By: David Miller-Glick
Hatred, Resistance, Freedom, and Triumph: this Black History Month we take a look at the Christiana Uprising, a story about local heroes putting their lives on the line to protect their neighbors. This story is all the more relevant today as ICE kidnappings have a direct historical link to the slave catchers of the past.
One of those heroes was Henry Davis Green, a man of mixed racial background who was born in 1827 in Salisbury Township, Lancaster County. When the Fugitive Slave Act passed in 1850, allowing federal marshals to chase formerly enslaved people even in the northern states, Green took action. Along with several other free black folks, he helped form a group called the Organization for Mutual Protection. This semi-secret organization vowed to defend formerly enslaved people on their road to freedom.
Less than a year after joining, Green would fulfill that promise.
In September 1851, four formerly enslaved people were living peacefully in Pennsylvania. But that was too much for Edward Gorsuch, the wealthy man who had enslaved them in Maryland. He would lead a posse of 6 slave catchers to try and kidnap them and would end up getting far more than he bargained for.
The four formerly enslaved people – who were going by the names John Beard, Thomas Wilson, Alexander Scott, and Edward Thompson – would find refuge in William Parker’s house in Christiana, PA. Himself a formerly enslaved man, William stood his ground when the slave catchers arrived and refused entry. Aware of the danger, Eliza Parker – William’s wife – blew a horn to attract their neighbors’ attention.
Soon, the slave catcher posse was surrounded by Henry Davis Green and the other nearby members of the Organization for Mutual Protection. Many other neighbors arrived and a group of Quakers pleaded with Gorsuch and his posse to leave empty-handed. But Gorsuch was adamant about his right to enslave other human beings and as tensions escalated, a gunshot hit him square in the chest and killed him.
Federal Marshals and United States Marines would return to arrest and charge 4 white men and 35 black men with treason – including Henry Davis Green. But the prosecution was sloppy, and Thaddeus Stevens provided such a good defense, that the courts threw out every single conviction. In tribute to their bravery, residents of Christiana PA would name several streets after these courageous defenders of freedom.
The slave catchers of today have traded out their pointy pillowsheet hats for ICE badges. Many people compare ICE to the Gestapo, and while they are not wrong, it is easy to forget that the dehumanization and kidnapping of black and brown people is not new or foreign – it has been part of American history from the beginning. Nobody is coming to save us, so it is up to us to stand up for our neighbors.
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