2011 Reading #22: Rebellion at Christiana by Margaret Hope Bacon
Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
21. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin.
22. Rebellion at Christiana by Margaret Hope Bacon. I'm not sure where I picked this up, as it's long out of print; probably a library sale, judging by the tape marks on the cover. It discusses an incident that took place in 1850 in which a Maryland slave owner traveled across the border to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in an attempt to reclaim four slaves under the auspices of the Fugitive Slave Act. (There's a somewhat garbled account of the incident here.) Some of the local free and escaped blacks worked together to prevent this, morally if not actively assisted by the abolitionist temperature of the white residents of the county. During a confrontation at the home of William Parker, the slave owner was killed and another man seriously wounded; following the "riot," thirty-six blacks and three white men were charged with treason for preventing the Fugitive Slave Act from being enforced. There's a lot more context in the book, and an account of the trial that followed and the fates of the various participants. Parker and a few others managed to reach Canada, where he became a journalist and activist against slavery and inequality. I always enjoy reading about obscure but significant events like this. The book is a short, fairly quick read, but it draws from Parker's own account and is well sourced.
Books 11-20.
21. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin.
22. Rebellion at Christiana by Margaret Hope Bacon. I'm not sure where I picked this up, as it's long out of print; probably a library sale, judging by the tape marks on the cover. It discusses an incident that took place in 1850 in which a Maryland slave owner traveled across the border to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in an attempt to reclaim four slaves under the auspices of the Fugitive Slave Act. (There's a somewhat garbled account of the incident here.) Some of the local free and escaped blacks worked together to prevent this, morally if not actively assisted by the abolitionist temperature of the white residents of the county. During a confrontation at the home of William Parker, the slave owner was killed and another man seriously wounded; following the "riot," thirty-six blacks and three white men were charged with treason for preventing the Fugitive Slave Act from being enforced. There's a lot more context in the book, and an account of the trial that followed and the fates of the various participants. Parker and a few others managed to reach Canada, where he became a journalist and activist against slavery and inequality. I always enjoy reading about obscure but significant events like this. The book is a short, fairly quick read, but it draws from Parker's own account and is well sourced.