For today's #BlackHistoryMonth fact, we are focusing on New Britain, home to one of our newest clinics, and soon to be, home to our FIRST residential clinic!
So, let's talk about, The Underground Railroad... It was developed in the early 19th century, and was a system of safe havens designed to help fugitive slaves escape to freedom. In New England, numerous towns and cities provided safe havens for those escaping slavery. One of the Underground Railroad’s most vital New England routes went through what is now the city of New Britain.
In the 1840s and ’50s, New Britain was an important center of anti-slavery activity. Fugitive slaves who entered the state in Stamford, New Haven, and Old Lyme worked their way through New Britain, Farmington, and Middletown on their way to Canada. Of the 22 identified Underground Railroad agents in Hartford County at this time, nine were residents of New Britain. As the two sides of the slavery issue continued sparring, The First Church in New Britain passed anti-slavery resolutions, abolitionists and non-abolitionists clashed at local anti-slavery meetings, and non-abolitionists set fire to barns belonging to New Britain abolitionists.
Despite a century and a half of work, historians still struggle to put together a concise narrative of the Underground Railroad in Connecticut. The clandestine nature of the system meant that participants left behind little evidence of Underground Railroad activities. Therefore, identifying specific homes or safe houses that contributed to the movement has been exceedingly difficult. One thing that cannot be questioned, however, is that New Britain and the surrounding area played an important part in aiding fugitive slaves in their quest for freedom. #BLM
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1moFantastic news! What is civilization without its cultural institutions?