19th-century Women's Antislavery Activism in the Lake Erie Borderlands

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Almira Porter Barnes, born in Hartford, Connecticut lived from 1786-1858. She married and raised her six children in New York where she became very involved in movements such as abolitionist, women's rights, temperance, moral reform and universal education. Porter Barnes spent many summers at Oberlin College in Ohio where she attended theology classes and continued to develop her reformist views. It was during this time that she made connections with Harriet Beecher Stowe's husband and brother, was a prominent voice in The Liberty Party and met Antoinette Brown. She later mentored Antoinette Brown to become the first woman ordained as a ministerin the US, providing her with opportunities to preach and advocating for her and her rights in an era that made little room for women in the public sphere. For all of these reasons, Porter Barnes was an influential part of our history. However, although she was an important historical figure it is nearly impossible to find any information about her beyond a few fragments. By placing her "on the map" in this class project on women's activism, it is hoped that her contributions and role will be remembered.

2. Mary Jane Patterson

Mary Jane Patterson made history for being the first African American woman in history to graduate from an American post-secondary institution with a bachelor’s degree, in 1862. Born to a free family, she graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio, a liberal arts university that was one of the first universities to be co-educational and open to students irrespective of race. She was also the first African American principal at a preparatory high school in Washington, DC. Though this achievement, Mary Jane Patterson paved the way for future women of colour and for African Americans. Her example highlights the importance of Oberlin's antislavery culture, and the importance of women in the vanguard of antislavery educators on both sides of the Canada/US border.

3. Amelia Freeman Shadd

Amelia Freeman Shadd (1833-?), was a Black American-Canadian school teacher and Underground Railroad activist. Born in the United States, Freeman Shadd received an education at Oberlin College before moving to Canada to open school in Chatham, Ontario. She was also married to abolitionist, newspaper editor and Mississippi legislator Issac D. Shadd and was subsequently the sister-in-law of famed American-Canadian publisher and abolitionist Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Little is know about the details of Freeman Shadd’s life, as little record of her personal life exists.

4. Agnes Willis

Agnes Willis was a woman, part of Toronto’s Anti-Slavery movement during the 1850s, in Toronto, Canada. During this time, Willis was not only a member of the Anti-Slavery Committee (ASC) in Toronto but also a member of ‘The Ladies’ Association’. Women like Willis helped refugees who escaped enslavement by distributing donations such as clothes and food. Willis worked as a treasure for the Ladies’ Association. She, together with other members of The Ladies’ Association, raised their own founding and were distinguished from the ASC. This is important to mention because this entry will also deal with women’s part of the participation in movements in a general sense during this time period.

5. Ethalinda Lewis

Ethalinda Lewis, was a prominent Black female abolitionist who utilized her freedom, and positionality as a Black woman within primarily white organizations, to advocate for those seeking emancipation. Lewis was an active member of the Toronto Anti-Slavery Society, and was the sole Black member of the Ladies Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Fugitives. The Ladies Association was active in the international Abolition movement, sparking conversations about enslavement in circles where it was seldom discussed. Additionally, Lewis founded the Ladies Auxiliary in response to the passing of the Fugitive Slave Bill in the United States, intended to help settle Black families into Canadian society. Her position as the sole Black member in these organizations was unique, and Lewis used this position to promote her activism, centring women’s rights and abolition. Unfortunately, as is the case for many Women of Colour during this time, not much is known about Ethalinda Lewis’s personal life, however, her story can be tracked through her time spent in Toronto and her invaluable work within Canadian abolition organizations.

6. Lucy Stanton

Lucy Stanton (1831-1910) was a born free Black immediatist abolitionist and feminist of the second part of the nineteenth century in North America. She is the first woman to have graduated with a four-year university degree, in the United States from the Ladies Literary course in Oberlin College in 1850, and her most famous speech “A Plea for the Oppressed,” she delivered at her graduation ceremony expresses her vivid antislavery sentiments. She dedicated her life to the instruction of former slaves and African American children all around the United States and Canada. But she did not only take part in the abolitionist and feminist movements, she also took part in the temperance movement. Like her first husband, William Howard Day, who was a driving force of abolitionist at the national and local levels, they were also involved in the Chatham Vigilance Committee, and she helped him with his newspaper the Alienated American.

7. Abolitionist Activism in Oberlin College and the Influence of Harriet Beecher Stowe

Oberlin College, founded in 1883, was a nucleus for progressive social change allowing both women and Black students admission. The college became a symbol for the progressive shift initially through the Presbyterian ministry’s stance on abolition. The history of Oberlin College is also intertwined with the Beecher family. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was an American abolitionist whose literary works changed the context of transatlantic thought on the issues of slavery and women’s rights. Radical abolitionist sought for race inclusive higher education institutions. The Beecher family aided the mobilization of radical abolitionists movements within the Presbyterian church. Oberlin College was a platform for Harriet Beecher Stowe and her father Lyman Beecher’s abolitionist efforts in the educational sphere. Students from Oberlin College sparked the first all-Black colony in Upper Canada, the legacy of which is cemented by Harriet Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Josiah Henson. In this entry, the anti-slavery movement's roots in Oberlin college will be discussed in connection with Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Black abolitionist community at Dawn.

8. Lucretia Mott’s Travels Through Canada in 1848

Lucretia Mott, a 19th century abolitionist travelled through Canada West (present-day Ontario) in the summer of 1848. In a letter to Edmund Quincy she recounts her summer spent travelling across Canada West, Buffalo and Detroit. Mott and her husband James visited Black abolitionist communities in Canada, including the Dawn settlement. The article will outline how Mott’s time in Canada provides insight into cross border activism.

9. The Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society

The Chatham Kent Black Historical Society, also referred to as CKBHS, is a non-profit museum. Dedicated to showcasing the local history found in the municipality of Chatham- Kent, the museum frames the story around their African Americans population and past Abolition efforts. The museum opened in 1994. However, the site contains artifacts as well as family history and lineage tracing back to the community’s origins in the late seventeen hundreds. The museum focuses on providing the regional significance of the members of the community who shaped the area and developed the town, but also Chatham's impact on a broader national landscape. Chatham was a prominent center for abolitionists and the anti-slave movement creating close relations with national and international organizations, but for this entry, specifically focusing on Oberlin College, Ohio. As a result of the connection of abolition bonding these two cities together, Chatham became a flourishing society providing a close refuge for runaway slaves and a centralized location for abolitionists ideas in Canada. The museum remembers and commemorates notable African Americans throughout the centuries of Chatham's history who have demonstrated exemplary actions locally or globally. To name a few of the well-known abolitionist who had connections with Chatham and Oberlin include Mary Shaded Cary and John Brown. However, their family members, as well as radical community members, are also acknowledged for their commendable efforts.

10. The Provincial Freeman

The Provincial Freeman was an abolitionist newspaper published in Chatham, Canada West. It was founded by Mary Ann Shadd Cary. The press focused on issues of abolition, feminism, and life in Canada. Shadd Cary started the press in Windsor, moved to Toronto and to Chatham. The newspaper was a weekly publication, which ran between 1854 and 1858. The paper was highly influential and reveals much about the crossborder work of abolitionists such as Shadd, who shaped Chatham's Black abolitionist community.

11. The Unspoken Voice in the Voice of the Fugitive

Voice of the Fugitive (1851-1852) is Canada’s first Black-run abolitionist newspaper, published in Sandwich, Ontario in 1851, and Windsor, Ontario in 1852. In its first issue on 1 January 1851, the paper’s purpose is clearly stated: to “advocate the cause of human liberty in the true meaning of that term…the immediate and unconditional abolition of chattel slavery every where, but especially on American soil.” The Voice also advocated for emigration to Canada, Christian morality, and support for the Temperance Movement. The paper’s creators, Henry and Mary Bibb, emigrated to Canada once the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in the United States. While Henry is generally credited as the sole creator, there is substantial evidence that Mary E. Bibb was the paper’s main editor. Unlike Henry Bibb who was a self-emancipated slave, Mary Bibb was born free and received an excellent education. The articles where Mary likely had the most influence were when Henry traveled in 1851. Mary Bibb used the paper’s activism to advocate for and support other gender driven movements like temperance and education reform.

12. Mary Bibb

Born in 1820, Mary Bibb was an African American abolitionist and schoolteacher who used her freedom to advocate for those who were not as fortunate, and inspire change in her community and beyond. Although Bibb was born and raised in Rhode Island as a free woman, her husband Henry Bibb was a fugitive slave whose life was put at risk when the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was implemented, prompting them to move to Windsor, Ontario. They both helped African American fugitives who came to Canada via the Underground Railroad find housing and proper means of income. Bibb also worked with her husband Henry to publish the first African American abolitionist newspaper, "Voice of the Fugitive" in Windsor in 1851. Bibb was known for her involvement in women’s rights activism and demands for social equality, and opened her own schools to provide higher education to Black men and women.

13. Mary Ann Shadd Cary Historical Marker

This historical marker was dedicated in 2011 to honor Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Born as a free person in Wilmington, Delaware in 1823 to African American parents who were dedicated to abolitionism, Mary Ann Shadd became an activist, writer, teacher, lawyer, and a highly influential figure in the context of the abolition of slavery movement alongside the women rights movement. In 1859, the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act which outlined the legality to force freedom seekers to return to slavery and furthermore, the punishment that would find anyone who helped them. As a result, the family’s participation in the Underground Railroad ended and they moved to Windsor, Ontario. It was there where she started an interracial school and lectured about the importance of freedom, until later when she started The Provincial Freeman, a newspaper where she published her many articles about the abolition of slavery and women’s rights. With this, she became the first Black female newspaper editor in North American history. In 1861 the Civil War broke out in the United States, and in 1863 Shadd-Cary returned to America to recruit soldiers for the Union Army.

14. Western Archives and Research Collections Centre

Hidden away in the back of D.B. Weldon Library, The Archives and Research Collection Centre (ARCC) houses the university’s special collections and archival material. Located in the heart of Western University in London, ON and open to both students and the general public, the ARCC is a beneficial resource to all who are interested in primary historical material. The two main sections within the ARCC are: The University Archives and the James Alexander and Elea Rea Benson Special Collections. The Special Collections includes rare books, maps, national or provincial documents, monographs and various physical artefacts. Beyond this, the ARCC is home to one of the largest repositories of rare anti-slavery books in all of Canada. Consisting of both primary and secondary documents, the extensive collection of anti-slavery material in the ARCC provides an opportunity for close historical analysis and develops a greater understanding of the initiatives pursued by individuals in abolitionist movements. In connection to other entries contributed by students at Huron University College, the ARCC contains accounts from prominent women who called for the dismantling of slavery. There has been little research done on the anti-slavery collection and this is partly due to its immensity.

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19th-century Women's Antislavery Activism in the Lake Erie Borderlands

Created by Nina Reid-Maroney on November 28th 2019, 4:57:40 am.

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Welcome to the class research project for History 2813F at Huron University College. Using community-based and archival research, students have created a map documenting the hidden histories of women's antislavery activism in 19th-century Canada West, and Ohio. The class participated in the Lake Erie Borderlands Field School, travelling from London to Oberlin College, and reflecting on the crossborder history of antislavery work in this region. Entries document places and people, and work to establish some sense of the networks and political context that women's antislavery activism helped to shape.

Entries on This Tour

19th-century Women's Antislavery Activism in the Lake Erie Borderlands

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