Parentella

Harriet Tubman circa 1885

This is part two of our series of interesting facts about how black people have shaped America’s history and culture, in honor of Black History Month. I gathered this information primarily from Biography.com (with a little from Wikipedia). Read Part One: 1619 – 1839.

1846: Negro Frederick Douglass launched the influential abolitionist newspaper The North Star.

• Douglass escaped from slavery in 1838 by posing as a free black seaman on a train ride to the north.
• Douglass became an important political figure. After the Civil War, he became president of the Freedman’s Savings Bank. In 1872, he became the first African-American to receive a nomination for Vice-President of the United States He later served as U.S. marshal for the District of Columbia and U.S. minister of Haiti
• The month of February was chosen for Black History Month in honor of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who were both born in February.

1850 “The Underground Railroad” becomes formidable

• In the mid-1840s, the abolitionists in Philadelphia organized a committee to aid runaway slaves, headed up by William Still.
• It developed into a vast network of secret routes, way-stations, safe havens and meeting points run by abolitionists. Some routes on the Underground Railroad traveled as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico.
• The abolitionists involved often only knew only their own piece of the equation and had no knowledge of the rest of the operation.
• Thousands of African-Americans escaped from slavery.

1850s: Harriet Tubman becomes one of the most effective and celebrated leaders of the Underground Railroad.

• As a teen, an overseer threw a 2 lb. weight at her head when she tried to prevent the capture of a run-away slave. It left her severely injured and she suffered from epileptic seizures for the rest of her life.
• Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849 using the Underground Railroad
• In 1850, she started guiding people through the Underground Railroad system, bringing hundreds of slaves to freedom before and during the Civil War. She was never captured and, in her words, “never lost a passenger.”
• A U.S. Liberty Ship was named after Harriet Tubman in World War II – the SS Harriet Tubman.

1852 “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was published by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a white abolitionist.

• It was the first major American novel to feature an African-American hero
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the best-selling novel of the 19th century and becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe had never traveled to the deep South and relied on interviews of slaves, slave masters, and books for her depictions of the horrors of slavery.

More black history information coming soon!

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Compiled by Christi Grab, Parentella’s Editorial Director and author of  The Unexpected Circumnavigation: Unusual Boat, Unusual People Part 1 – San Diego to Australia.

Related posts:

1. Black History Highlights: 1619 – 1839
2. History of Halloween
3. History of Thanksgiving
4. “Beyond the Bricks” Educational Documentary and Campaign
5. What We Teach Matters. So Does How We Teach It.

Tags: abolitionist movement, African-Americans, black history month, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, slavery, The Underground Railroad, Uncle Tom's Cabin, William Still

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 at 12:01 am and is filed under Christi Grab, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.