Description: Benjamin Lundy (1789-1839) was an abolitionist who settled in St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1815, and later in Steubenville (1822). Raised as a Quaker in the Society of Friends, he was taught to treat all peoples as equal and moved around the country pushing his abolitionist ideas. Often he was not widely accepted and was forced to move, and in Baltimore he was once nearly beaten to death. He published his own anti-slavery gazette titled "The Genius of Universal Emancipation." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03994
Subjects: Abolitionists; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: St. Clairsville (Ohio); Belmont County (Ohio); Steubenville (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated November 12, 1936, this photograph shows the entrance to the Underground Railroad passages in the southwest corner inside the Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, located on Seventh and Smith Streets in Cincinnati, Ohio. The church was constructed in 1869 and the parsonage in 1871. Although the church was built after the Civil War (1861-1865), the congregation believed slavery might return, and thus built underground tunnels that left from the church to the network of secret passageways in downtown Cincinnati, fully prepared to revive the Underground Railroad. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F16_002_1
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Churches; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) was a dedicated supporter of abolition and women's rights. During the 1830s, a new type of radical abolitionist appeared calling for an immediate end to slavery. Garrison was one of the most prominent radical abolitionists in this time, and called for slavery's immediate end as well as equal rights for African Americans with whites. Because of his outspoken views in the decades leading up to the American Civil War, Garrison was the most well-known abolitionist in the United States. Many Southern slave owners despised him, and the Georgia legislature placed a five thousand dollar bounty on his head, payable to anyone who brought him to the state for prosecution. He received numerous death threats from white Southerners, and many Northerners also disagreed with his message. Mobs often attacked Garrison when he gave speeches. Despite the opposition that he faced, Garrison remained committed to fighting for an end to slavery. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04123
Subjects: Women's rights; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Abolitionists -- Ohio
 

Description: William Penn Trueblood was born in 1800 in North Carolina. He and his wife Anna worked as agents for the Underground Railroad in Washington County, Indiana. 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: AL03015
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Indiana; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Ohio History
Places: Washington County (Indiana)
 

Description: Map of Underground Railroad stations, showing locations of stations around Ohio as well as major routes that fugitive slaves took on their escape to freedom. From "Pathways of Progress, A Short History of Ohio" by David Bowman, 1943. 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. Reportedly, people living in Ohio began to help those seeking their freedom as early as the 1810s, and many prominent abolitionists from Ohio played a vital role in the Underground Railroad. Historian Wilbur Siebert believes approximately 3,000 miles of Underground Railroad trails existed in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04138
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Photographic reproduction of a broadside advertisement dated July 12 (year unknown) offering a $150 reward for the apprehension of an escaped slave named Tom. A physical description is provided of the fugitive, as well as information about a reward for his capture and return to B. L. Boston of Fayette County, Kentucky. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02706
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History; Fugitive slaves;
Places: Ohio
 

Description: This photograph shows Addison White, an escaped slave from Kentucky, born ca. 1821, who lived in Fleming County, Kentucky, with his owner, Daniel White. Addison is shown seated in a chair with elaborate fringe and tassels around the seat back and cushion, and is wearing formal attire. In 1856, Addison White ran away to Ohio along the Underground Railroad. He eventually made his way to Mechanicsburg in Champaign County. After several attempts by Daniel White to recapture him, the citizens of Mechanicsburg raised 950 dollars to pay for Addison's freedom, which White accepted. Addison White spent the remainder of his life as a free man in Mechanicsburg. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05129
Subjects: African American Ohioans; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Abolitionists; Underground Railroad; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History; Former slaves
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio); Kentucky
 

Description: This is a formal portrait of Professor Wilbur H. Siebert, ca. 1915-1925. Siebert (1866-1961) was a professor of history at the Ohio Sate University, 1891-1935. In the 1890s Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad with his students. He chose the topic because he thought it would spark the students' interest. In 1898 Siebert's first book on the anti-slavery movement, "The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom," was published. The extensive documentation of Siebert's research, with the help of his students, is housed in the archives of the Ohio History Connection. In 1935, he retired and assumed the position of professor emeritus, which he held until his death at age 95 on September 2, 1961. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02741
Subjects: Siebert, Wilbur Henry, 1866-1961; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Broadside dated August 4, 1853, announcing a $100 reward for the apprehension and return of a fugitive slave named Emily who belonged to Thomas H. Williams from near Lewisburg, Mason County, Kentucky. Her physical description is provided, as well as what she is believed to be wearing, along with information about a reward for her capture and return. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02768
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History; Fugitive slaves;
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Photograph of the home of John Brown, Jr., in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. He was the eldest son of famous abolitionist John Brown, who was executed in 1859 for his attempted raid on the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). John Brown, Jr., is thought to have been involved with his father's abolitionist activities in Kansas and Virginia, although he was not directly involved with the raid. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, he, fought for the Union Army under the Kansas Seventh Volunteer Cavalry. After resigning, he settled in Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie's South Bass Island, where he lived until his death in 1895. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: sc223_01
Subjects: John Brown's Raid, 1859; Abolitionists -- Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Ohio--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Put-in-Bay (Ohio);
Places: Put-in-Bay (Ohio); Ottawa County (Ohio);
 

Description: Photograph of the home of John Brown, Jr., in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. He was the eldest son of famous abolitionist John Brown, who was executed in 1859 for his attempted raid on the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). John Brown, Jr., is thought to have been involved with his father's abolitionist activities in Kansas and Virginia, although he was not directly involved with the raid. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, he, fought for the Union Army under the Kansas Seventh Volunteer Cavalry. After resigning, he settled in Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie's South Bass Island, where he lived until his death in 1895. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: sc223_02
Subjects: John Brown's Raid, 1859; Abolitionists -- Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Ohio--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Put-in-Bay (Ohio);
Places: Put-in-Bay (Ohio); Ottawa County (Ohio);
 

Description: Zebulon Thomas kept fugitive slaves in his home, pictured here, which later became the public library in Downington, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03195
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Ohio History
Places: Downington (Pennsylvania); Chester County (Pennsylvania)