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Working Class Calendar

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!workingclasscalendar@lemmy.world is a working class calendar inspired by the now (2023-06-25) closed reddit r/aPeoplesCalendar aPeoplesCalendar.org, where we can post daily events.

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The "Jerry Rescue" (1851) On this day in 1851, arrested fugitive slave William "Jerry" Henry was broken out of jail by hundreds of abolitionists in Syracuse, New York. Jerry and prominent members... (stahmaxffcqankienulh.supabase.co)
submitted 6 months ago by roig@lemmy.world to c/workingclasscalendar@lemmy.world
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The "Jerry Rescue" (1851)

Wed Oct 01, 1851

Image

Image: A monument to the Jerry Rescue

On this day in 1851, arrested fugitive slave William "Jerry" Henry was broken out of jail by hundreds of abolitionists in Syracuse, New York. Jerry and prominent members of the rescue fled to Canada afterward.

Earlier that year, the pro-slavery Secretary of State Daniel Webster had warned that the new Fugitive Slave Act (passed in 1850) would be enforced even "here in Syracuse in the midst of the next Anti-Slavery Convention." The arrest was considered a message that the locally-unpopular law would be enforced by federal authorities.

The abolitionist Liberty Party was holding a state convention in Syracuse and, when Jerry's arrest became known, several hundred abolitionists broke into the city jail and freed him. The event came to be widely known as the "Jerry Rescue".

Jerry himself was hidden in Syracuse for several days, then was taken to the Orson Ames House in Mexico, New York, and from there to Oswego, before crossing Lake Ontario into freedom in Canada. Many of the prominent members of the jailbreak also fled to Canada, including Reverend J.W. Loguen and Minister Samuel Ringgold Ward.

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[โ€“] redrumBot@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The same that in 1851

[โ€“] humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago

K.

Developing a strategic plan, the committee ensured Jerry would escape to freedom. They devised a plan that would rely on resistance without violence. Participants were carefully instructed to avoid injuring anyone. Stealthy and swift, the final plan would conceal Jerry in New York until it was safe for him to cross over the border to Canada. A horse and buggy would be stationed near the police station to transport Jerry. At a prearranged signal, the crowd would break into the police office building, surrounding the guards while Jerry was ushered out to the buggy.