Oct 1, 2015
What a whirlwind of information we’ve uncovered – and it was simply from peeling the very first lair of open from the next stage of our research.
While our London research is ongoing and exciting, we felt that it was time to really start diving into the US side of the story – the 1850s, as many would assume, was not exactly an ideal time to be a Black person living anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line, and it quickly spread to the entire country when the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, making it legal for escaping slaves to be caught by slave catchers and brought back south. And while the Fugitive Slave Act caused a whole plethora of changes and problems for so called “colored” people, it really could take over an entire blog post (and will, but not this one!). Suffice to say, the Fugitive Slave Act really made Canada the only “free” place a Black person could realistically go to. And upon its passing, Upper Canada (now present day Southern Ontario) experienced a big increase in the Black population, many of whom arrived via the various methods provided by the Underground Railroad.
That had ramifications for two of main characters, Lewis Chambers and John Mason, both of whom arrived in the London area shortly after the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and who both claimed to be from the Maryland and Baltimore area. And so we had turned our research lenses to focus on Maryland’s (now) most populous city, and what its society and culture was like during that era.
I think that like many others that don’t know the history of the Underground Railroad and US slavery, we just assumed that like all cities in the south, they all engaged in slavery practices and were all united in their support of slavery itself. The reality is far murkier.
For Baltimore and Maryland, it was much more complicated. Baltimore was founded on one of the inlets of the Chesapeake Bay, and as a port town its economy had close ties to shipping. As Africans were stolen from their homeland and sent to the Americas, Baltimore and its Fells Point became a natural stopping point for slave traders, many of whom came from other slave states with the intention of buying Africans and sending them south, often to New Orleans. Even after importing slaves became illegal, the domestic slave trade more than provided enough business for the area.
The slave trading industry flourished in the city, and many “facilities” for housing slaves were built along the main corridor between the port at Fell’s Point and downtown. These facilities were nothing more than slave pens, which was essentially a primitive jail where the slaves were held while they waited to be sold or shipped. Stories tell of a sad situation where many slaves were marched in chains down the street from the pens to the awaiting ships at the port while family members sobbed beside them, acutely aware that they would likely never see each other again.
All of this sounds deplorable, and upon quick glance it would be easy to condemn the entire area and its people for the practice. Of course, it’s just not that simple. Many of the city’s whites and religious were opposed to the idea of slavery or indifferent to the issue – however, as the march to the Civil War escalated, Maryland found itself caught in the middle – many were Abolitionists and pro-Union supporters, while others found themselves supporting the Confederate states. The supporters of each side were split county-to-county, and Baltimore quickly became a flash point for that tension. As a result, political alliances were formed and many voted in favour of the Confederate, pro-slavery party as that brought peace to the streets (at least temporarily). But when the Civil War began, Maryland officially became a Union state, although loyalties (and many battlegrounds) continued to be split across either side.
This, of course, is just an overview of the available information we’ve found. And while the fact remains that slavery existed in the city before the Civil War, much of that history has been tucked away, hidden from the public’s view. It’s in that attempt to hide their Black History in Baltimore, over what we suspect is because of its brutal and shameful past – one that the United States in general hopes everyone would forget, despite the impossibility of doing so – where we find strange similarities between Baltimore and London, Ontario.
Now, apart from the obvious connection of Lewis Chambers and John Mason, and the influx of blacks in the area after the Fugitive Slave Act was rigorously enforced, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of links between the two cities upon first glance. However, what we’ve discovered is that London and Baltimore both seem to try and keep their black history very quiet – albeit for different reasons – and much of that culture and past has been swept under the rug. In Baltimore, it seems to stem from a shared desire to not “rock the boat” and upset a delicate balance between blacks and whites in the area over what is indisputably a dark time in the city’s history. In London, however, the sweeping under the rug seems to appear unintentional (although that’s not true either) – hidden in history behind what’s often associated with a Canadian cultural phenomenon of being modest and trying not to boast. Despite the different reasons, the end result is the same – a slice of society and history unknown except by a select few historians.
It’s that unknown part that we plan on changing. We’ve barely opened the book and it’s revealed so much more that’s beyond the forward. And with a November research trip to Baltimore in the works, we’re expecting to pull page after page out into public awareness.
It’s too important to leave hidden.
Mark
What a whirlwind of information we’ve uncovered – and it was simply from peeling the very first lair of open from the next stage of our research.
While our London research is ongoing and exciting, we felt that it was time to really start diving into the US side of the story – the 1850s, as many would assume, was not exactly an ideal time to be a Black person living anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line, and it quickly spread to the entire country when the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, making it legal for escaping slaves to be caught by slave catchers and brought back south. And while the Fugitive Slave Act caused a whole plethora of changes and problems for so called “colored” people, it really could take over an entire blog post (and will, but not this one!). Suffice to say, the Fugitive Slave Act really made Canada the only “free” place a Black person could realistically go to. And upon its passing, Upper Canada (now present day Southern Ontario) experienced a big increase in the Black population, many of whom arrived via the various methods provided by the Underground Railroad.
That had ramifications for two of main characters, Lewis Chambers and John Mason, both of whom arrived in the London area shortly after the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and who both claimed to be from the Maryland and Baltimore area. And so we had turned our research lenses to focus on Maryland’s (now) most populous city, and what its society and culture was like during that era.
I think that like many others that don’t know the history of the Underground Railroad and US slavery, we just assumed that like all cities in the south, they all engaged in slavery practices and were all united in their support of slavery itself. The reality is far murkier.
For Baltimore and Maryland, it was much more complicated. Baltimore was founded on one of the inlets of the Chesapeake Bay, and as a port town its economy had close ties to shipping. As Africans were stolen from their homeland and sent to the Americas, Baltimore and its Fells Point became a natural stopping point for slave traders, many of whom came from other slave states with the intention of buying Africans and sending them south, often to New Orleans. Even after importing slaves became illegal, the domestic slave trade more than provided enough business for the area.
The slave trading industry flourished in the city, and many “facilities” for housing slaves were built along the main corridor between the port at Fell’s Point and downtown. These facilities were nothing more than slave pens, which was essentially a primitive jail where the slaves were held while they waited to be sold or shipped. Stories tell of a sad situation where many slaves were marched in chains down the street from the pens to the awaiting ships at the port while family members sobbed beside them, acutely aware that they would likely never see each other again.
All of this sounds deplorable, and upon quick glance it would be easy to condemn the entire area and its people for the practice. Of course, it’s just not that simple. Many of the city’s whites and religious were opposed to the idea of slavery or indifferent to the issue – however, as the march to the Civil War escalated, Maryland found itself caught in the middle – many were Abolitionists and pro-Union supporters, while others found themselves supporting the Confederate states. The supporters of each side were split county-to-county, and Baltimore quickly became a flash point for that tension. As a result, political alliances were formed and many voted in favour of the Confederate, pro-slavery party as that brought peace to the streets (at least temporarily). But when the Civil War began, Maryland officially became a Union state, although loyalties (and many battlegrounds) continued to be split across either side.
This, of course, is just an overview of the available information we’ve found. And while the fact remains that slavery existed in the city before the Civil War, much of that history has been tucked away, hidden from the public’s view. It’s in that attempt to hide their Black History in Baltimore, over what we suspect is because of its brutal and shameful past – one that the United States in general hopes everyone would forget, despite the impossibility of doing so – where we find strange similarities between Baltimore and London, Ontario.
Now, apart from the obvious connection of Lewis Chambers and John Mason, and the influx of blacks in the area after the Fugitive Slave Act was rigorously enforced, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of links between the two cities upon first glance. However, what we’ve discovered is that London and Baltimore both seem to try and keep their black history very quiet – albeit for different reasons – and much of that culture and past has been swept under the rug. In Baltimore, it seems to stem from a shared desire to not “rock the boat” and upset a delicate balance between blacks and whites in the area over what is indisputably a dark time in the city’s history. In London, however, the sweeping under the rug seems to appear unintentional (although that’s not true either) – hidden in history behind what’s often associated with a Canadian cultural phenomenon of being modest and trying not to boast. Despite the different reasons, the end result is the same – a slice of society and history unknown except by a select few historians.
It’s that unknown part that we plan on changing. We’ve barely opened the book and it’s revealed so much more that’s beyond the forward. And with a November research trip to Baltimore in the works, we’re expecting to pull page after page out into public awareness.
It’s too important to leave hidden.
Mark
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