Description: In this photograph, Polly Jackson, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, is seated on a chair in front of steps leading to a building. She wears a patterned blouse and a long calico skirt. Her arms are folded. Jackson was a key figure in the Underground Railroad movement, and her name is listed on a local monument dedicated to her and others who risked their lives to help free the enslaved. During the 19th century, the migration of fugitives from the Deep and Upper South to the North accelerated. Many, like Polly Jackson, traveled to Ohio. It was difficult for women to defend themselves against male pursuers, and this sometimes discouraged them from running away. However, women driven to the end of their limits would flee and defend themselves in any manner that they could. According to legend, as a fugitive herself, Jackson fought off bounty hunters with a butcher knife and Kettle of boiling water. Jackson joined a community of free blacks in the settlement of Africa, Ohio, that was established near Ripley. Many of the local black residents served as conductors on the Underground Railroad. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05880
Subjects: African American women; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Women abolitionists - Ohio;
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Betsey Mix Cowles (1810-1876) from the 1909 edition of Henry Howe's "Historical Collection of Ohio." She was known for her contributions to education, abolitionism, and women's rights in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03953
Subjects: Women--Ohio; Abolitionists; Women's rights; Cultural Ohio--Education
 

Description: Frances Dana Gage (1808-1884) of McConnelsville, Ohio, was an influential participant in the abolitionist, temperance and women's rights movements in Ohio in the years before the American Civil War. In spite of her work throughout the 1840s and 1850s, Gage did not see women gain significant ground in the years prior to the Civil War. After the war, when it became evident that women would not gain rights from the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments, women began to establish a number of national organizations to seek the right to vote. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04122
Subjects: Women's rights; Multicultural Ohio--Ohio Women; Temperance--History; Women abolitionists - Ohio
Places: McConnelsville (Ohio); Morgan County (Ohio)
 

Description: Seen here is a photograph of Edgemont Inn, the former Harriet Beecher Stowe residence, that was taken in November, 1936. Edgemont Inn is a 2-story gray painted brick building on the corner of Gilbert and Foraker Ave. This former Beecher Homestead was the home of Rev. Dr Lyman Beecher (1775-1863). His family included Harriet Beecher Stowe and it is reasonable to assume that she received some of her anti-slavery sentiments in this house where prominent abolitionists came to visit. Among them was Levi Coffin "President" of The Underground Railroad, whose residence was around the corner on 3131 Wehrman Ave. This structure was completed in 1833 to house the president of Lane Seminary, founded in 1830. Dr. Beecher was the first president of the seminary. Harriet Beecher Stowe's first two children, twins, Eliza and Harriet, were born in the house in 1836. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06015
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Women abolitionists - Ohio; Hotels
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Picture of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was an American author and abolitionist in the years before the American Civil War. Born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut, Stowe became an abolitionist during the 1830s. She is best know for her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The work of fiction sought to humanize slavery and educate readers about the brutalities of the institution. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06016
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Women abolitionists - Ohio
 

Description: Jane Robinson (1783-1875?) was an Underground Railroad Operator at Emerson (now Mt. Pleasant) in Jefferson County, Ohio. 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: AL03143
Subjects: Women abolitionists - Ohio; Underground Railroad; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Mount Pleasant (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: Affadilla Deaver (b. 1808?) worked with the Underground Railroad in Deavertown, Morgan County, Ohio. 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: AL03166
Subjects: Women abolitionists - Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Deavertown (Ohio); Morgan County (Ohio)
 

Description: Jane Gift (b. 1823?) helped with the Underground Railroad in Deavertown, Morgan County, Ohio. 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: AL03167
Subjects: Women abolitionists - Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Deavertown (Ohio); Morgan County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reproduction of a portrait depicting Rebecca Millhouse Cope (b. 1808), who kept a station on the Underground Railroad with her husband Joseph in Smithfield in Jefferson County, Ohio. 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: AL03138
Subjects: Women abolitionists - Ohio; Underground Railroad; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Smithfield (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1940, this is a drawing of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45206. Born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on June 14, 1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe was a prolific author and abolitionist. She moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to stay with her father, Reverend Lyman Beecher, a prominent religious leader, and his large family, a prolific group of religious leaders, educators, writers and antislavery and women's rights advocates. Harriet lived there during her formative years which later led her to write the best-selling novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin, " a fictionalized account of the pain slavery imposed on its victims and of the difficult struggles of slaves to escape and travel via the Underground Railroad to freedom in the northern states or Canada. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is an Ohio History Connection site managed locally by the Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Inc. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P365_B13_F09_06
Subjects: Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896; Historic houses; Historic preservation; Women abolitionists - Ohio; Authors
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1940, this is a photograph of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45206. Born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 14, 1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe was a prolific author and abolitionist. She moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to stay with her father, Reverend Lyman Beecher, a prominent religious leader, and his large family, a prolific group of religious leaders, educators, writers and antislavery and women's rights advocates. Harriet lived there during her formative years which later led her to write the best-selling novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin," a fictionalized account of the pain slavery imposed on its victims and of the difficult struggles of slaves to escape and travel via the Underground Railroad to freedom in the northern states or Canada. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is an Ohio History Connection site managed locally by the Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Inc. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P365_B13_F09_05
Subjects: Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896; Historic houses; Historic preservation; Women abolitionists - Ohio; Authors
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated February 9, 1945, this is a photograph captured from the lawn of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, looking across Gilbert Avenue. The photograph shows a Texaco gas station in front of a music school for which the sign reads "Piano, Violin, Etc.; Music; J. Ohio Guitar School." To the right of the music school is the "Beecher" movie theatre and the Beecher Cafe. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45206. Born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 14, 1811, Harriet Beecher Stowe was a prolific author and abolitionist. She moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to stay with her father, Reverend Lyman Beecher, a prominent religious leader, and his large family, a prolific group of religious leaders, educators, writers and antislavery and women's rights advocates. Harriet lived there during her formative years which later led her to write the best-selling novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin," a fictionalized account of the pain slavery imposed on its victims and of the difficult struggles of slaves to escape and travel via the Underground Railroad to freedom in the northern states or Canada. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is an Ohio History Connection site managed locally by the Friends of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Inc. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P365_B13_F09_04
Subjects: Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896; Historic houses; Historic preservation; Women abolitionists - Ohio; Authors
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)