National Park Service Flight to Freedom U.S. Department of the Interior The Wayside and the Underground Railroad National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom "He has many of the elements of the hero. His stay with us has given image and a name to the dire entity of slavery, and was an impressive lesson to my children, bringing before them the wrongs of the black man and his tale of woes." Journal of A. Bronson Alcott, 1847 IUJLUS zia/v\ aaiusrw Aq uoqejisnm 5N rn jg The Wayside and the Concord: Some slave owners, recognizing —1 u Cradle of Liberty? the hypocrisy of advocating J5 Underground Railroad 13 for their own freedom while Q_ cu Colonists made the first holding others in bondage, rjj Ll_ he Wayside has housed many organized stand against freed their slaves. Most, -g British tyranny here in April, uO T residents over its more than however, did not. As British c o three centuries of existence, from 1775. Speaking for many in soldiers marched on their way u Massachusetts, a committee QJ O <0 Samuel Whitney, Colonial-era to and from Concord on April -C in Worcester had written: "It ™ 2 minute man, to writers Louisa 19,1775, they passed by The T5 is our opinion that mankind c '«5 May Alcott (and parents Abigail Wayside, owned at the time by — OC are by Nature Free, and the Samuel Whitney, merchant, 3 0) -o and Branson) and Nathaniel o End and Designe of forming delegate to the Provincial u Hawthorne. Certain events that O Social compacts, and entering Congress, muster master of the o > To 00 J= took place here vividly illus­ into civil Society, was that each Concord Minute Men—and 5. 5 c LT ai trate the momentous changes member of that Society, might SLAVERY TO ABOLITION vE T2U-. owner of two slaves. in the perception of slavery in enjoy his liberty." J? t - o New England over the seventy In later years, Henry David - S -^ Yet even as these colonial Thoreau (of Walden Pond (D 9- TO "C years following the American 1638 First Africans arrive in Massachusetts C JJJ CO patriots voiced their commit­ fame, and an outspoken aboli­ o Q o g Revolution. ment to the fight for freedom, lU "i ro QJ tionist) recorded this story of A. Branson Alcott Bay Colony z => z z slaves worked in their fields Mr. Whitney's slave, Casey: In late 1846, Abigail Alcott and helped maintain their 1641 Massachusetts is the first colony in casually entered the following farms. This contradiction was "George Minott... told me 1771 tax assessment record showing that Samual Whitney owned two slaves. in her journal: not lost on everyone. In 1773, how Casey was a slave to British America to legalize slavery two slaves expressed their a man -Whitney, who lived you a look, very similar to that Over the following decade, Bronson Alcott recorded his "This month has been full of view on the subject by writing and was freed as a soldier 1780 Massachusetts Constitution states where Hawthorne owns,- of some superannuated person, this group of women worked impressions in his journal: interest- Preparations for the to the Massachusetts govern­ after the war... He may the same house,- before tirelessly to gain local support ment "Sir, The efforts made by have been twenty years old from whose mind the memory "Our friend the fugitive, "All men are born free and equal" 'Christmas tree'... On Christmas the Revolution, ran off of all those formerly dear has for the abolition movement. the legislative of this province when stolen from Africa; left who has shared now a T3 Day-The arrival of a slave named one Sunday, was pursued passed away." Even though they faced racism, 1783 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in their last sessions to free a wife and one child there. week's hospitalities with for the present John-an inmate in by the neighbors, and hid sexism, and sometimes even o themselves from slavery, gave Used to say that he went As the western territories began us, sawing and piling my my family until some place where himself in the river up to outright hostility, slowly declares slavery is incompatible with us, who are in that deplorable home to Africa in the night to apply for statehood, dissen- wood, feels this new taste 'rB state, a high degree of satisfac­ his neck till nightfall, just momentum for the cause work can be provided an amiable and came back again in the tion arose over the possible of freedom yet unsafe here the Massachusetts Constitution tion. We expect great things across the Great Meadows. expansion of slavery. By the began to build. intelligent man just seven weeks morning; i.e., he dreamed in New England, and so S P 1 fcJ 1 from men who have made He came back that night 1830s, organized groups in the 1793 U.S. Congress passes the or from the'House of Bondage.'" of home." has left us for Canada. such a noble stand against the to a Mrs. Cogswell... and nordi began to promote aboli­ The Alcotts and Abolition We supplied him with the At the time, the Alcotts were designs of their fellow-men to got something to eat; then Slavery was legal in Mass­ tion of "the peculiar institution." Fugitive Slave Law While living at The Wayside in means of journeying, P 3 *> .S '£» O* 5-0 § living in the house known today enslave them." cleared far away; enlisted, achusetts until 1783. After that El time, former slaves—even those The Concord Lyceum hosted late 1846 and early 1847, the and bade him a good 1808 International slave trade as "The Wayside" in Concord, who gained their freedom public debates over questions Alcotts (Bronson, Abigail and god-speed to a freer land... Massachusetts. Under the terms such as "Would it be an act legally ends in the U.S. •8 I ^^Tt^JuPH^m through military service during daughters, Anna (age 15), Louisa of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, of humanity to emancipate at (14), Elizabeth (11) and May (6)) the Revolution—lived on the He is scarce thirty years they risked monetary fines, once, all the slaves in the United aided at least one runaway slave 1850 U.S. Congress passes a new T3 ft "I rase early to give John his fringes of Concord, eking out a of age, athletic, dextrous, jail time and a possible lawsuit breakfast that he may go to his States?" and "Are the intellectual on his flight to freedom along living as best they could. sagacious, and self-relying. Fugitive Slave Law as part of the CD \g against them by the owners of work I was repaid for my effort qualities of the whites naturally the Underground Railroad. In the first quarter of the 19th superior to those of the negro He has many of the elements QJ 3 the runaway slave. by meeting God-the interview In a letter to her brother, Compromise of 1850 was short but real-" century, few Concord residents race?," and by 1837, sixty-one of the hero. His stay with us 1— QJ 3^r>^^3S^ < Mrs. Alcott described the They and a few of their neighbors concerned themselves with the Concord women formed the has given image and a name 1865 13th Amendment to the U.S. - Letter of Abigail Alcott to her brother slavery issue. The Liberator, an experience: were part of the Underground Samuel J. May, Jan. 13,1847 Concord Female Anti-Slavery to the dire entity of slavery, U- € abolitionist newspaper, reported Railroad—the network of people Society. They communicated "We have had an interesting and was an impressive Constitution abolishes slavery that"... Concord people have with surrounding towns, fugitive here for 2 weeks- lesson to my children, O c who helped slaves along their so lost all sense of that sacred in the United States disseminated anti-slavery right from Maryland... His bringing before them the 11 . TO path to freedom. word liberty, that you may shout propaganda, circulated and sufferings have been great wrongs of the black man ^ a> Abigail Alcott it as loud as you please in their signed petitions, and attended *e 5S g> s s p Q his intrepidity unparalled." and his tale of woes." +-» ^ ears, and they will turn and give national conventions. ^^K TO r.S?z £5 L7*1 "S; S T3o yd (ST K "I can remember when Antislavey was in just the same Epilogue Foster, an outspoken minister state as Suffrage is now, and take more pride in the very in Concord's antislavery efforts, small help we Alcotts could give than in all the books met with others (including I ever wrote or ever shall write." The new Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required citizens to assist Bronson Alcott) to determine National Underground Railroad - Louisa May Alcott, Letters, 1881 in the recovery of runaway a plan to rescue him, but they Network to Freedom slaves, and denied a fugitive's were unsuccessful. Reverend Foster was present at dawn on right to a jury trial. Slaves who The National Underground Railroad Network to had made it to freedom in the the morning of April 12 when "My mother always declared that I was an armed guards escorted Sims to Freedom program is run by the National Park Service. abolitionist at the age of three." north faced capture and return to the south. Henry David the ship that would carry him This program commemorates and preserves the historical •Louisa May Alcott, 188E Thoreau's response was clear: back to slavery.