In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
In a letter dated November 5, 1851, George Wythe Randolph wrote to his brother Dr. Benjamin F. Randolph concerning the relocation of his, to that point, profitable business. At the time of this particular correspondence, George was in Richmond, Virginia and he was writing back home to Buckingham County, where Benjamin had established himself as a prudent physician and a prosperous community member....
The 1851 Cotton Planter's Convention in Macon, GA brought together 261 cotton farmers, who were agitated by recent criticisms of their economic practices. More importantly, Charles Goethe Baylor came to the Convention to address the planters while on temporary leave from his position as the United States consul at Amsterdam. The merchants of Amsterdam had authorized him to tender cash advances,...
In November of 1851 the Athens Southern Banner announced that a famous French musician, Monsieur Andrieu, would be giving three concerts in Athens. The newspaper encouraged Athenians to attend saying that Andreiu was well received in Charleston and Augusta where he had been performing. The announcement also told Athenians that the accompanist would, give imitations of the great Prima Donnas...
In 1851, Hungarian revolutionary Louis Kossuth became an international celebrity who found himself trapped in the divisive slavery politics of the United States. He gained notoriety worldwide as a brilliant crusader for the liberty of his country, and upon announcing a tour around the United States to enlist support for his cause, Kossuth was met with the enthusiasm of the American media. The New...
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...
By the late 1840s American feelings on slavery smoldered. According to historian James McPherson, the southern states were pushing for a pro-slavery constitution in California, and western slavery not just as an abstraction, but as a legitimate southern goal. As the debate raged in congress over the admittance of California as a free or slave state, the Californians in San Francisco had all...
Disease was rampant among the slave population in the Antebellum South. Poor diet, less than adequate clothing, and exposure to the elements, caused the immune systems of the over-worked laborers to break down, making them susceptible to contracting a variety of illnesses. A demographic that was particularly at risk were children age nine and under. Fully 45 out of every 10,000 slave children aged...
On Wednesday October 4, 1851, Syracuse city police, led by Deputy U.S. Marshall Allen, arrested an African American man by the name of Jerry McHenry. John M. Reynolds of Marion County, Indiana, claimed McHenry to be his slave, and as a result, McHenry was taken into custody as a runaway slave and set for trial. However, Reynolds would soon be surprised by an unexpected turn of events that neither...
William “Jerry” Henry was a Missouri slave during this time period. He grew tired of the brutality and sought freedom in the north. He successfully escaped from Missouri and went to Syracuse, New York, which was a popular immigration city. He lived and worked in the city for a while, but in October 1852, U.S. Marshal Allen arrested him. The officer tricked him into cooperating by saying he was...