Abolitionism in New Bedford, Massachusetts
[1] During the era New Bedford, Massachusetts, gained a reputation as a safe haven for fugitive slaves seeking freedom.
Located on the East Coast of the United States, the town was becoming the "whaling capital of the world", where ships frequently returned to port, operated by crews of diverse backgrounds, languages, and ethnicity.
At the end of 1853, New Bedford had the highest percentage of African Americans of any city in the Northeastern United States.
Frederick Douglass, a former slave and resident of the town, became an eloquent and moving orator on the lecture circuit.
New Bedford was home to influential Quakers, abolitionists, and free African-Americans—like the Arnold, Grinnell, Rotch, Rodman, and Robeson families.
[2] The Quaker meetinghouse was the site of the anti-slavery address by Benjamin Lund in 1828 and is believed to have been a safe house for fugitive slaves.
[6] New Bedford, a port town, received ships from all over the world, bringing crew members of different cultures and languages.
[3]: 13–14 Some shipowning-merchants, like Rodney French, who traded along the east coast were boycotted for their role in saving slaves.
[3]: 14–15 As a misinformation strategy, newspaper articles in the South claimed that people from New Bedford were crazy and treacherous.
[5] Given the opportunity to flee to Canada, Thomas Bayne (aka Sam Nixon), wished to stay in New Bedford, called by former slaves the "Fugitive's Gibraltar".
[3]: 16 From my earliest recollection, I date the entertainment of a deep conviction that slavery would not always be able to hold me within its foul embrace.Well-known abolitionist speakers were paid by people in New Bedford to come speak to the town's residents.
[2] William Lloyd Garrison, a radical abolitionist, spoke at a Bristol County Anti-Slavery Society meeting on August 9, 1841.
Frederick Douglass also spoke that day about his experiences as a slave, which led to his being a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.
By 1850, the town had 9.3% of African-Americans worked in skilled trades, which was higher than other northern cities that were studied in 1981 by author Leonard Curry.
For instance, by the mid-1800s, the only known black person to be admitted to a Quaker church in southeastern Massachusetts was Paul Cuffe.
[2] Frederick Douglass arrived in New Bedford in 1838 as a fugitive slave, who found that his ability to earn money was limited based upon the color of his skin.
Initially, although qualified to do jobs requiring special skills, he was only able to obtain work of common laborers—digging, cleaning, chopping wood, and loading and unloading ships—at half the rate of pay.
[2] Business owners Nathan and Polly Johnson were African Americans who regularly sheltered people seeking freedom from slavery at their home.
