Daniel Dangerfield and the Underground Railroad

Activity
Fall 2021|#9350

Oct 10, 2021
Age at least 10 yrs but less than 100 yrs, Mixed
Programs

Description

Daniel Dangerfield, a self-emancipated man who had grown up enslaved in Loudoun County and worked in his youth at a mill in Aldie, lived a remarkable life that illuminates the interracial antislavery movement in the mid-Atlantic region. He escaped to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he associated with white and black individuals involved in the Underground Railroad. In 1859, agents of his enslaver’s heirs apprehended him, and demanded his return under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which resulted in a sensational courthouse hearing in Philadelphia. The commissioner released him to a celebration, and he after-wards was whisked to greater safety in Canada where he became a successful farmer. Extensive newspaper coverage of the hearing in Pennsylvania and Virginia reflected and heightened tensions over slavery that, in October of 1859, erupted into violence when John Brown led a group of white and black men in a raid on nearby Harpers Ferry.

Join us as Dr. Deborah Lee relates Daniel Dangerfield’s story, highlighting the communication and collaboration of this international antislavery network.

Presented in partnership with: Loudoun County Public Library; The Black History Committee of Thomas Balch Library; and Gary Clemens, Clerk of the Circuit Court.

Activity meeting dates

Oct 10, 2021
Sun2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

More Information

Number of sessions1

Registration dates

From Sep 20, 2021
Free
Retired
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