist (n): . . . a person who wanted to end slavery; ...... abolish means to end or do away with

Drinking Gourd (n): seven of the brightest stars in the ...... constellation Ursa Major; slaves followed Table of Contents ...... it north to fi nd freedom foreman (n): ...... the leader of a group of workers Introduction ...... 2 freedman (n): . . . . . a person who has been freed from slavery Early Life ...... 3

Fugitive Slave Law Life at Prairie House Farm ...... 4 of 1850 (n): ...... a law that said all runaway slaves had to be ...... returned to their masters Freedom in the North ...... 5 immigrant (n): . . . . a person who comes to live in a new Beaten and Jailed ...... 7 ...... country and stays there Life in Canada ...... 10 Underground Conclusion ...... 11 Railroad (n): ...... a series of homes and businesses where ...... escaped slaves could stop while traveling ...... to freedom Glossary ...... 12

12 Introduction Conclusion

Imagine that you are hiding in the cramped, dark, escaped Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-23664. bottom of a boat. You can’t make a sound. If you slavery in do, you’ll get caught and sent back. You can feel the and found freedom in boat going up and down with the waves. Each wave is Wisconsin. He was then carrying you away from the United States and closer to forced to fl ee Wisconsin, Canada. and lived the rest of his life Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-6270. in Canada. His actions show This may have been how courage can help a what it was like for person overcome hardship Joshua Glover. He was and create a better life. an escaped slave who fl ed to Canada so that Joshua’s story is part of President Abraham Lincoln helped he could live a free the chain of events that abolish slavery. life. He wanted to be led to the end of slavery in the U.S. The abolitionists seen and respected as a who helped him escape continued to fi ght against person and not a piece slavery laws in Wisconsin and the rest of the country. of property. His life They founded the Republican Party and supported is an example of how Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery. Finally, the slaves and abolitionists Drawing of Joshua Glover U.S. abolished slavery when it passed the Thirteenth worked together to Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. end slavery in the United States.

2 11 Life in Canada Early Life

Joshua began life as a freedman in Canada. An old Joshua Glover was born a slave in Missouri around man named Thomas Montgomery hired Joshua to 1824. We do not know much about Joshua’s family work on his farm. Thomas also rented him a house or early life because slaves were not treated as people. and 1½ acres for $2 per month. Never had Joshua Their history was not always recorded. imagined that he would be able to have his own land to Joshua would have had a hard life as a slave during farm. the 1800s. Children were often taken away from their Joshua enjoyed playing cards and going to community parents and sold to different masters. Kids began events such as the fair. Around 1861, Joshua married working in the fi elds when they were about eight years Ann, a white Irish immigrant. It was not uncommon old. Masters sometimes beat their slaves with whips or in Canada for former slaves to marry white women. shovels or killed them if they did something wrong. On December 6, 1872, Ann got sick and died. Joshua was heartbroken. He fell in love again around 1881 and married a woman named Mary Ann. Joshua never had any children. He died around June 4, 1888.

Library of Congress

A group of slaves outside their home in Alabama Joshua Glover lived in two states and two countries during his life. 10 3 Life at Prairie House Farm

Joshua was sold more From the New York State Education Department. A Slave Auction. Internet. Available from than once during http://www.oce.nysed.gov/ep ; accessed 02, October, 2013. Soon the crowd wanted to get Joshua out of jail. They his life. He moved broke down the jailhouse doors and walls. In fi fteen to a new home each minutes, Joshua was free! The crowd began to cheer, time. On New Year’s and Joshua shouted, “Glory, hallelujah!” Day in 1850, Joshua The abolitionists got Joshua out of . He was sold again in traveled along the Underground Railroad back to St. Louis, Missouri. Racine. Joshua snuck onto a boat in April 1854 and Historians think he escaped to Canada. He settled in a small town called was probably about Etobicoke. 36 years old. Slaves were sold at auction just like animals or other property. A man named Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-71932. Benammi Garland bought Joshua to work at his 300-acre Prairie House Farm. Garland had about fi ve slaves. Joshua worked outside in the fi elds and took care of the animals. He was very strong and was a good leader, so he became the foreman. Around May 15, 1852, Joshua ran away from Prairie

House Farm. He crossed the Mississippi River and Joshua escaped to Canada on a steamboat that looked like headed north. He did not know exactly where he was this. going. But he knew he should follow the Drinking Gourd to fi nd freedom.

4 9 Freedom in the North

Joshua left Missouri with only the clothes he was wearing. It was not an easy journey. He probably traveled at night so slave catchers would not fi nd him. People along the Underground Railroad likely gave The jailor felt bad for Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-9485. him food and shelter to help him on his journey. Joshua Joshua, so he took said he once went three days without food. care of his injuries. Like the jailor, many After traveling about 350 miles in six or seven weeks, people in Wisconsin Joshua arrived in Racine, Wisconsin—a free state. He did not support slavery. got a job at the Sinclair and Rice Sawmill, and rented a They were part of the small house from the mill owners. He was known as a abolitionist movement. hard worker and a responsible person. The abolitionists did not think Joshua’s arrest was right. So, they organized a meeting that afternoon Sherman Booth was an abolitionist to protest. Hundreds that helped Joshua Glover escape. of people showed up to listen to speeches against slavery.

Th e Drinking Gourd is a constellation; slaves followed it north to fi nd freedom.

8 5 Beaten and Jailed Garland did not know what had happened to his slave. He put an advertisement in the local newspaper offering two hundred dollars for Joshua’s return. He On March 10, 1854, Joshua was playing cards in his did not hear anything until almost two years later. A cabin with two friends. One of these friends was former slave named Nelson Turner told Garland that Nelson Turner. There was a knock at the door. Not Joshua was living in Racine. The master began planning knowing who it was, Joshua told his guests not to how to get his slave back. answer it. Turner did Courtesy of the Lynchburg Museum System not listen to Joshua. He opened the door, and fi ve men came rushing in. Garland led the group of men. Joshua tried to fi ght, but it was no use. The men beat him and took him to jail in Milwaukee. Turner was given Portrait of Benammi Garland $100 for helping to People were off ered rewards for returning arrest Joshua. slaves to their masters.

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