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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania in the 1850s: 1 through 3 of 3

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  1. Christiana Riot Trial for Treason
    date November 24, 1851map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Fugitive Slave Act, Christiana, Riot

    The slave owner Edward Gorsuch traveled to Pennsylvania, along with several men, two of whom were federal marshals, to retrieve six of his slaves that had escaped from his plantation years earlier.  Gorsuch planned to confront William Parker, the owner of a tenant house, about harboring his fugitive slaves.  An altercation between the two groups of people developed and Gorsuch was killed during the...

  2. Reverend Tyng Speaks Out Against Southern Hostility
    date June 29, 1856map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Church/Religious-Activity, Slavery

    Preaching to his Philadelphia congregation, Reverend Dudley A. Tyng spoke out against the violent acts committed by Southerners in attempts to have Kansas admitted to the Union as a slave state.  “The blood of a Senator has stained the floor of the Senate Chamber,” said Tyng in his June 29, 1856, sermon, and “the blood of her citizens has been poured out like water on the virgin soil of Kansas,...

  3. Pennsylvania Quaker William Still Fought Against the Evils of Slavery
    date November 25, 1857map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Law, Politics, Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Health/Death

    On November 25, 1857, William Still recorded a story that told of the horrors of slavery in the South.  Still assisted a group of slaves on the journey to freedom by way of the Underground Railroad.  He was among the abolitionists during this time that believed that blacks should be afforded equal rights and opportunities that would allow them to earn a living.  Still did not feel that blacks were...