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Thinking About Freedom:
Harriet Tubman, Dr. Dyer in Wisconsin
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Harriet Tubman couldn’t read or write, yet two books were written
about her during her lifetime and hundreds since then!
Two of her most famous sayings were: "Lord, you have been with me
through six troubles. Be with me in the seventh." And "I never
run my train off the track and I never lost a passenger."
In one of the books written during her lifetime, Harriet told about her
feelings as she crossed the border between Maryland (where she was a slave)
and free Pennsylvania.
Harriet Tubman said, "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same
person now I was free. There was such a glory through the trees and over
the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven."
In Their Own Words: a personal story
Edward Galusha Dyer of Burlington, Wisconsin
Dr. Dyer was called a “Double Abolitionist.” This probably
was because he spoke out against slavery, helped people running from slavery,
and gave money – lots of money – to anti-slavery work.
When an abolitionist friend, Lyman Goodnow, showed up in the little town
of Burlington with a 16 year-old fugitive slave named Caroline Quarles,
Dr. Dyer wasted no time getting help. He grabbed people right on the street
and “passed the hat” for money.
Mr. Goodnow and Caroline left Burlington with a borrowed horse and wagon,
a pillow case filled with food, and $20! Dr. Dyer wrote a letter for them,
begging any “freedom minded” person to give any help possible.
He also gave them a list of trusted people and “friends of slaves.”
With slave-catchers chasing them and rain clouds filling the sky, Mr.
Goodnow and Caroline headed across the Wisconsin-Illinois border. For
five weeks they drove, making a wide circle around Chicago to Indiana.
They cut straight across Michigan, heading toward Detroit. In Detroit,
Mr. Goodnow paid $2 to the ferry boat owner to take Caroline across the
Detroit River to Canada.
Dr. Edward Galusha Dyer named the street in front of his house “Liberty
Avenue” to let everyone would know he was for freedom and against
slavery.
He once said, “Can liberty and slavery long dwell together? Which
side shall we be on? Surely we shall be for liberty.”
Let’s
Talk About It :
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Not all slave
owners were cruel. Some treated slaves kindly. If a slave owner gave
the slaves good food, a good place to live, and didn’t beat
them or make them work too hard was that o.k.? Why or why not?
For any remarks, suggestions, or broken links:
Please email us at:
history@tds.net
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