Edmonson sisters
Encyclopedia
Mary Edmonson and Emily Edmonson (1835–1895), "two respectable young women of light complexion", were African-American women who became celebrities
in the United States abolitionist
movement after gaining their freedom
from slavery
. They campaigned for the abolition of slavery.
, Mary and Emily were two of fourteen children who survived to adulthood, all of whom were born into slavery. Law common to all slave state
s decreed that the children of an enslaved mother inherited their mother's legal status.
Their father, Paul Edmonson, was set free
by his owner's will. Maryland was a state with a high percentage of free blacks. Most originated from those who had been freed in the first two decades after the American Revolution
, when slaveholders were encouraged to manumission by the principles of the war and active Quaker and Methodist preachers. By 1810, more than 10 percent of blacks in the Upper South were free, with most of them in Maryland and Delaware. By 1860, 49.7 percent of the blacks in Maryland were free.
Edmonson purchased land in the Norbeck area of Montgomery County, where he farmed and established his family. Amelia was allowed to live with her husband, but continued to work for her legal owner. The couple's children began work at an early age as servants, laborer
s and skilled worker
s. When they were old enough, the sisters were sent to work in an elite private home in nearby Washington, D.C.
under a type of lease arrangement, where their wages went to the slaveholder. This practice of hiring out grew from the shift away from the formerly labor-intensive tobacco plantation system, leaving planters in this part of the United States with too many slaves. They hired out slaves or sold them to traders for the Deep South. Many slaves worked as servants in homes and hotels. Men were sometimes hired out as craftsmen and artisans.
Pearl
docked on a Washington wharf
. The Edmonson sisters and four of their brothers joined a large group of slaves (a total of 76) in an attempt to reach the vessel and escape upon her to freedom in the North
. Starting as a modest attempt of escape for seven slaves, the effort had been widely communicated and organized within the communities of free blacks and slaves, changing it to a major and unified effort, without the knowledge of the white organizers or crew. In 1848 free blacks outnumbered slaves in the District of Columbia by three to one; the community demonstrated it could act in a unified way. Seventy-six slaves were allowed to board the Pearl, which was supposed to travel down the Potomac River
and up the Chesapeake Bay
to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
, from where they would travel up the Delaware River to freedom in Pennsylvania. At the time, Emily was 13 years old and Mary was 15 or 16.
The Pearl, with the fugitives
hidden among boxes, began its way down the Potomac. It was delayed overnight by the shift in tides and then had to wait out rough weather from its anchor down the bay. In Washington the alarm was raised in the morning as numerous slaveholders found their slaves had escaped. Historical accounts conflict and are not clear as to what details were known. Slaveholders put together a posse that went downriver on a steamboat
. The steamboat caught up with the Pearl and the posse seized it, towing it and its valuable cargo back to Washington, DC. If the posse had gone north to Baltimore, another likely escape route, the Pearl might have been successful.
When the Pearl arrived in Washington, a mob awaited the ship. Its two White
captains had to be taken into safety as pro-slavery people attacked them, as they had threatened their control of property. The fugitive slaves were taken to a local jail
. It was later reported that when somebody from the crowd asked the Edmonson girls if they were ashamed for what they had done, Emily replied proudly that they would do exactly the same thing again. Three days of riot
s and disturbances followed, as pro-slavery agitators attacked anti-slavery offices and presses in the city in an attempt to suppress the movement. Most of the masters of the fugitive slaves decided to sell them quickly to slave traders, rather than provide another chance to escape. Fifty of the slaves were taken by train to Baltimore, from where they were sold and transported to the Deep South.
bought the six Edmonson siblings. Under inhumane conditions, the siblings were transported by ship to New Orleans
. New Orleans was the largest slave market in the nation, and well known for selling "fancy girls" (pretty light-skinned enslaved young women) as sex slave
s.
Hamilton Edmonson, the eldest of the siblings, had already been living as a freeman for several years. He worked as a cooper
. With the help of donations from a Methodist
minister
arranged by their father, Hamilton arranged for the purchase of his brother Samuel Edmonson by a prosperous New Orleans cotton
merchant
to work as his butler
. When the merchant died in 1853, Samuel moved with that family and its other slaves to what is now the 1850 House in the Pontalba Buildings on Jackson Square.
In New Orleans, the other siblings were forced to stay for days in an open porch
facing the street waiting for buyers. The sisters were handled brusquely and exposed to obscene comments. Before the family could rescue the remainder of its members, a yellow fever
epidemic erupted in New Orleans. The slave traders transported the Edmonson sisters back to Alexandria as a measure to protect their investments.
Ephraim Edmonson and John Edmonson, two other brothers who had tried to escape on the Pearl, were kept in New Orleans. Their brother Hamilton worked for and eventually obtained their purchase and freedom.
, ironing
and sewing
, with wages going to the slave traders. They were locked up at night. Paul Edmonson continued his campaign to free his daughters while slave traders Bruin & Hill demanded $
2,250 for their release.
With letters from Washington-area supporters, Paul Edmonson met Henry Ward Beecher
, a young Congregationalist
preacher
newly arrived at a church in Brooklyn
. Beecher's church members raised the necessary funds to purchase the Edmonson sisters and give them freedom. Accompanied by William Chaplin, an abolitionist who had helped organize the Pearl escape attempt, Beecher went to Washington to arrange the transaction.
Mary Edmonson and Emily Edmonson were emancipated
on November 4, 1848. The family gathered for a celebration at another sister's house in Washington. Beecher's church
continued to contribute money to send the sisters to school for their education. They first enrolled at New York Central College, an interracial institution in Cortland, New York
. They also worked as cleaning servants to support themselves.
While studying, the sisters participated in anti-slavery rallies around New York state. The story of their slavery, escape attempt and suffering was often repeated. Beecher's son and biographer recorded that "this case at the time attracted wide attention."
At the rallies, the Edmonson sisters participated in mock slave auctions designed by Beecher to attract publicity to the abolitionist cause. In describing the role that women such as the Edmonson sisters played in these well-publicized and political acts of theater
, a scholar at the University of Maryland
asserted:
In summer 1850, the Edmonson sisters attended the Slave Law Convention, an anti-slavery meeting in Cazenovia, New York
organized by local abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld
and others to demonstrate against the Fugitive Slave Act soon to be passed by the U.S. Congress
. Under this act, slave owners had powers to arrest fugitive slaves in the North. The convention declared all slaves to be prisoners of war
and warned the nation of an unavoidable insurrection of slaves unless they were emancipated.
At this convention, the sisters were included in a historic daguerreotype
photograph
taken by Theodore Dwight Weld's brother, Ezra Greenleaf Weld
. Also included in the picture are abolitionist Abby Kelley Foster and the legendary orator Frederick Douglass
.
As can be seen in the photo, the Edmonson sisters' complexions were approximately the same as that of Douglass and were discernibly darker than Foster's. While there were many slaves "whom it was impossible to tell from a white", the Edmonson sisters' mixed-race appearance may have well suited their role as two of the "public faces" of American slavery.
in Ohio through the support of Beecher and his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe
, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin
. The school had admitted blacks as well as whites since its founding in the 1830s and was a center of abolitionist activism. Six months after arriving at Oberlin, Mary Edmonson died of tuberculosis
.
That same year, Stowe included part of the Edmonson sisters' history with other accounts of actual slavery experiences in A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin
.
. Located near the current Dupont Circle
, the school trained young African-American women to become teacher
s. For protection, the Edmonson family moved to a cabin on the grounds. Emily and Myrtilla Miner
, the founder of the school, learned to shoot
.
area and lived there for twelve years before moving to Anacostia
in Washington, DC. There they purchased land and became founding members of the Hillsdale community. At least one of their children was born in Montgomery County, Maryland before their move to Anacostia.
Edmonson maintained her relationship with fellow Anacostia resident Frederick Douglass
, and both continued working in the abolitionist movement. Even after the ratification of the 13th Amendment
, they remained so close that Emily's granddaughters observed that they were like "brother and sister." Emily Edmonson Johnson died at her home on September 15, 1895.
In 2010, a 10 feet (3 m) bronze sculpture of the two sisters by sculptor Erik Blome was installed at 1701 Duke Street in what is now Alexandria, Virginia
next to the building that was Bruin's slave holding facility (now a private office).
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
in the United States abolitionist
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
movement after gaining their freedom
Freedom (political)
Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies...
from slavery
History of slavery in the United States
Slavery in the United States was a form of slave labor which existed as a legal institution in North America for more than a century before the founding of the United States in 1776, and continued mostly in the South until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in...
. They campaigned for the abolition of slavery.
Early life
The Edmonson sisters were the daughters of Paul and Amelia Edmonson, a free black man and an enslaved woman. Born in Montgomery County, MarylandMontgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...
, Mary and Emily were two of fourteen children who survived to adulthood, all of whom were born into slavery. Law common to all slave state
Slave state
In the United States of America prior to the American Civil War, a slave state was a U.S. state in which slavery was legal, whereas a free state was one in which slavery was either prohibited from its entry into the Union or eliminated over time...
s decreed that the children of an enslaved mother inherited their mother's legal status.
Their father, Paul Edmonson, was set free
Manumission
Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished most slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.-Motivations:The...
by his owner's will. Maryland was a state with a high percentage of free blacks. Most originated from those who had been freed in the first two decades after the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, when slaveholders were encouraged to manumission by the principles of the war and active Quaker and Methodist preachers. By 1810, more than 10 percent of blacks in the Upper South were free, with most of them in Maryland and Delaware. By 1860, 49.7 percent of the blacks in Maryland were free.
Edmonson purchased land in the Norbeck area of Montgomery County, where he farmed and established his family. Amelia was allowed to live with her husband, but continued to work for her legal owner. The couple's children began work at an early age as servants, laborer
Laborer
A Laborer or labourer - see variation in english spelling - is one of the construction trades, traditionally considered unskilled manual labor, as opposed to skilled labor. In the division of labor, laborers have all blasting, hand tools, power tools, air tools, and small heavy equipment, and act...
s and skilled worker
Skilled worker
A skilled worker is any worker who has some special skill, knowledge, or ability in their work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Or, a skilled worker may have learned their skills on the job...
s. When they were old enough, the sisters were sent to work in an elite private home in nearby Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
under a type of lease arrangement, where their wages went to the slaveholder. This practice of hiring out grew from the shift away from the formerly labor-intensive tobacco plantation system, leaving planters in this part of the United States with too many slaves. They hired out slaves or sold them to traders for the Deep South. Many slaves worked as servants in homes and hotels. Men were sometimes hired out as craftsmen and artisans.
Escape attempt
On April 15, 1848, the sea vesselShip
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
Pearl
Pearl incident
The Pearl Incident was the largest recorded escape attempt by slaves in the United States. On April 15, 1848, seventy-six slaves attempted to escape Washington D.C. in part by travelling on a riverboat called The Pearl. Paul Jennings was one of the organizers of this incident...
docked on a Washington wharf
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
. The Edmonson sisters and four of their brothers joined a large group of slaves (a total of 76) in an attempt to reach the vessel and escape upon her to freedom in the North
Free state
Free state may refer to:* Free state , a loosely defined term used by various states at different times and places to describe themselves...
. Starting as a modest attempt of escape for seven slaves, the effort had been widely communicated and organized within the communities of free blacks and slaves, changing it to a major and unified effort, without the knowledge of the white organizers or crew. In 1848 free blacks outnumbered slaves in the District of Columbia by three to one; the community demonstrated it could act in a unified way. Seventy-six slaves were allowed to board the Pearl, which was supposed to travel down the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
and up the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is a 14-mile long, 450-foot wide and 40-foot deep ship canal that cuts across the states of Maryland and Delaware, in the United States. It connects the waters of the Delaware River with those of the Chesapeake Bay and the Port of Baltimore...
, from where they would travel up the Delaware River to freedom in Pennsylvania. At the time, Emily was 13 years old and Mary was 15 or 16.
The Pearl, with the fugitives
Fugitive slave
In the history of slavery in the United States, "fugitive slaves" were slaves who had escaped from their master to travel to a place where slavery was banned or illegal. Many went to northern territories including Pennsylvania and Massachusetts until the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed...
hidden among boxes, began its way down the Potomac. It was delayed overnight by the shift in tides and then had to wait out rough weather from its anchor down the bay. In Washington the alarm was raised in the morning as numerous slaveholders found their slaves had escaped. Historical accounts conflict and are not clear as to what details were known. Slaveholders put together a posse that went downriver on a steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
. The steamboat caught up with the Pearl and the posse seized it, towing it and its valuable cargo back to Washington, DC. If the posse had gone north to Baltimore, another likely escape route, the Pearl might have been successful.
When the Pearl arrived in Washington, a mob awaited the ship. Its two White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
captains had to be taken into safety as pro-slavery people attacked them, as they had threatened their control of property. The fugitive slaves were taken to a local jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
. It was later reported that when somebody from the crowd asked the Edmonson girls if they were ashamed for what they had done, Emily replied proudly that they would do exactly the same thing again. Three days of riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
s and disturbances followed, as pro-slavery agitators attacked anti-slavery offices and presses in the city in an attempt to suppress the movement. Most of the masters of the fugitive slaves decided to sell them quickly to slave traders, rather than provide another chance to escape. Fifty of the slaves were taken by train to Baltimore, from where they were sold and transported to the Deep South.
New Orleans
Despite Paul Edmonson's desperate efforts to delay the sale of his children so he could raise sufficient money to purchase their freedom, slave trading partners Bruin & Hill from Alexandria, VirginiaAlexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
bought the six Edmonson siblings. Under inhumane conditions, the siblings were transported by ship to New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. New Orleans was the largest slave market in the nation, and well known for selling "fancy girls" (pretty light-skinned enslaved young women) as sex slave
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
s.
Hamilton Edmonson, the eldest of the siblings, had already been living as a freeman for several years. He worked as a cooper
Cooper (profession)
Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...
. With the help of donations from a Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
minister
Minister of religion
In Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community...
arranged by their father, Hamilton arranged for the purchase of his brother Samuel Edmonson by a prosperous New Orleans cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
to work as his butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
. When the merchant died in 1853, Samuel moved with that family and its other slaves to what is now the 1850 House in the Pontalba Buildings on Jackson Square.
In New Orleans, the other siblings were forced to stay for days in an open porch
Porch
A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...
facing the street waiting for buyers. The sisters were handled brusquely and exposed to obscene comments. Before the family could rescue the remainder of its members, a yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
epidemic erupted in New Orleans. The slave traders transported the Edmonson sisters back to Alexandria as a measure to protect their investments.
Ephraim Edmonson and John Edmonson, two other brothers who had tried to escape on the Pearl, were kept in New Orleans. Their brother Hamilton worked for and eventually obtained their purchase and freedom.
Henry Ward Beecher
In Alexandria, the Edmonson sisters spent their days launderingLaundry
Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...
, ironing
Ironing
Ironing is the use of a heated tool to remove wrinkles from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180-220 °Celsius, depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the long-chain polymer molecules in the fibers of the material...
and sewing
Sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...
, with wages going to the slave traders. They were locked up at night. Paul Edmonson continued his campaign to free his daughters while slave traders Bruin & Hill demanded $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
2,250 for their release.
With letters from Washington-area supporters, Paul Edmonson met Henry Ward Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher was a prominent Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th century...
, a young Congregationalist
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
newly arrived at a church in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. Beecher's church members raised the necessary funds to purchase the Edmonson sisters and give them freedom. Accompanied by William Chaplin, an abolitionist who had helped organize the Pearl escape attempt, Beecher went to Washington to arrange the transaction.
Mary Edmonson and Emily Edmonson were emancipated
Emancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...
on November 4, 1848. The family gathered for a celebration at another sister's house in Washington. Beecher's church
Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims
Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims is a church in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City. It was a station of the Underground Railroad, and the pulpit of Henry Ward Beecher, its first pastor...
continued to contribute money to send the sisters to school for their education. They first enrolled at New York Central College, an interracial institution in Cortland, New York
Cortland, New York
Cortland is a city in Cortland County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 18,740. It is the county seat of Cortland County.The City of Cortland, near the west border of the county, is surrounded by the Town of Cortlandville....
. They also worked as cleaning servants to support themselves.
While studying, the sisters participated in anti-slavery rallies around New York state. The story of their slavery, escape attempt and suffering was often repeated. Beecher's son and biographer recorded that "this case at the time attracted wide attention."
At the rallies, the Edmonson sisters participated in mock slave auctions designed by Beecher to attract publicity to the abolitionist cause. In describing the role that women such as the Edmonson sisters played in these well-publicized and political acts of theater
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, a scholar at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
asserted:
Fugitive Slave Law convention
Cazenovia, New York
Cazenovia is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 6,481 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Theophilus Cazenove, an agent of the Holland Land Company.The Town of Cazenovia has a village also named Cazenovia...
organized by local abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld
Theodore Dwight Weld
Theodore Dwight Weld , was one of the leading architects of the American abolitionist movement during its formative years, from 1830 through 1844.Weld played a role as writer, editor, speaker, and organizer...
and others to demonstrate against the Fugitive Slave Act soon to be passed by the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
. Under this act, slave owners had powers to arrest fugitive slaves in the North. The convention declared all slaves to be prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
and warned the nation of an unavoidable insurrection of slaves unless they were emancipated.
At this convention, the sisters were included in a historic daguerreotype
Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
taken by Theodore Dwight Weld's brother, Ezra Greenleaf Weld
Ezra Greenleaf Weld
Ezra Greenleaf Weld , often known simply as "Greenleaf", was a photographer and an operator of a daguerreotype studio in Cazenovia, New York. He and his family were involved with the abolitionist movement.-Family:...
. Also included in the picture are abolitionist Abby Kelley Foster and the legendary orator Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
.
As can be seen in the photo, the Edmonson sisters' complexions were approximately the same as that of Douglass and were discernibly darker than Foster's. While there were many slaves "whom it was impossible to tell from a white", the Edmonson sisters' mixed-race appearance may have well suited their role as two of the "public faces" of American slavery.
Oberlin College
In 1853, the Edmonson sisters attended the Young Ladies Preparatory School at Oberlin CollegeOberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
in Ohio through the support of Beecher and his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom...
, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
. The school had admitted blacks as well as whites since its founding in the 1830s and was a center of abolitionist activism. Six months after arriving at Oberlin, Mary Edmonson died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
That same year, Stowe included part of the Edmonson sisters' history with other accounts of actual slavery experiences in A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin
A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin
A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin is a book by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was published to document the veracity of the depiction of slavery in Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin...
.
Normal School for Colored Girls
Eighteen-year-old Emily returned to Washington with her father, where she enrolled in the Normal School for Colored GirlsNormal School for Colored Girls
The Normal School for Colored Girls established in Washington, D.C. in 1851, was an institution of learning and training for young African-American women, especially so that they might become teachers...
. Located near the current Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood, and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, P Street NW, and 19th Street NW...
, the school trained young African-American women to become teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s. For protection, the Edmonson family moved to a cabin on the grounds. Emily and Myrtilla Miner
Myrtilla Miner
Myrtilla Miner was an American educator and abolitionist whose school for African Americans, established against considerable opposition, grew to a successful and long-lived teachers institution.Miner was educated at the Clover Street Seminary in Rochester, New York , and taught at various schools,...
, the founder of the school, learned to shoot
Shooting
Shooting is the act or process of firing rifles, shotguns or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, rockets and missiles can be called shooting. A person who specializes in shooting is a marksman...
.
Later life
At age 25 in 1860, Emily Edmonson married Larkin Johnson. They returned to the Sandy Spring, MarylandSandy Spring, Maryland
Sandy Spring, Maryland is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland.The community was founded by Quakers who arrived in the early 18th century searching for land where they could grow tobacco and corn. One of the very early land owners in the Sandy Spring area was Richard Snowden,...
area and lived there for twelve years before moving to Anacostia
Anacostia
Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Its historic downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue It is the most famous neighborhood in the Southeast quadrant of Washington, located east of the Anacostia River, after which the...
in Washington, DC. There they purchased land and became founding members of the Hillsdale community. At least one of their children was born in Montgomery County, Maryland before their move to Anacostia.
Edmonson maintained her relationship with fellow Anacostia resident Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
, and both continued working in the abolitionist movement. Even after the ratification of the 13th Amendment
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
, they remained so close that Emily's granddaughters observed that they were like "brother and sister." Emily Edmonson Johnson died at her home on September 15, 1895.
In 2010, a 10 feet (3 m) bronze sculpture of the two sisters by sculptor Erik Blome was installed at 1701 Duke Street in what is now Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
next to the building that was Bruin's slave holding facility (now a private office).
Additional reading
- Debby Applegate, The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher (Doubleday, June 2006) ISBN 0385513976
- Stanley Harrold, Subversives: Antislavery Community in Washington, D.C., 1828-1865 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003)
- Mary Kay Ricks, Escape on the Pearl: The Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Railroad (HarperCollins Publishers, January 2007) ISBN 0060786604
- Hilary Russell, "Underground Railroad Activists in Washington, D.C.", Washington History 13. no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2002): pp. 38–39.