Seminary Built on Slavery and Jim Crow Labor Has Begun Paying Reparations
The Virginia Theological Seminary, in Alexandria, Va., in February began handing out cash payments to the descendants of Black Americans who labored there during the time of slavery and Jim Crow.Credit.Kenny Holston for The New York Times
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One night in 1858, Carter Dowling, an enslaved Black man forced to work without pay at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Northern Virginia, made the brave decision to escape.
He made it to Philadelphia, where he met the famed abolitionist William Still. He then continued north to Canada and, after the Civil War, returned to Washington, D.C., where he was able to open a bank account for his children. He eventually went on to work as a labor organizer in Buffalo.
[
Race affects our lives in countless ways. To read more stories on race from The New York Times,
.]
One night in 1858, Carter Dowling, an enslaved Black man forced to work without pay at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Northern Virginia, made the brave decision to escape.
He made it to Philadelphia, where he met the famed abolitionist William Still. He then continued north to Canada and, after the Civil War, returned to Washington, D.C., where he was able to open a bank account for his children. He eventually went on to work as a labor organizer in Buffalo.
To this day, Mr. Dowling’s family line continues. And, most likely for one of the first times in American history, his descendants could receive cash payments for his forced labor.
Ridgedale Avenue, Madison
A clearer “line” along the Underground Railroad can be seen 20 miles southwest of Paterson, through the original Rose City. Boisaubin Manor, which contains a secret passage leading from a porch column entrance to the estate’s barn, was home to noted abolitionist Alfred Treadwell, according to Borough Historical Society records.
Another resident, attorney Baxter Sayre was an active early member of the antislavery movement, a deacon for the Presbyterian Church and an owner of several properties in the area, including Boxwood Hall and the Sayre House.
The latter, located in the Bottle Hill Historic District, is known by local tradition as a stop on the renowned Underground Railroad, according to National Register of Historic Places records. Some historians have recognized its underground hide as a simple cold cellar. There is a similar controversy regarding the tiny stone vault in the cellar of known abolitionist and Methodist minister Henry Hed
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The Amazon Prime show “The Underground Railroad” debuted on May 14. Now streaming, the show has inspired heightened interest in this chapter of our nation s history, particularly with the cultural awakening and racial reckoning that’s been taking place in the last year.
New Jersey and South Jersey in particular played a critical role in the success of the Underground Railroad, which was, of course, not a real railroad, but a network of safe houses, safe spaces and secret routes. Abolitionists often provided shelter, food and supplies to assist runaway slaves in their pursuit of freedom.
Many have heard of Harriet Tubman, a fugitive slave who was a conductor of the Underground Railroad and made dozens of trips from South to North, leading hundreds of slaves to freedom.