Description: Engraved portrait of Laura Smith Haviland (1808-1898). Haviland was an operator on the Underground Railroad, in Raisin (Adrian), Lenawee County, Michigan, because she believed it was her religious duty. 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: AL03074
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Michigan; Slavery--Ohio--History--19th century; Slavery--Michigan
Places: Raisin (Michigan); Lenawee County (Michigan)
 

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: Woman with child in arms being chased across the frozen river by both men and dogs. This picture is from the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06853
Subjects: Slavery--Ohio--History--19th century; Underground Railroad--Ohio
 

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: 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: Seth Lukens lived in the Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, house shown here during the days of the Underground Railroad. Lukens used the house as a station to harbor fugitive slaves on their escape north. The image, taken in 1931, 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: AL03202
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Slavery--Ohio--History--19th century; Underground Railroad--Ohio
Places: Kulpsville (Pennsylvania); Montgomery County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: The barn shown here, on Rankin Hill in Ripley, Brown County, Ohio, had a secret cellar that owner John Rankin (1793-1886) used to hide fugitive slaves. 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: AL03107
Subjects: Slavery--Ohio--History--19th century; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Underground Railroad--Ohio River Valley
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph of West Middletown, Pennsylvania. The town was a noted station on the Underground Railroad and a hotbed of abolitionists in Washington County, Pennsylvania. It still has a large African American population. This photograph was taken by Earle R. Forrest. 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: AL03226
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Anti-Slavery--19th Century
Places: West Middletown (Pennsylvania); Washington County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: Photograph showing an unidentified ex-slave who poses at the start of the trail used by fugitive slaves on their way to the John Rankin House in Ripley, Ohio. The Rankin House was a stop on the Underground Railroad operated by John Rankin, a Presbyterian minister. From his home on top of Liberty Hill, Rankin would signal to fugitive slaves when it was safe to cross the Ohio River. After crossing the river from Kentucky, those seeking freedom then climbed 100 wooden steps to the house, where they were given shelter and food before continuing their journey to Canada. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC_92_004
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century; Former slaves;
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows the "Freedom Stairway," the 100 steps leading down from the Rankin House toward the Ohio River. The John Rankin House in Ripley was a station on the Underground Railroad. It is unlikely that the stairs in this photograph pre-date the early 1900s, but until documentation is found supporting the existence of the stairs in the pre-Civil War years, they can still serve as a reminder of the perilous journey of the fugitive slave and the welcome to be found at the top of the hill. John Rankin (1793-1886) was a Presbyterian minister and educator who devoted much of his life to the antislavery movement. He is credited with helping 2,000 slaves escape to freedom. It has been said that a light was placed in the window of his house to indicate when it was safe for slaves to approach. The character of Eliza in Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was reportedly inspired by a story of a woman who crossed the partially-frozen Ohio River with a baby in her arms, making it safely to Rankin's house. The John Rankin House is now a museum, part of the Ohio History Connection's statewide network of historic sites. The current steps were put in place in the 1990s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01171
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Civil Liberties; Rankin House; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a group of unidentified African Americans of various ages, posed outside of a home in Ripley, Ohio. They may be residents of small community known as Africa, which was a settlement of free African Americans established on a hillside above Ripley. Located along the Ohio River in Brown County, the town of Ripley was an active location on the Underground Railroad, followed by fugitive slaves crossing the river from Kentucky on their journey to Canada. Because Ohio was a free state, communities like the one pictured here sprang up as homes for freed and formerly enslaved African Americans and their families. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC_92_007
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century; African American Ohioans
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the raising of the lantern on the flagpole at the John Rankin House in Ripley, Ohio. The Rankin House was a stop on the Underground Railroad operated by John Rankin, a Presbyterian minister. From his home on top of Liberty Hill, Rankin would signal to fugitive slaves when it was safe to cross the Ohio River using the raised lantern pictured here. After crossing the river from Kentucky, those seeking freedom then climbed 100 wooden steps to the house, where they were given shelter and food before continuing their journey to Canada. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC_92_010
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century;
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)