Description: This photograph shows a group of five African American teenagers or young adults posing for a portrait outdoors. It was taken by traveling photographer Albert J. Ewing, ca. 1896-1912. Like most of Ewing's work, it was likely taken in southeastern Ohio or central West Virginia. Born in 1870 in Washington County, Ohio, near Marietta, Ewing most likely began his photography career in the 1890s. The 1910 US Census and a 1912-1913 directory list him as a photographer. A negative signed "Ewing Brothers" and a picture with his younger brother, Frank, indicate that Frank may have joined the business. After 1916, directories list Albert as a salesman. He died in 1934. The Ewing Collection consists of 5,055 glass plate negatives, each individually housed and numbered. Additionally, the collection includes approximately 450 modern contact prints made from the glass plate negatives. Subjects include infants and young children, elderly people, families, school and religious groups, animals and rural scenes. In 1982, the Ohio Historical Society received the collection, still housed in the original dry plate negative boxes purchased by Albert J. Ewing. A selection of the original glass plate negatives were exhibited for the first time in 2013 at the Ohio Historical Center. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV71_b02_f144
Subjects: Ewing, Albert J. (1870-1934); Portrait photography--United States--History; African Americans--History
Places: Ohio; West Virginia
 

Description: Charles A. Garlick was born a slave in 1827, with the name Abel Bogguess. He escaped from slavery into Pennsylvania and settled in Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio, where he worked for Joshua R. Giddings. This photograph was taken in 1895. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03201
Subjects: Jefferson (Ohio); Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; African Americans--History; Portrait photography
Places: Jefferson (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio)
 

Description: Illustration depicting the marks of punishment inflicted upon an an enslaved person in Richmond, Virginia. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_SC18_B01F16
Subjects: Slavery; Ohio History -- Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; African Americans--History
Places: Richmond (Virginia)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a station on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Another of the Winder stations in North Lewisburg." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or across the border in Canada. Thomas Winder, a Quaker, was an operator who helped escaped slaves in the North Lewisburg area of eastern Central Ohio, along with other members of his family. Quakers were strongly opposed to slavery and offered help to slaves seeking their freedom as early as the late 1700s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_003_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Quakers; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century;
Places: North Lewisburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of the John P. Parker House, located in Ripley, Ohio, at 300 Front Street. John Parker (1827-1900) was a former slave who lived in the house from around 1853 until his death. He established a successful foundry behind the home, and was one of the few African Americans who received patents for his inventions during the 19th century. Parker was also an active conductor on the Underground Railroad in southern Ohio. The house has been designated a National Historic Landmark. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06718
Subjects: African American Ohioans; African Americans--History; Inventors; Underground Railroad--Ohio; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing Thomas L. Gray standing in front of his house that was once used as a station on the Underground Railroad. The handwritten caption at the bottom reads: "Thomas L. Gray and His House at Deavertown, Morgan County, Ohio, a station on the Underground Railroad." Born in 1815, Gray earned his living as a harness maker in Deavertown. Besides his economic pursuits, Gray was also active as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. It is believed that Gray helped as many as 500 fugitive slaves in gaining their freedom. His home served as a safe house for former slaves who had crossed the Ohio River between Marietta and Portsmouth. Upon leaving Gray's home, most fugitives then made their way to Zanesville. Gray remained an active conductor on the Underground Railroad until slavery's demise with the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865. During the American Civil War, Gray also warned his neighbors of General John Hunt Morgan's approach, giving his neighbors time to hide their horses and valuables. Gray died in 1899. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_007_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century;
Places: Deavertown (Ohio); Morgan County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph taken at the May 1892 dedication of a monument honoring abolitionist John Rankin named "Freedom's Heroes," on the grounds of the cemetery in Ripley, Ohio. Rankin (1793-1886) and his wife Jane (identified in some later records, as well as on this monument, as Jean) worked with their neighbors to assist thousands of slaves to escape to freedom. The monument includes the couple's birth and death dates, and is topped by a bust of Rankin. The crowd in the picture includes a number of African Americans with a range of ages, possibly those whom Rankin helped to freedom as well as their descendants. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01028
Subjects: African Americans--History; Underground Railroad; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Monuments & memorials
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was used as station on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "One of the Winder Houses north of North Lewisburg where slaves were harbored [sic]." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or across the border in Canada. Thomas Winder, a Quaker, was an operator who helped escaped slaves in the North Lewisburg, Ohio, area along with other members of his family. Quakers were strongly opposed to slavery and offered help to slaves seeking their freedom as early as the late 1700s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_001_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Slavery; Houses; Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania
Places: North Lewisburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "The Alexander Doty home, one of the stations on the Underground Railroad and harbor of refuge for Udney Hyde." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or over the border to Canada. Udney Hyde was a well-known operator on the Underground Railroad in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. While aiding escaped slave Addison White, Hyde went into hiding from federal marshals, staying for a time at this home. The home has since been torn down. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_002_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Lazy Man's Rest, another station." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or across the border in Canada. Anson Pearl Howard built his home in Mechanicsburg in 1855, calling it "Lazy Man's Rest." He regularly hid fugitive slaves on the premises, sometimes housing as many as ten at a time in the cellar. Howard went on to represent his county in both the U.S. House and the Senate during the Civil War. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_004_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "James Hunt home on East Sandusky Street." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere outside of the United States. White and African American "conductors" served as guides from place to place for those seeking their freedom. It remains unclear when the Underground Railroad began, but members of the Society of Friends, who were also known as the Quakers, were actively assisting fugitive slaves as early as the 1780s. Once they arrived in Ohio, some former slaves decided to remain in the state. They usually settled in neighborhoods with other African Americans. Many runaway slaves continued on to Canada. At least eight cities, including Ashtabula, Painesville, Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, Huron, Lorain, and Conneaut, along Lake Erie served as starting points to transport the former slaves to freedom in Canada. Historian Wilbur Siebert believes approximately three thousand miles of Underground Railroad trails existed in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_005_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Slavery; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Aaron L. Benedict's house, an underground station in Alum Creek Settlement." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the north. Aaron Benedict was a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Alum Creek. Ohio. He was born on January 21, 1817, in Alum Creek, and eventually inherited his father's farm property. As a devout abolitionist, he was known for assisting fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. Slave owners eventually established a $1,000 reward for Benedict's capture. On several occasions, Benedict hired attorneys for accused fugitive slaves. He once convinced a slave owner to free a slave mother and her four children, whom the owner had recaptured near Alum Creek. Benedict threatened the owner with arrest, convincing him to leave the five fugitives alone. Benedict also helped another fugitive, John Green, to free family members still held in bondage in Kentucky. Unfortunately for Green, slave catchers eventually seized his wife and children and returned them to slavery despite Benedict's efforts. Following the American Civil War, Benedict began to raise and breed bees. He became widely respected for his bee research and eventually moved to Kelleys Island on Lake Erie, where he opened an apiary. Benedict died on February 17, 1905. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_006_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Delaware (Ohio); Morrow County (Ohio)