RI’s minimal-known role in the Underground Railroad
By Russell J. DeSimone
Russell J. DeSimone is an unbiased historian in Middletown, co-creator of “Impressive Women of all ages of Rhode Island,” and author of a forthcoming book on elections in the condition in the 18th and 19th hundreds of years. Contact him at [email protected].
In the direct-up to the Civil War, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 built it a crime punishable with a wonderful ($1,000) and a jail sentence (six months) for any individual aiding an enslaved particular person to escape. Yet in Rhode Island and in other places all over the North, people today assisted fugitives obtain a way to Canada and liberty.
This Underground Railroad was by its nature secretive, so we know minimal of the “conductors” or the “stations.” The stations would harbor, feed and clothe an escapee prior to a conductor aided him or her to the subsequent risk-free area.
Most motion on the railroad was, for evident good reasons, conducted at evening. Sometimes the stops had been for just a day, and occasionally a fugitive would be held for a although until finally the subsequent leg of the journey could be safely attained. In all situations there was apprehension of being uncovered.
These stations integrated the Bethel AME Church in Providence and the Pidge farm in Pawtucket. Other destinations with some declare are the Very first Baptist and the Pond Avenue churches in Providence, the Touro Synagogue and Isaac Rice and George Downing properties in Newport, and homes in the Mooresfield portion of South Kingstown and the Slate Hill location of Middletown.
The Rice house could have harbored Frederick Douglass, the long run orator, when he escaped from bondage in Maryland on his way to New Bedford. He later stayed at the Rice property when he lectured in Newport.
A lot of northerners tolerated slavery, but Rhode Island had a big selection of Quakers who tended to favor abolition. There have been others of diverse faiths prepared to function to get the fugitives to their promised land of liberty.
Several Rhode Islanders associated in the Underground Railroad are identified to us these days, and own accounts are furthermore sparse. The most noteworthy human being involved was Elizabeth Buffum Chace of Central Falls. Typically regarded as “the conscience of Rhode Island,” she remaining an account in the modest book “Anti-Slavery Reminiscences,” printed in 1891.
Isaac Cundall supplied an account posted in 1918 in The Providence Journal that offers a window into the workings of the Underground Railroad. At the time of his involvement, Cundall was just 16 years previous and residing at his parents’ home in the village of Ashaway, in Hopkinton.
Cundall recalled that in March 1858, he was wanted to transportation a fugitive girl in wide daylight. He was to just take her from the home of his uncle, Jacob Babcock, to the next prevent on the railroad, the Foster household, also in Hopkinton. (The Cundall and Babcock houses are nevertheless standing, across the avenue from every single other.) The urgency was that the local sheriff was hunting for her.
Initially Cundall acquired permission from his father, which experienced to be completed cautiously, because his sister and her partner, “a strong professional-slavery guy,” were being also in the dwelling.
Cundall then devised a strategy to acquire his cousin, Babcock’s daughter, down the highway the place the sheriff was on the lookout. When he passed the sheriff, he stopped and engaged him in conversation so that the sheriff could see his passenger. Then Cundall continued on his way, but only minutes later on he turned back again, conveying to the sheriff that his passenger was cold and essential a scarf. When Cundall next handed by the sheriff, under the scarf was the fugitive female.
Sad to say, Rhode Island background guides fork out minimal interest to the Underground Railroad, with just a paragraph or two vaguely touching on it. None of the number of surviving stations has a historical marker commemorating its function in this critical chapter in American history. Devoid of these types of markers to remind us of our past, we stand to get rid of our shared background entirely.
Russell J. DeSimone is an impartial historian in Middletown, co-creator of “Remarkable Women of all ages of Rhode Island,” and author of a forthcoming e book on elections in the state in the 18th and 19th hundreds of years. Contact him at [email protected].