Since secrecy was crucial to the survival of the Underground
Railroad freedom seekers, few facts were written down, and any personal journals
that were kept were often destroyed. But by using a combination of folklore and
historic fact, we can reconstruct the story of the Underground Railroad spanning
three centuries.
1501 Portuguese
explorers enslave fifty Amerindian men and women in Labrador or Newfoundland.
1608 Mathieu de Costa a
"negro servant" to the Governor of Port Royal.
1632 Oliver Le Jeune is
the first Black to appear in records as being brought directly from Africa and
sold as a slave in New France.
1783 American
Revolution ends and United Empire Loyalists, both white and Black, who wished to
remain loyal to Britain, move to Canada — some accompanied by their slaves.
1793 Upper Canada's
first Legislature passed a law prohibiting the introduction of more slaves and
for the gradual emancipation of slaves born after that date.
1793 First Fugitive
Slave Law passed in the U.S. providing for the return of runaway slaves.
1807 British parliament
abolishes slave trade.
1808 U.S. Congress
passes law prohibiting importation of slaves.
1812 War of 1812 to
1814 between the U.S. and British. Companies of Coloured Soldiers fought in
several battles.
1819 The Lieutenant
Governor offers land in Oro area, Simcoe County to Black veterans of the War of
1812.
1828 First African
Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.) built in Amherstburg.
1829 Enforcement of
oppressive Black Codes in Ohio led to the formation of the Wilberforce
Settlement, near present day Lucan.
1831 William Lloyd
Garrison began publishing anti-slavery newspaper "The Liberator".
1832 Nat Turner
Rebellion (slave revolt) in Virginia results in more oppressive laws against
Blacks.
1833 Upper Canada
refuses to extradite fugitive slaves Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, who were the
principals in a mob rescue in Detroit, back to the U.S.
1834 Emancipation Act,
passed in 1833 (effective August 1, 1834), abolished slavery throughout the
British Empire, including Canada.
1837 Rebellion of 1837.
Canadian Blacks from across Upper Canada joined the "Coloured Corps".
1838 Prompted by the
Jesse Happy case, a fugitive slave who had escaped to Canada, the British
government concludes that a slave extradition request from the U.S. must show
evidence that the person committed a crime that was recognized in Canada.
Slavery, and therefore escape, was not recognized here.
1840 Colored Company of
Militia rescued two slaves from their master who was visiting Niagara Falls.
1842 Dawn Settlement
surrounding the British North American Institute founded near Dresden by Josiah
Henson and Hiram Wilson.
1844 Levi Coffin, one
of the most famous of the Underground Railroad conductors, visits Canada West.
1847 Frederick Douglass
begins publication of anti-slavery newspaper "North Star".
1849 Founding of Elgin
Settlement and Buxton Mission (commonly known as Buxton) as fugitive slave
refuge.
1850 Fugitive Slave Law
passed in United States results in flood of slaves and free Blacks to the safety
of Canada.
1850 Common School Act
requires Blacks to attend separate schools where they exist.
1851 Henry and Mary
Bibb begin publication of first Black Canadian anti-slavery newspaper "The
Voice of the Fugitive" in Sandwich, which is now Windsor.
1851 Refugee Home
Society founded by Michigan and Canadian abolitionists to begin a settlement
near Windsor.
1851 Anti-Slavery
Society of Canada, composed of whites and Blacks, founded in Toronto.
Subsequently, branches were formed in other areas of Ontario as well.
1851 Harriet Tubman
moves to St. Catharines; it becomes the center of her anti-slavery activities
for the next seven years.
1851 North American
Convention held at St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto, with anti-slavery leaders from
across the U.S. and Canada West, to discuss emigration and other issues.
1852 Publication of
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe captures international
attention to the horrors of slavery.
1852 Refugee Slaves'
Friend Society founded as a relief organization in St. Catharines.
1853 Mary Ann Shadd
begins publication of "Provincial Freeman" anti-slavery newspaper in
Windsor. The paper is later published in Toronto and then in Chatham.
1856 British Methodist
Episcopal Church (B.M.E.) of Canada, which would be composed of churches across
Ontario and in Michigan and Indiana, is established from the A.M.E. Church at a
convention in Chatham. The name change is partially an expression of
acknowledgement and gratitude for the freedom found in the British colony.
1856 "Amherstburg
Baptist Association" and the "Canadian Anti-Slavery Baptist
Association" unite, bringing together churches from across Ontario and
Michigan.
1856 Benjamin Drew
publishes "The Refugee: or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in
Canada" which is composed of interviews of Blacks from across Ontario.
1858 A crowd consisting
of both Blacks and whites storm a train in Chatham and rescue a boy who was
being kidnapped to be returned to the U.S. and sold into slavery.
1858 John Brown holds a
convention in Chatham to form a constitution and lay plans for the overthrow of
slavery. Previous to this, Brown had travelled throughout Ontario, including St.
Catharines, Ingersoll and Buxton in which places he “has found in Canada
several good men for shepherds.” He was also exceedingly impressed with
Harriet Tubman.
1859 John Brown's raid
on Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Osborne Anderson from Chatham is among the freedom
fighters.
1860 John Anderson,
from the Brantford area, is arrested seven years after having fled from Missouri
where he killed a man who tried to prevent his escape. There is international
interest in this case as the U.S. seeks to have him extradited. The case is
dismissed on a technicality.
1861 Many Canadian
Blacks move to Hayti (Haiti) as a part of a larger emigration movement.
1861 American Civil War
begins.
1862 Anthony Burns, the
fugitive slave whose return to slavery captured international attention
following his arrest in Boston in 1854, dies in St. Catharines. He is felled by
consumption, acquired from exposure while trying to clear from debt the church
of which he was pastor.
1863 U.S. Emancipation
Proclamation goes into effect on January 1, declaring freedom to slaves in
states and areas that were in the rebellion.
1863 U.S. Freedmen's
Inquiry Commission, led by famous Abolitionist Samuel Gridley Howe, tours Black
settlements throughout Ontario to conduct interviews and to make recommendations
to assist in planning for transition from slavery to freedom.
1863 Black soldiers are
allowed to join the Union Army. Blacks from Canada flood to enlist.
1863 The Battle at Fort
Wagner (which would, many years later, be immortalized in the movie “Glory”)
fought in South Carolina. Many Canadian men participate as members of 54th
Massachussetts (Colored) Regiment.
1865 Civil War ends and
Lincoln is assassinated.
1865 Slavery in North America finally comes to an end.