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| Underground Railroad in Kalamazoo More
than three million African-Americans lived as slaves in the Southern
United States in the mid-1800s. They had few human rights and were
regularly bought and sold at auction. Whole families were torn
apart, never to be reunited. This bleak future gave birth to
thousands of slaves who fled north to escape bondage. They moved
secretly to freedom along what came to be known as the Underground
Railroad. This
'railroad' was not composed of tracks or steam engines. It was an
informal network of homes, barns and hiding places where those
escaping to freedom could find a meal and a safe night's sleep.
Between these way stations, the fugitives moved cautiously, usually
at night, by foot, wagon and even boat. Their final destination was
Canada or a northern U. S. state where ex-slaves could live freely. The
early history of Kalamazoo County reflects clearly the advanced
thought and liberality of New England as represented by the number
of men who came here from that section of the country and earned the
despised name of abolitionists. While the early history of most of
Kalamazoo's churches shows a deep hatred of and opposition to
slavery, there were still factions of our early settlers who were
vocal champions of slavery. Our area reflected the differing views
that eventually plunged our nation into the Civil War. The
Underground Railroad was never the continuous procession that many
imagine it to have been. It existed over a period of 20 years and
during this time the number of slaves accommodated here is placed between
1,000 and 1,500 - an average of scarcely one a week. But that meant
those numbers of people were able to find freedom through Kalamazoo
County, and the railroad would have been worth the effort for just
one of them.
Two
men stand out as early enablers of the railroad. In 1830, Dr. Nathan
M. Thomas, the first practicing physician in this area settled in
Prairie Ronde. He was the first active vocal abolitionist in the
county. Henry Montague was another. He started his career as an
abolitionist in Massachusetts and came here in 1836 to continue his
fight. He settled in Oshtemo and was a delegate to the first
abolitionist convention in the state, which was held in Ann Arbor. As
far as can be known, the first fugitives from slavery came to
Kalamazoo County in 1837. They were a man and wife who had escaped
in Alabama and worked their way north. Henry Montague provided them
with a warm meal, then hitched up a team and drove them to
Galesburg. There they were turned over to Hugh M. Shafter. That was
the beginning of the Underground Railroad in Kalamazoo County. The
'underground railroad' had several stations in Michigan, one of the most
prominent being Dr. Thomas' home in Schoolcraft. The route usually
taken to this stopping point passed through Schoolcraft, Battle Creek,
Marshall, Jackson and Detroit. Other routes crisscrossed Michigan.
There were seven routes most commonly used. They were: Toledo to
Detroit; Toledo to Adrian to Detroit; St. Joseph to Detroit; Chicago
to Detroit; Muskegon to Grand Rapids; Detroit to Saginaw Bay;
Chicago to the Upper Peninsula.
Typically,
in this area, about dawn a wagon would arrive and the black
fugitives would be hustled inside Dr. Thomas' home for a meal
prepared by Mrs. Thomas. Then they were escorted to the attic to
wait for nightfall. After being fed again, they climbed aboard
Thomas' wagon, were covered with straw and driven to another
'station,' most often to Battle Creek. It was dangerous work since
the fugitives were often sought by slave hunters hired to return
them to the south. Once a group of Kentuckians came as far as Cass
County to search for runaways. These
slave hunters provided some tense moments, such as the time a slave
was hidden in the bottom of a crate and then covered with apples.
When the slave hunters combed the house and found no one, they ended
up near the crate and commented on the apples and how good they
were. The owner of the house acknowledged they were, indeed, good
apples and the slave hunters each took a few and left. Another
notable name in the 'underground railroad' was Erastus Hussey of
Battle Creek, Michigan. He served in positions of leadership as a
Michigan state senator, Battle Creek mayor, and Calhoun County
clerk, to name a few. He helped found the Republican Party, nominate
Abraham Lincoln for president, and guide the passage of Michigan's
revolutionary Personal Liberty Bill, which granted runaway slaves
the right to habeas corpus, a jury trial, and possible high court
appeals. Hussey's 'station' was a building approximately where the
Kellogg Foundation parking ramp now stands. Any
mention of the Underground Railroad cannot be made without an
acknowledgement of Harriet Tubman. Called the Black Moses, Tubman
was born a slave in 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland, near
Chesapeake Bay. Like Moses, it was said she talked daily with God
and seemed ordained to lead slaves to a promised land, usually
Canada or the northern states. In 1849, Tubman fled her Maryland
plantation successfully and ended up in Pennsylvania. It would be
the first of many journeys. She made many journeys back to the
south. While helping 300 fellow slaves escape, she made up to 19
trips on the Underground Railroad and even rescued her aged parents
and took them to Canada. Her prowess became legendary. By 1860, the
bounties offered for her capture were more than $60,000. She was
never caught and, during the Civil War, became a Union scout, spy,
and nurse. After the war, Tubman lived the remainder of her life
modestly in Auburn, New York.
Written by Fred Peppel, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, February 2006.
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