Topic: Abolition
Abolition, abolitionists, anti-slavery, The Liberator, the colonial movement
The Fugitive Slave Laws in Boston: Part 2, 1850–1855 This article, part 2 in a series on fugitive slaves in Boston, explores the new legislation passed during the lead up to the Civil War which expanded the reach of the fugitive slave law, and the reactions of Bostonians to slave catchers targeting residents. Part 2…
This article, part 1 in a two-part series, explores the documentary history of the legalization of slavery in the United States, and the creation of federal laws prioritizing the rights of slaveholders over basic human rights. Part 1 surveys Massachusetts’ legalization of slavery in 1641; its abolishment of slavery in 1783; the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793; and how abolitionist organizations in Boston defied the Fugitive Slave Laws in order to help escaped enslaved people defend their freedom.
Established in 1840, Boston’s Twelfth Baptist Church was located on the North Slope of Beacon Hill (in the historic West End) until its move to Roxbury in 1906. In the 1850s and ‘60s, the Church defiantly mobilized in response to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. Under the leadership of Leonard Grimes, the congregation raised funds to aid freedom seekers and became known as the “Fugitive Slave Church.” This active political, cultural, and religious meeting place had many prominent members and visitors from the Black abolitionist community, including Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Lewis and Harriet Hayden, Shadrach Minkins, Anthony Burns, Thomas Sims, Christiana Carteaux and Edward Mitchell Bannister, and Peter Randolph.
The Leverett Street Jail in Boston’s West End held several freedom seekers whose cases tested the U.S.’s Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, including the cases of Eliza Small and Polly Ann Bates (1836), and George Latimer (1842).
Robert Morris (1823-1882) was a prominent civil rights leader in Boston and the United States’ second African American lawyer. He built a successful career as a lawyer handling civil, criminal, and civil rights cases, while putting his life and livelihood on the line for causes he believed in: abolition, the protection of freedom seekers, the desegregation of schools, the integration of militias, equal rights for women, and fair representation for immigrants.
Charles Sumner (1811-1874) was a lawyer and United States Senator who was a vocal abolitionist and civil rights advocate. He was born and lived most of his life on the North Slope of Beacon Hill, where he had close connections with the Black and abolitionist community.
Entrepreneur Christiana Carteaux Bannister and artist Edward Mitchell Bannister married in Boston’s West End in 1857. Throughout the 1850s and 1860s, they were active in Boston’s abolitionist and artistic communities. During these years and beyond, their symbiotic financial and creative partnership helped to bolster both of their careers and their community connections.
Harriet Hayden was born enslaved, fought for her freedom, and aided hundreds of southern escapees by housing, feeding, and protecting them. She did this all while raising a family, running a boarding house, learning to read and write, and becoming an activist and community leader. Without her efforts, the many accomplishments of her husband, Lewis Hayden, would not have been possible.
