A Way Station for the Underground Railroad in Blanco County (original) (raw)
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2021
The tale of a runaway, an enslaved Black man or woman choosing to abscond, is nothing short of miraculous. Listen between the lines a runaway speaks, and their story will be found as a testament entailing multiple dynamics. Reflective of the unifying theme, this thesis investigates resistance to slavery in the Texas borderlands, from 1836 to 1861. This thesis examines the existing body of scholarship on Mexico-bound escape routes used by Blacks fleeing captivity. Moreover, in following the direction archival evidence points to, this thesis argues the existence of an Underground Railroad in Texas to Mexico that facilitated the escape of at least 4,000, perhaps up to 10,000 Blacks, to Mexico. The Texas Underground Railroad is an important segment of history that is little known about. Issues explaining the erasure of Mexico, inclusive of the paradigm in Texas public education further averting historical attention, are explained. Evidenced in this research is the formation of a multiet...
Theft and Violence in the Lower Rio Grande Borderlands, 1866-1876
These Ragged Edges: Histories of Violence along the U.S.-Mexico Border, Edited Andrew J. Torget and Gerardo Gurza-Lavalle, 2022
In the years between 1866 and 1876, violence in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands on either side of the river called Rio Bravo del Norte in Mexico, Rio Grande in the U.S., downriver from Laredo-Nuevo Laredo became, in the words of Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Quiroga, "particulatly hellish." It was, as local historian Mary Amberson recorded, "one of the most terrifying periods" in the history of the region.
Mexico in His Head": Slavery and the Texas-Mexico Border, 1810-1860
Journal of Social History, 2004
The continual re drawing of the boundarie s be twe e n the Unite d S tate s , Te xas , and Me xico in the nine te e nth ce ntury prompte d s lave s to vie w the borde r as a s ymbol of libe ration. Whe n the borde r was firs t fixe d by tre aty in 1819 , e ns lave d Te xans attache d no particular s ig nificance to it be caus e s lave ry was le g al in both the Unite d S tate s and S panis h Te xas. S lave s only be g an to as s ociate the Me xican s tate with fre e dom in the 1820 s , whe n national and s tate g ove rnme nts adopte d a s e rie s of antis lave ry me as ure s. Howe ve r, be caus e Te xas was s till part of Me xico, the borde r playe d no role in s lave re s is tance. With the e s tablis hme nt of an inde pe nde nt Te xas in the 1830 s and with anne xation to the Unite d S tate s in 1845, s lave ry was place d on a firm footing in Te xas for the firs t time. The borde r s oon be came the focal point of s lave flig ht and re s is tance. Eve n with the e nd of s lave ry, black Te xans continue d to as s ociate Me xico with fre e dom and e quality. Mexico in his head: Slavery and the Texas-Mexico border, 1810-1860.
QUINDARO UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: A Unique Ethnic Unity in America's Past
This article defines the part that the town of Quindaro played in the struggle for ethnic social justice on the Territorial Kansas Frontier. The unique characteristics and personalities that combined to create the Quindaro Underground Railroad are presented and analyzed. This Underground Railroad managed to bridge the seemingly insurmountable political gap between the proslavery town of Parkville, Missouri, and the brazenly abolitionist Territorial town of Quindaro. The article emphasizes the Native Wyandot foundation of the town, the town's role in helping rescue the abolitionist movement in the Territory, and provides pathways to future research about Quindaro which can help enrich our understanding of this multi-ethnic collaboration and provide a model for ethnic solidarity today.
The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana by Pamela R. Peters
Indiana Magazine of History, 2002
The Underground Railroad in southern Indiana is often believed to have been a system run by white abolitionists, in which AfXcan Americans played a minor role. Furthermore, given the secret and dangerous nature of its work, little evidence about it is presumed to have survived. To dispel these and other errors, Pamela R. Peters uncovers a complex web of information surrounding the workings of the Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana. While Peters is careful not to overstate her findings, she brings new understanding to this greatest of all American liberation movements. Floyd County was well situated as a gateway t o freedom for slaves escaping across the Ohio River, since New Albany, the county seat, was directly across from Louisville. That city was "the largest Southern city bordering the Ohio River" (p. 5) and, equally important, a major slave-trading center. Despite the risks, Floyd County residents, especially free African Americans, found ways to help fugitive slaves. Located in secluded rural areas and in neighborhoods of New Albany that were near the Ohio River, African Americans' homes offered shelter and safety from slave catchers eager for cash rewards. Free blacks who worked on Ohio River steamboats and on the Salem-New Albany Railroad found frequent opportunities to aid fugitives. Furthermore, family members, churches, businesses, and Free Mason lodges connected Floyd County African Americans to networks in Louisville and to places farther north. Using a combination of written records and oral histories, Peters demonstrates that the free African Americans were "the backbone of the Underground Railroad in the New Albany-Floyd County area" (p. 59). Among white Floyd County residents, New School Presbyterians and Wesleyan Methodists were well known for their condemnation of slavery. The Presbyterian New Albany Theological Seminary "became synonymous with abolitionism" (p. 52). Such convictions, Peters contends, linked ministers and church members to the Underground Railroad. Peters raises the intriguing possibility that James Brooks, an elder of New Albany's Second Presbyterian Church, used his position as president of the New Albany-Salem Railroad to issue free train passes to slaves fleeing north. Since this railroad was a reputed route for fugitive slaves and Brooks "was known for helping the poor," (p. 49) it seems all the more likely that he was active in the Underground Railroad. Peters also finds oral traditions within Floyd County's African American community that tie German immigrants in New Albany to the work.
El Paso, Texas and Paso del Norte, Mexico, Business Directory for 1885
1885
n history. The people of El Pas~have but little. And the history of El Paso proper may be said to have commenced In the year 1827. At that time the grand old town of Paso del NOTte was large and flourishing. Over '5°}'CaTS old, it had spread itself for six miles down the banks of the Rio Grande, and boasted a population of 10,000 souls. One of its most prominent citizens in those days, when both sides of the river was in "\Iexi• can Lerritory, was Don Juan Maria Ponce de Leon, who in that year made application to his government to preempt the land which was just opposite and across the river, and which today includes the municipal bouudanes of Kl Paso. The State government of the Stale of Chihuahua made the grant asked for by Ponce de Leon, and he commenced to plant his vines and grow his grapes on this side of the river. Despite the Mexican war Ponce de Leon seems to have held quiet possession until his death in 1812, when the land fell into the possession of an American named William T. Smith, who in 1859 sold it to John S. Gillett, Josiah F, Crosby, Vincente St. Vrain and William Marlon. These men went to work and laid out a town and published a map, anticipating a heavy influx of immigration to the banks of the Rio Grande should the aghelion of the question of a Southern Pacific railroad acrossthe continent. which had been proposed by jefferson Davis when Secretarv of War, take practir-able shape. At that time El Paso was known a" Franklfn, <I name retained upon all the old map~, bill which has given place to the much more appro
Historians have debated the differences between borderlands and frontiers, but what defines a border? The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo marked the Rio Grande as the dividing line between Mexico and the United States, but it did not immediately endow the line with meaning. It was only two decades later, when transnational crime increased, that citizens stopped crossing the river for fear of violence. Though the Rio Grande marked a boundary–the line between danger and safety–it became a border only after the U.S. federal government asserted exclusive jurisdiction after violence threatened to turn into another war with Mexico. By theorizing borders and historicizing border security, this article shows how nonstate forces, such as violence, shape history.