Escaping slavery, one family’s storyPosted in Articles, History, Media Archive, Slavery, United States on 2016-12-23 03:02Z by Steven |
Escaping slavery, one family’s story
Free Press Newspapers
Illinois
2016-12-14
Sandy Vasko, Executive Director
Will County Historical Society
Black history in Braidwood starts during the coal strikes of the 1870s. Before that time the only black people this area knew were passing through on the Underground Railroad. Or did they? As I have learned, not all of them kept going. Some decided to stay in one place not to very far from here despite all the troubles and complications that meant.
Let’s start at the beginning with Eliza Wilson. She was born a slave in South Carolina in 1825 and is described as a mullato, in other words she was partly white, and probably her father was her owner. But in those days, one drop of black blood meant you were black. In 1845 we find her in a census as a free woman. How she earned her freedom is unknown, but soon we find her listed in South Carolina register as a slave owner. Blacks owning slaves!?!?! Yes, it seems that it was not uncommon. What is interesting is that the three slaves she owned were 1, 3, and 5 years of age…
Read the entire article here.