Lewis Sheridan Leary shawl   Save
Ohio History Connection Museum
Description: Langston Hughes donated this shawl, believed to have been used by Lewis Sheridan Leary, to the Ohio History Connection (then the Ohio Historical Society) in 1943. Sheridan Leary was an African American harness-maker from Oberlin, Ohio, who was shot and killed during John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry, October 16, 1859. Leary was the first husband of Hughes' grandmother, Mary Sampson Patterson Leary. The shawl was reportedly found in the mud after the raid and returned to Leary's grieving widow. The shawl is approximately 124” x 56”, and is woven from hand-spun wool yarn. There are four large holes in the shawl along the horizontal fold lines, numerous smaller holes throughout the shawl, four spots along the edge where material is missing, and several areas where the fabric has worn thin. These details can be seen in several different views of the shawl. According to a note from Hughes accompanying the donation, the shawl belonged to Leary's grandfather (Aaron Revels, a free African American who fought in the Revolutionary War), and then his father, Mathew Leary, before Leary owned it himself. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: H06806_01
Subjects: Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) History; John Brown's Raid, 1859; African Americans--Ohio; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century;
Places: Oberlin (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio); Harper's Ferry (Virginia);