® Underground Railroad Free Press Independent reporting on today’s Underground Railroad January, 2011 urrfreepress.com Volume 6, Issue 28 Josiah Henson and the First President of the United States George Washington? No, Washington was ac- material tying Henson to the Hanson family tuallyurrFreePress.com first president of the second United and a possible blood relationship to President States government which, as every American John Hanson. school child learns, began in 1789 with the Frost says Henson was born at Port Tobacco, Constitution. For eight years before that, the Maryland, probably in 1795 or 1796, in the nation was governed by the original United midst of many Hanson plantations and within Editorial States government chartered in 1781 by the a few miles of Mulberry Grove, John Hanson's Now is the opportunity to recog- Articles of Confederation. nize someone doing good Under- birth place and home until 1769 when he ground Railroad work and tell us The original government, named by the Arti- moved to Frederick, Maryland, where he rose what should be included in the cles as the United States in Congress Assem- to national political prominence. 2011 survey. bled, all too well understood its weakness Please see Henson/Hanson, page 3, column 2 and replaced itself through the Constitutional Call for Nominations for Convention. The original government had its the 2011 Free Press Prizes presidents who were elected to one-year Each January, we ask our readers terms, the first of whom was Maryland's John whom they believe deserves spe- Hanson, the actual first president of the United States, who served the 1781-1782 cial recognition for Underground Railroad work. Each Fall, we then term. award the annual Underground In her work for the Ontario Heritage Trust in Railroad Free Press Prizes for 2007 researching the Canadian Uncle Tom's Leadership, Preservation and Ad- Cabin, the Ontario home of famed Under- John Hanson's presiden- vancement of Knowledge in the Josiah Henson in old age. ground Railroad figure Josiah Henson, author Photo probably taken in tial portrait in Independ- contemporary international Un- Karolyn Smardz Frost, uncovered fascinating the 1870s. ence Hall's collection derground Railroad community. Visualizing Slavery If you know someone who has By Susan Schulten done good work in any of these in statistical cartography: each county not three areas whom you would like The 1860 census was the last time the federal only displays its slave population numerically, to nominate for a prize, let us government took a count of the South’s vast but is shaded (the darker the shading, the encourage you to do so. It's easy. slave population. Several months later, the higher the proportion of slaves) to visualize Go to urrFreePress.com, click on United States Coast Survey — arguably the the concentration of slavery across the re- Prizes, download a nomination most important scientific agency in the na- gion. The counties along the Mississippi River form and email it to us. While tion at the time — issued two maps of slavery and in coastal South Carolina are almost you are there, enjoy having a that drew on the Census data, the first of black, while Kentucky and the Appalachians look at past prize winners and Virginia and the second of slave states as a are nearly white. their accomplishments. whole. Though many Americans knew that dependence on slave labor varied throughout The map reaffirmed the belief of many in the What do you want asked in the South, these maps uniquely captured the Union that secession was driven not by a no- the 2011 Free Press survey? complexity of the institution and struck a tion of “state rights,” but by the defense of a chord with a public hungry for information labor system. A table at the lower edge of Each year, Underground Railroad about the rebellion. the map measured each state’s slave popula- Free Press sponsors a survey of tion, and contemporaries would have imme- the international Underground The map uses what was then a new technique diately noticed that this corresponded closely Railroad community and shares Susan Schulten teaches history at the University to the order of secession. South Carolina, the results with the community, of Denver. This article originally appeared in See Map, page 4, column 2. See page 5 for public officials and others. The The New York Times. Reprinted with permission. the map. surveys include questions carried forward from year to year for A Romance Novel Finds the Underground Railroad trend tracking, new questions on Redfield Farm, Judith R, Coopey. Indi Publishing new developments, and ques- Group, 2010. $14.95. ISBN 978-0-9789247-4-4 fiction had to wait until 2005 for David Durham's tions which our readers suggest. While there has never been much Under- Walk Through Darkness, a ground Railroad fiction, it would be hard to Some of the most valuable les- page-turner reviewed here outdo the first Underground Railroad novel. sons learned from these surveys in May, 2007. Now comes Technically fiction but based on actual fig- since the first in 2007 came from Redfield Farm, Judith Co- ures and events, Harriet Beecher Stowe's reader-suggested questions. Let opey's romance novel cast blockbuster Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best- us know what you think would be in an Underground Rail- seller of its time, changed the course of his- good to ask in the 2011 survey road setting. which will be administered online tory and is still regarded as the most influen- tial book ever written by an American. Other Coopey says that she (continued on page two) than children's books, Underground Railroad See Farm, page 5, column 1 UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREE PRESS Page 2 in May. You will be invited to Hortense Eloise Simmons the Free Press advancement of knowledge, participate in the survey. Survey leadership and preservation prizes, the results will be summarized in our highest honors awarded in the international July issue and, as every year, full Underground Railroad community. results will be posted on our Hortense Eloise Simmons was born July 6, website. 1941, in Miami to Edna and Ira Simmons, Jr., a domestic worker and owner of a radio and television repair business. Three of her grandparents were Bahamian immigrants, the fourth, American Indian. Wanting to experience the nation's capital, she enrolled at Howard University. To afford How to Subscribe Free Press subscriptions are free. To her freshman year, she had saved her subscribe, send email addresses of those earnings as a migrant farmhand working you would like to receive Free Press to fields up and down the east coast during her [email protected]. high school summers, at first overstating her View or Add to Datebook age to get hired. Still short of what she Email us about upcoming events and we needed as her freshman fall semester will add them to our website's Datebook. Click on Datebook at urrFreePress.com to approached, her brother Ira Simmons III gave view a comprehensive calendar of events. his sister his entire earnings from working beside her picking crops that summer. Send News, Letters, Articles or Ads News, letters or articles: Hortense Simmons received her B.A. and [email protected] Ph.D. degrees in English from Howard. Advertising: [email protected] See the notice on our website for Dr. Simmons began her teaching career at Underground Railroad Free Press Prize judge specifications, rates and restrictions. Ohio State University where she founded the Hortense Simmons, who rose from migrant university's first courses in African-American Link Your Web Site or View Lynx child-laborer field hand to multiple Fulbright Visit our website to view Lynx, links to literature. From 1973 until her retirement in Scholar, passed away on November 26 in other Underground Railroad organizations. 2005, she taught American literature and To add your link, email its web address to Atlanta of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou ethnic studies at California State University [email protected]. Gehrig's disease. She was 69. Dr. Simmons Please see Simmons Life, page 3, column 1 Free Press Prize Nominations was a founding judge of the international Click on Prizes at the Free Press website Panel of Judges who select annual winners of to learn more about these annual prizes !"#$%&%'("#)*+,-%'+#).,/0'%1)2%'3$40))))! or to download a nomination form. !!! ! Summer Underground Railroad )))))))))))))))'5)06$)7+8,0+-)*$&,'"9):"4;)! Institute for School Teachers !!!!!!!"##$%#&'(! Colgate University is offering a four-week pro- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"#$%&'(&)*!+%,-./0!&)!1(.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gram from June 26 to July 22 for teachers, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"1%,)23!4$/%56!!1(.!78)5./*/$9)5!!!! ® graduate students and others involved in sec- !!:,&%/$,5;!&)!1(.!"<./&3,'=!">/&3,=!?!@9/$A.! Underground Railroad Free Press Independent Reporting On ondary education wishing to learn more about !"#$%&'&"&()*&+)((! Today’s Underground Railroad the Underground Railroad and abolitionism. @593,1$/!4$/B'($A! Peter H. 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