public domain
“The heroism and desperate struggle that many of our people had to endure should be kept green in the memory of this and coming generations.” William Still, Pennsylvania, circa 1840s
The Underground Railroad:
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Above: William Still, born 1821, New Jersey, d. 1902, Father of The Underground Railroad. The quote is from his self-published book, The Underground Railroad. His book is the only first-person account of the Underground Railroad that is written and self-published by a Black American. 14
Discover CONCORD
Black Heroes at The Wayside
| Fall 2021
BY MARIA MADISON, ScD
It remains a moral, political, and economic necessity to understand America’s underground railroad’s origin and legacy.1 The Wayside in Concord, Massachusetts provides us with an inside view into this history. The Wayside is part of the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. The NPS program “commemorates and preserves the historical significance of the Underground Railroad which sought to address the injustices of slavery and make freedom a reality in the United States and is a crucial element in the evolution of our national civil rights movement. Inhabitants of The Wayside house have witnessed a dramatic spectrum of American history including the ongoing struggle for freedom and equality.”2 The Wayside is a colonial house that was home to authors including Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne, minuteman Samuel Whitney, farmers, artisans, reformers, and teachers.3 Nathaniel Hawthorne dubbed the house The Wayside while living there from 1852 - 1869, when he hosted pro-slavery advocates such as Franklin Pierce. Pierce was responsible for ordering federal troops to enforce the “rendition” of fugitive slave Anthony Burns
back to Virginia. The Wayside inhabitants were connected to everyday occurrences and sweeping events that shaped America’s heritage, either through their action or inaction. SLAVERY IN CONCORD AND THE WAYSIDE As described by the National Park Service, the land associated with The Wayside was originally owned by Concord farmer Nathaniel Ball, 1686. Twenty years later the lot passed to Nathaniel’s son three days before his marriage to Mary Brooks. Through the 1700s the house was inhabited by farmers and artisans. From 1769-1778, and during the American Revolution, Samuel Whitney, a shopkeeper from Boston, owned and lived in what would become known as The Wayside (in the mid-1800s). Whitney held a “strong role in town affairs,” including as a muster master of the Concord minutemen on April 19, 1775. As early as 1725, Concord’s earliest tax rolls report slavery in Concord, including a 1740 bill of sale for a 2-year-old toddler named Violet (later changed to Nancy). Imagine, if you can, your two-year-old daughter being ripped from your arms, by contract. A letter from William Wilson of Concord, cites the sale of Violet
