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American Visions; Guiding Light of the Underground Railroad; 1995 American Visions State University of New York College at Buffalo - Buffalo State College Digital Commons at Buffalo State Buffalo Quarters Historical Society Papers | Underground Railroad Research Batchelor, Lillion 6-17-1905 American Visions; Guiding Light of the Underground Railroad; 1995 American Visions Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/ur-research Recommended Citation "American Visions; Guiding Light of the Underground Railroad; 1995." Batchelor, Lillion | Buffalo Quarters Historical Society Papers. Digital Collections. Monroe Fordham Regional History Center, Archives & Special Collections Department, E. H. Butler Library, SUNY Buffalo tS ate. http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/ur-research/27 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Buffalo Quarters Historical Society Papers | Batchelor, Lillion at Digital Commons at Buffalo tS ate. It has been accepted for inclusion in Underground Railroad Research by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons at Buffalo State. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TRAVELING THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD xploring the Underground Railroad, North America's greatest 19th-cen­ tury covert enterprise, is a fascinating and enlightening endeavor, one that recalls both the initiative and heroism of our ancestors and the later Ewhitewashing of an effort that relied strongly on black leadership. To help take our readers on that journey-and on ones that they can make today following the trails that led north to freedom-we have asked historian Charles Blackson to give us his reminiscences on his 30 years of research into the subject. Mr. Blackson is the author of The Underground Railroad and The Un­ derground Railroad: First Person Narratives, among other works; he is also the curator of an 80,000-artifact Afro-American collection that bears his name at Temple University in Philadelphia. Following the North Star, he takes us on a journey to Wilberforce and Oberlin, Ohio, to Detroit and then on to Canada. Henry Chase, author of In Their Footsteps: The American Visions Guide to African-American Heritage Sites, follows Mr. Blockson's personal recollections and insights with an outline of the many places in each of these locales that travelers interested in the Underground Railroad-and in the broader black experience-will want to visit. American Visions CONTENTS The ofncial magazine of 1he Africnn American Museums Association 2 STAFF GREENE COUNIY AND WILBERPORCB Timothy L. Jenkins, PulJlisher Gary A. Puckrein, Edito r in Chief 8 Joanne Harris, Editor OBERLIN Henry 1-1. Chase, Edicor/Writer Edward Towles, Art Director Joyce Gates, Production Director 16 Anthony C. Murphy, Editorial Assiscanr DETROrt Melvin C. Fallis, Direcwr of Adve11ising Sheronda Nixon, Accounr Executive Ed Swailes, Special Projecrs Maiwger 21 Dana L. Irvin, Advertising Associace CANADA Samuel Collins, Business Manager National Advenising and Editorial Offices 2101 s Srreer. NWI 26 \V;i,o/Jingro n. O.C. 20008-401 I (ZOZ) 46Z- I 779, fox. (ZOZ) 462-3997 WHERE TO PIND WHAT YOU WANT Cover and center map design by Eucxlia Gmphics. ,=.--=====;;;;.-=--=-=-c-==-~======~==----------------------- - GREENE COUNTY AND WILBERFORCE VVilberforce University was founded by d1e African Merhoclisr Episcopal Church, America's first autonomous black instirution with a nationwide reach. :,nd is d1e firsr black-owned and -led college in Amerie,1. 2 American Visions hirty years of research has shown me that in In the time of slave1y, d1e African Memodist Episco­ most cases, wherever there was an African Meth- pal Church was unique-a nationwide autonomous Af­ odist Episcopal church before the Civil Wa1~ it ric::w-America n institution, exclusively conceived, was a stop on the Unde1ground Railroad. From d1e birthed and raised by and within d1e black commu­ late-18th-century inception of d1e church in Philadel­ nity. And it was this church that founded and led phia under Rich~ird Allen, it participated wid1 others Wilbe1force University, which from its inception in Xe­ in protecting escaping slaves from the Soud1. The nia, Ohio, was an imporcam station on the Under­ church's efforts in d1is direction followed the geographi­ ground Railroad in the Midwest. Although the black cal spread of its congregations around d1e councry. community there was small, it was committed to pro­ Allen and od1ers who followed him-such as Bishop tecting its Afiican-American brod1ers and sisters who Daniel Alexander Payne, who lacer served as che presi­ had fled from d1e South. · dent of Wilbe1force University-gave their se1vices Wilbe1force University's role was also critical to the widely, bom literally and figuratively, because many black community in anomer sense. As far back as the of d1em served as circuit riders. As mey moved from Free African Society, whid1 was founded in me 1790s, one church to anomer, mey spread the word of the our community had as one of its central aims d1e estab­ Underground Railroad; mey were cil"cuit riders not only lishment of educational facilities for Afiican Americans. of me churches, but also of the antislavery movement. When Wilberforce was established, d1e center of mis d1iv­ Wherever d1ey era v­ ing force, mis wge toward education, was transfeJTed r eled, they learned from Philadelphia and New York to Ohio. Of course, ~ about the various there were Lincoln and Cheyney universities in Pennsyl­ Si ~ communities, the vania and Obe11in in Ohio, all of which se1ved blacks, g- communities' pro­ but Wilberforce-with Payne and od1er highly educated ~ rectors and the and impressive people-was a fully African-American £ C communities' men­ enterprise, a unique statement of black determination ~- aces: slave hunters and capacity. This distinction is significant, and it was ;; ~ and me like. certainly seen so by our ancestors. -Charles Blockson he farmhouses, fields and ru­ find the old stations on your own, ral towns of Greene County, as even mo'se houses that still stand Ohio, that once offered refuge lack historical markers describing Tto fugitive slaves have long their 19m-centu1y roles. Among the since been dramatically transformed. places highlighted on the tour are: evertheless, Wilberforce Un iversity the Rev. Samuel Wilson House (site still stands proudly, and so do the of an Ohio Anti-Slavery Socie ty remains of many of Greene County's convention in me early 1830s), the Underground Railroad stations. To­ Rev. Jones Farm (Jones, Wilberforce day, visitors to the area not only can University's fourth president, hid take a guided tour of the old Un­ runaways in a barn that had a fa lse­ derground Rail road; they can also floored hayloft), the Mitchell House wander through museums, walk (with three stairways capable of through historic mills, take part in concealing runaways), the Hilltop cultural festivals, witness a re-enacted Road House (a panuy floor lifted clash between Ohio's first settlers and out to reveal an underground tl1e Shawnee Indians mey di placed, room), and me 1 osker Residence and examine the h ome of Paul (a trapdoor revealed steps leading Laurence Dunbar-the first African­ to a tunnel that connected to a American poet to achieve national small cave in me front yard). prominence. The tour is still a work in The Greene County Under­ progress. For information on times, ground Railroad Tour is a guided duration and fees, call either me one-you will be hard pressed to Greene County Convention and Underground Railroad 1995 3 Visitors Bureau, (800) 733-9109, or the National Afro-American Museum, (800) BLK-HIST. Related to this tour is the Col. Charles Young House. Although in slavery days runaways hid in its cellar and its barn, the house tran­ scends the Underground Railroad, for it was later the home of America's leading black soldier, a man who served his country in an The Col. Charles Young House in \Vilberforce. exempla1y fashion and, in return, saw his chance for senior field com­ mand destroyed exclusively on ra­ career c rushed by President medically unfit for seivice. Perhaps cial grounds. Woodrow Wilson's direct and per­ it is indeed better to u·avel than ar­ As the United States entered sonal intervention. When a white rive, for Young's ride was in vain. World War I, it had one black officer of the 10th expressed his He could lead black troops in ac­ graduate of West Point as a field dislike of taking orders from a black tion, but not white u·oops to the officer. Lt. Col. Charle Young man, Secretary o f Wa r Newton mess hall, and certainly he could not spoke Latin, Greek, French, Span­ Baker first thought he should "ei­ order a white officer and gentleman ish and German; had secured rec­ ther do his duty or resign." But Wil­ to do an officer's duty. ot until five ognition for his successful training, son, ale1ted to the issue by a Mis­ days before the signing of the armi­ organizing and disciplining efforts sissippi senator, presidentially '·sug­ stice was Young readmitted to the of the raw recruits of the 9th Ohio gested" to Newton that the white service and placed in command of Volunteer Infantry in the earlie r officer be transferred to another a training camp in Indiana. Spanish-American War; and was a unit. Soon other politicians followed Today, the Col. Charles Young combat veteran of Pershing's expe­ suit, and Baker had Young placed House in Wilberforce is not open dition into Mexico in search of on the retired list o n medical to the public; however, efforts are Pancho Vi lla. Scheduled to assume grounds. In response, Young rode under way to transform it into a command of the renowned 10th on horseback 500 miles from m useum celebrating not o nly Cavalry (which, excepting its offic­ Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, Young's life, but also the wider Af­ ers, was all-black), Young saw his D.C., to establish that he was not rican-American contribution to America's milita1y strength.
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