Title: Mary Meachum. (1801-1869)
Description: Mary Meachum, wife of John Berry Meachum. She and her husband were both freed persons engaged in the efforts of the Underground Railroad through their church, home, and school. On the early morning of May, 21st of 1855 nine enslaved persons including four owned by Henry Shaw; Esther, her two children, and one unnamed male made their break for freedom utilizing the Underground Railroad with the assistance of Mary Meachum. They attempted crossing the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois. Unfortunately bounty hunters awaited them and they were soon captured and Mary Meachum would be jailed for the attempt. The location of this historic event on the banks of Mississippi River north of downtown St. Louis is today memorialized as the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing.
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Title | Mary Meachum. (1801-1869) |
Creator | |
Subject |
Abolition
African Americans
Bounty hunters
Churches
Educator
Enslaved People
Esther (Enslaved Person)
Freedwoman
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Fugitive slaves
Illinois
Literacy
Meachum, John Berry
Meachum, Mary
Mississippi River
Missouri
Saint Louis
Schools
Shaw, Henry, 1800-1889
Slavery
Steamboats
Underground Railroad
United States
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Relation | PHO |
Description | Mary Meachum, wife of John Berry Meachum. She and her husband were both freed persons engaged in the efforts of the Underground Railroad through their church, home, and school. On the early morning of May, 21st of 1855 nine enslaved persons including four owned by Henry Shaw; Esther, her two children, and one unnamed male made their break for freedom utilizing the Underground Railroad with the assistance of Mary Meachum. They attempted crossing the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois. Unfortunately bounty hunters awaited them and they were soon captured and Mary Meachum would be jailed for the attempt. The location of this historic event on the banks of Mississippi River north of downtown St. Louis is today memorialized as the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing. |
Publisher | Missouri Botanical Garden |
Contributor | Missouri Botanical Garden |
Date of original | |
Date scanned | |
Type | Image |
Format | TIF |
Identifier | PHO 2020-0051 |
Source | Photograph |
Language | |
Coverage | |
Rights | http://www.mobot.org/mobot/archives/copyright.asp |
Width of original | |
Height of original | |
Condition of original | good |
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