Detroit

When George De Baptiste, William Lambert and others submitted a series of resolutions in the Signal of Liberty on May 8, 1847, they acted out of spirit of activism that preceded and followed them. In response to an attempt by a man known as David Dunn to recapture Robert Cromwell who had escaped from Missouri, settled in Flint and then Detroit, these African American activists claimed a willingness to die for theirs and others freedom and thanked the citizens who came forward as well as the counsel who defended them with the case of Robert Cromwell. In response to the trial against Charles T. Gorham and others to determine the status of Sarah and Adam Crosswhite, DeBaptiste, Lambert, Henry Bibb, Benjamin F. Dade, Alfred Derrick, Richard Gordon, M.J. Lightfoot and James Maten issued another set of resolutions to the North Star one year after their submission to the Signal, on December 29, 1848. One of the four resolutions illustrates their public commitment to assisting those African Americans who were enslaved and those who escaped enslavement.

Resolved, That we will never voluntarily separate ourselves from the slave population in the country, for they are our fathers and mothers, and sisters and our brothers, their interest is our interest, their wrongs and their sufferings are ours, the injuries inflicted on them are alike inflicted on us; therefore it is our duty to aid and assist them in their attempts to regain their liberty.

Detroit resident's investments in Cromwell and the Crosswhites were no isolated events. In the years between the formation of the Michigan Territory and the end of slavery, Detroit served as the site of multiple acts of resistance as African Americans and European Americans participated in anti-slavery conventions, collective protest, secret meetings and legal battles. Six years before the Cromwell incident, in 1833, African American residents of Detroit collectively resisted the attempts of the Kentuckians who claimed to own Lucy and Thorton Blackburn and successfully assisted them in escaping to Canada.

Key figures in the struggle against slavery such as Henry W. Bibb, Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass, Gerrit Smith and John Brown spent varying amounts of time in the city working with Detroit activists to develop and implement strategies to end slavery. Bibb, for instance was born into slavery in Kentucky in 1815 and dramatically recounted his sufferings, escapes, and efforts to free his family in his 1850 autobiography, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written by Himself. Upon his final escape, he settled in Detroit, became active in politics, and traveled around the United States and Canada speaking on the injustice of slavery. His autobiography details some of his time in Michigan and particularly shows his alliance with European American Liberty Party supporters such as Seymour B. Treadwell. At the time that Bibb published his autobiography, some European American audiences and critics commonly questioned the authenticity of the work and stories of formerly enslaved African Americans who wrote narratives. With these doubts in mind, the Detroit Liberty Association, a committee of C.H. Stewart, A.L. Porter and Silas M. Holmes, a First Congregational Church member, verified Bibb's account by writing to people like Daniel S. Lane, the man who claimed ownership over Bibb in Kentucky. Bibb went on to publish the Voice of the Fugitive, the first Canadian black newspaper from 1851 to 1853.

Signal of Liberty, Bentley Historical Library

The North Star, Rochester, NY

William Lambert, FREEDOM'S RAILWAY: Reminiscences of the Brave Old Days of the Famous Underground Line Historic Scenes Recalled Detroit Tribune January 17, 1886.

Sandwich, Ontario Court Deposition, June 14, 1833.
Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written by Himself.
First Congregational Church records, Box A, folder 2