During these cold winter days we think about enslaved Black people planning to make their escape in December, in the dead of winter. How high was their anxiety level? They probably questioned the decision to leave constantly, and if they had children, they must have been so worried that the children might die on a difficult journey in freezing weather.
Here's a visual depiction of a family arriving at an Underground Railroad (UGRR) stop in the winter.
Many people seeking their freedom (Freedom Seekers) made their escape North in December, for a number of reasons but mostly because New Year's Day was when enslavers would seek to settle debts from the prior year.
So that was the day when a family could be split apart, children sold to other enslavers never to be seen again, husbands sent off further south to be worked literally to death.
Seeking to stay together, whole families often escaped together.
The Hawkins Family Escapes with Six Children in Winter
The Hawkins family's story is told in William Still’s Underground Railroad. Their arrival at John Hunn's home in Camden, Delaware in December, 1845 must have looked a lot like the painting.
It was a large group that escaped from a plantation in Maryland. The family consisted of “a man, his wife, with their six children”. They traveled with four men also seeking their freedom and Samuel Burris, who was the Underground Railroad conductor for the group (Still, Page 715).
As a conductor, this meant that Burris escorted the full group on their journey from the plantation in Maryland until they were safe in Philadelphia.
When the arrived at John Hunn's that night, they had walked 27 miles through a snowstorm.
Repeat : 27 miles through a snowstorm.
And “most of them were badly frost-bitten" when they arrived. One man's boot was frozen to his feet.
We encourage you to read the whole story of what this family went through. They were found and put in jail, but then the Anti-Slavery society’s Thomas Garrett was able to have them discharged on a technicality.
Then they went from Wilmington, Delaware and then to Byberry, Pennsylvania where they settled and started a new life.
New! UGRR Routes are Now on Our Map
These stories are often hard to comprehend without seeing the journey on a map. And while we found Wilber Sibert's map that had great detail and that was based on interviews with station masters and conductors, it needs to be placed in context with all of the rest of Black infrastructure at the time.
What's immediately apparent from Sibert's map is that Philadelphia is incredibly important to the whole Underground Railroad operation. You can clearly see that Philly is the destination of all the Eastern route lines.
We combined Siebert's routes with knowledge from oral histories from Historian Shamele Jordan and the Lawnside HIstorical Society, details from William Still’s Underground Railroad and information from Harriet Tubman’s byway.
Then we added it to our map. With the additional data we have on our map - like UGRR stops, and churches - the UGRR routes opens up the Philadelphia Black Metropolis in a brand new way.
And now when we read stories from the Underground Railroad, we can use the 1838 Black Metropolis map to visualize the paths Freedom Seekers took into Philadelphia. Note that these are still not all the routes. But we can use these as a starting point to generally know the pathways into the city.
Did they go by your house?
Here's the map so you can check it out.
On the map, routes into Philadelphia are red to indicate the enhanced danger until people arrived in Philadelphia. Routes going North are green to indicate the increased safety once they were on their way to New York and beyond. Many people, like the Hawkins family, chose to stay in the Philadelphia region. Others continued North.
Putting it Together: The Hawkins' Route Visualized
Here’s the path the Hawkins family took from Camden, Delaware to New Castle, Delaware, in that snowstorm. As you can see it’s on a major UGRR route (the big red line). But you can also get a sense of how long that trek must have been.
Then they continued on to Wilmington. They were again on a major UGRR route. Going to Byberry meant that they were greeted by the Purvis family, a wealthy Black family, at their large home which they called Harmony Hall. Robert Purvis said that 9,000 Freedom Seekers came through Harmony Hall before the Civil War, and you can see from the map that Byberry was also on a major UGRR route.
We think that anywhere from 1000-1700 people a year came through Philadelphia. Here's our math on that.
Which meant that Underground Railroad Stations in and around Philadelphia were very busy places.
The Importance of Macedonia AME and Camden, NJ
For those people who chose to continue Northward, plotting out these routes from the various sources shows how important Macedonia AME Church was as a gathering point to move North. Here you can see the 4 major routes coming into the city and 1 major route out - through Camden, NJ.
Founded in 1832, Macedonia AME and it's community in Camden, NJ acted as sanctuary and waypoint for people headed North. Charles Blockson once called Paschall’s Alley in Philadelphia an Underground Railroad Junction. And we think the case could be made to call Macedonia AME Church and its community an Underground Railroad junction as well.
First, Macedonia's pastor in the 1830s and 1840s was Thomas Clement Oliver. an important Underground Railroad conductor.
Second, Macedonia's UGRR activity probably made it a target to pro-slavery terrorists. While there is no proof of a coordinated effort, we have noted that from 1834 to 1842, nine public spaces meant to serve Black people were attacked or destroyed. (See our Mob Attack page for sources).
1834
The Church on Vernon Street
The Moyamensing Methodist Church
First African Presbyterian
Shelter for Colored Orphans
1839
Macedonia AME
1842
Second African Presbyterian
Beneficial Hall
Temperance Hall
Notably, in 1839, Macedonia was mysteriously burnt down.
And they rebuilt on the same spot. (Nomination, Page 12)
The routes to Camden, NJ come in from the north, south, east and west reminding us of the great Mahalia Jackson song How I Got Over.
This song is about arriving in Heaven after a long life, but it could also easily be an allegory for the long Underground Railroad Journey when people arrived “in the new Jerusalem" after “traveling all day and night." They must've "looked back in wonder" when they arrived and thought to themselves how did I make it over?
Macedonia AME Still Stands!
It sits, like a beacon, standing tall after nearly 200 years in the same spot. Church historian Ramona Chainey, President of the Macedonia HIstorical Society, tells us that Macedonia had lots of open land around it, so you could see it from the River…as you can today.
Macedonia’s oral history and church lore is full of UGRR Stories. The church itself was used to hide travelers on the Underground Railroad.
And the church community were and still are fierce fighters for justice and civil rights. In Macedonia's nomination to be on the National Register of HIstoric Places, Ms. Chainey relayed the story of a man who was captured by slave catchers. As he was rolling in a wagon past the church to the river, he gave a desperate cry for help shouting “Kidnappers!” (Nomination, Page 13).
The congregation heard the call and 💪🏾 poured out of the church 💪🏾. They surrounded the wagon and pulled the man off. Churchgoer Hannah Bowen cut the ropes tying the horse to the wagon. The slave catchers ran away “for their own personal safety".
Conclusion
This holiday season, pull out the Underground Railroad book , find a good story, read it outloud, and then use the UGRR routes on our map to visualize the way traveled by people in the stories. As Mahalia Jackson says, we might "look back in wonder" and give praise for the thousands of people who eventually did "make it over"."
Sources:
Seibert's map on the Ohio HIstory site https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/14280
Shamele Jordan's UGRR Routes to Lawnside
The Harriett Tubman Byway
William Still's Underground Railroad
Macedonia AME's Nomination to be on the National Register of Historic Places
Visit to Macedonia AME Church and brief chat with Historian Romana Chainey, 12/21/2024
Thomas Clement Oliver interview notes, Wilber Sibert Collection at the Ohio Memory Site