Stand by the River (original) (raw)

Stand by the River is a musical written by Joanne and based on the life of abolitionist William Still, his liberation of Jane Johnson and her two sons from slavery in 1855, and the federal trial that summer. A member of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia and chairman of its Vigilance Committee, Still took Johnson and her sons from her master and into hiding just before their ship was to depart. They were en route from Washington, DC to New York City (from where they would sail to Nicaragua with her master.) He was acquitted in the jury trial.