January 1835
In 1835, anti-abolitionist mobs attack Black communities and abolitionist meetings across the North. In Utica, NY a mob breaks up an Anti-Slavery Society convention. In Boston, Garrison is dragged through the streets with a rope. President Andrew Jackson calls on Northern states to ban abolitionist literature. Postmasters across the South seize and burn antislavery mail.
Free Black communities in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Cincinnati, and Detroit organized vigilance committees from the 1830s onward to counter the constant threat of kidnapping and rendition under the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. The Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, led by William Still (himself the son of an enslaved man), documented over 800 freedom-seekers assisted between 1850 and 1860. New York's Committee of Vigilance, founded by David Ruggles in 1835, assisted over 1,600 people in its first four years. These organizations gathered intelligence, provided legal aid, found safe houses, and physically intervened when possible to prevent abductions.
Events
- 1835Black Vigilance Committees Organized Defense Against Kidnapping
Free Black communities in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Cincinnati, and Detroit organized vigilance committees from the 1830s onward to counter the constant threat of kidnapping and rendition under the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. The Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, led by William Still (himself the son of an enslaved man), documented over 800 freedom-seekers assisted between 1850 and 1860. New York's Committee of Vigilance, founded by David Ruggles in 1835, assisted over 1,600 people in its first four years. These organizations gathered intelligence, provided legal aid, found safe houses, and physically intervened when possible to prevent abductions.
- 1835Black Vigilance Committees Organized Defense Against Kidnapping
Free Black communities in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Cincinnati, and Detroit organized vigilance committees from the 1830s onward to counter the constant threat of kidnapping and rendition. The Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, led by William Still, documented over 800 freedom-seekers assisted between 1850 and 1860. New York's Committee of Vigilance, founded by David Ruggles in 1835, assisted over 1,600 people in its first four years. These organizations gathered intelligence, provided legal aid, found safe houses, and physically intervened when possible to prevent abductions.
- 1835Anti-Abolitionist Mob Violence Sweeps the North
In 1835, anti-abolitionist mobs attack Black communities and abolitionist meetings across the North. In Utica, NY a mob breaks up an Anti-Slavery Society convention. In Boston, Garrison is dragged through the streets with a rope. President Andrew Jackson calls on Northern states to ban abolitionist literature. Postmasters across the South seize and burn antislavery mail.