Laura Smith Haviland
Encyclopedia
Laura Smith Haviland was an American abolitionist, suffragette
, and social reformer. She was an important figure in the history of the Underground Railroad
.
, Canada
to American parents, Daniel Smith and Asenath “Sene” Blancher, who had immigrated shortly before her birth. Haviland wrote that Daniel was ’’a man of ability and influence, of clear perceptions, and strong reasoning powers,’’ while her mother Sene was ’’of a gentler turn, …a quiet spirit, benevolent and kind to all, and much beloved by all who knew her.’’ The Smiths, farmers of modest means, were devout members of the Society of Friends, better known as Quakers. Haviland’s father was a minister in the Society and her mother was an Elder
.
Though the Quakers dressed plainly, and strictly forbade dancing, singing, and other pursuits they deemed frivolous, many of their views were progressive by the standards of the day. The Quakers encouraged the equal education of men and women, an extraordinarily forward-thinking position in an age when most individuals were illiterate, and providing a woman with a thorough education was largely viewed as unnecessary. They also allowed women to act as ministers. While most Quakers did not agitate vocally for abolition, the majority condemned slavery as brutal and unjust. It was in this atmosphere that Haviland was raised.
In 1815, her family left Canada and returned to the United States, settling in the remote and sparsely populated town of Cambria
, in western New York
. At the time there was no school near their home, and for the next six years Haviland’s education consisted of little more than "a spelling lesson" given to her daily by her mother. Haviland described herself as an inquisitive child, deeply interested in the workings of the world around her, who a young age began questioning her parents about everything from scripture to Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation. Once she had mastered spelling, Haviland supplemented her meager education by devouring every book she could borrow from friends, relatives, and neighbors, reading everything from religious material to serious historical studies.
At sixteen, Laura met Charles Haviland, Jr., a devout young Quaker, whose parents were both respected ministers. They were married on November 11, 1825, at Lockport, New York. According to Laura, Charles was a devoted husband and theirs was a happy marriage. They were the parents of eight children.
The Havilands spent the first four years of their marriage in Royalton Township, near Lockport, New York, before moving in September, 1829, to Raisin
, Lenawee County
in the Michigan Territory
. They settled three miles (5 km) from the homestead her parents acquired four years earlier. Michigan was then a largely unsettled wilderness, but land was cheap, and there were a number of other Quakers in the vicinity.
's history of the slave-trade, made an indelible impression.
Haviland and other members of the Raisin community helped Elizabeth Margaret Chandler
organize the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1832. It was the first anti-slavery organization in Michigan. Five years later, in 1837, Haviland and her husband founded a "manual labor school…designed for indigent children," which was later known as the Raisin Institute. Haviland instructed the girls in household chores, while her husband and one of her brothers, Harvey Smith, taught the boys to perform farm work. At the Havilands' insistence, the school was open to all children, “regardless of race, creed, or sex.” It was the first racially integrated school in Michigan
. Some of Haviland's white students, upon learning they were to study with African Americans, threatened to leave. Most were persuaded to remain, however, and Laura wrote that once the students were together in the classroom their prejudices “soon melted away.”
In 1838, Harvey Smith sold his farm, and the proceeds were used to erect accommodations for fifty students. The Havilands expanded the school’s curriculum, operating it more closely along the lines of traditional elementary and secondary schools. They then hired a graduate of Oberlin College
to serve as the school's principal. Due to their diligence, the Raisin Institute was soon recognized as one of the best schools in the Territory.
As the Havilands became more actively involved in anti-slavery work, tensions grew within the Quaker community. There was a split between the so-called “radical abolitionists,” like the Havilands, who wanted immediate emancipation, and the majority of Orthodox Quakers. Although the Quakers condemned slavery, most did not approve of active participation in abolitionist societies. By 1839, in order to continue with their abolitionist work, the Havilands, her parents, and fourteen other like-minded Quakers, felt compelled to resign their membership. They then joined a group of Methodists known as the Wesleyans, who were equally devoted to the abolitionist cause.
In the spring of 1845, an epidemic of erysipelas
killed six members of Haviland's family, including both of her parents, her husband, and her youngest child. Haviland also fell ill, but survived. At thirty-six, Haviland found herself a widow with seven children to support, a farm to run, the Raisin Institute to manage, and substantial debts to repay. Sadly, just two years later tragedy struck again, when her eldest son died. Due to lack of funds, Haviland was forced to close the Raisin Institute in 1849.
In spite of her personal losses, she continued with her abolitionist work, and in 1851, she helped organize the Refugee Home Society in Windsor, Ontario
, Canada. Fugitive slaves were settled there, a church and school were erected for them, and each family was given twenty-five acres to farm. Laura remained on for several months as the settlement’s teacher. She then traveled to Ohio, where, with her daughter Anna, she founded schools for African American children in Cincinnati
and Toledo
, Ohio
.
By 1856, she had raised enough funds to reopen the Raisin Institute, and returned to Michigan. The new curriculum included having former slaves give lectures about the realities of life on a slave plantation. The Institute closed once again in 1864, after most of the staff, and some of the students, enlisted to fight during the Civil War
.
station established in Michigan. After her husband’s death, Haviland continued to shelter fugitive slaves in her home, in some cases, personally escorting them to Canada.
She also traveled to the South on multiple occasions to aid escaped slaves. Her first trip was made in 1846, in an effort to free the children of fugitive slaves, Willis and Elsie Hamilton. The children were still in the possession of their mother's former slave owner, John P. Chester, a tavern-keeper in Washington County, Tennessee.
Chester had learned of the Hamilton's whereabouts and sent slave-catchers after them. When that failed, Chester attempted to lure the Hamiltons to his plantation with the promise that they would be treated as freedmen and reunited with their children. Suspecting a trap, Haviland went to Tennessee
in their place, accompanied by her son Daniel and a student from the Raisin Institute, James Martin, who posed as Willis Hamilton. Mr. Chester became irate once he realized Willis Hamilton was not with Mrs. Haviland. He held the trio at gunpoint, threatening to murder them, kidnap James Martin, and enslave him in Willis Hamilton’s stead. They managed to escape, but Mr. Chester did not forget Laura Haviland. His family would continue to haunt her for fifteen years, pursuing her legally in court and privately with slave catchers, while barraging her with derogatory letters. The following letter was sent by Chester’s son, Thomas K. Chester, in February 1847. It’s provides a good example of the tone which permeated the Chester family’s correspondence with Haviland:
Haviland responded, sarcastically thanking him for naming the child after her family and stating that she hoped "like Moses, may he become instrumental in leading his people away from a worse bondage than that of Egypt." Enraged by what he deemed her insolence, Thomas Chester placed a bounty on Haviland’s head. All throughout the South he circulated "hand-bills" (fliers) describing Mrs. Haviland, detailing her abolitionist work, naming her place of residence and offering $3000, a considerable sum at the time, to anyone willing to kidnap or murder her on his behalf.
Three years later, after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, the Chester family attempted to have Haviland tried under the new statute for “stealing” their slaves. Haviland not only ran the risk of being physically harmed by angry slave-owners, like the Chesters, or their slave-catchers, if found guilty of violating the Fugitive Slave Law she would also be subject to hefty fines and imprisonment. Still, Haviland was determined to continue with her work, no matter what the personal cost:
Fortunately for Haviland, her case was brought before Judge Ross Wilkins, who sympathized with the abolitionists. The Chesters attempted to regain possession of the Hamiltons by force, but were prevented by Haviland and her neighbors. Judge Wilkins delayed her case, allowing Haviland to help the Hamiltons escape to Canada. In the end, Haviland evaded legal punishment.
In addition to another failed rescue attempt, detailed in her autobiography, Haviland later made other, more successful journeys south that went unmentioned in her memoirs. In the guise of a white cook, and once even posing as a fair skinned free person of color
, she visited plantations and managed to help some slaves escape north.
During the Civil War, Laura toured many refugee camps and hospitals, even venturing onto the frontlines, to distribute supplies to displaced citizens, freed slaves, and soldiers.
In the spring of 1865, the commissioner of the newly created Freedmen’s Bureau, General Oliver O. Howard
, named Haviland Inspector of Hospitals. Haviland’s actual duties consisted of far more than inspecting hospitals. She spent the next two years traveling through Virginia
, Tennessee
, Kansas
and Washington, D.C.
, distributing supplies, reporting on the living conditions of Freedmen and indigent whites, organizing refugee camps, establishing schools, working as a teacher, volunteering as a nurse at Freedmen's hospitals, and giving public lectures. In an effort to help whites understand what the Freedmen had endured under slavery, she toured abandoned plantations and collected chains, irons, restraints, and other implements which had been used on slaves. Haviland transported these items north and exhibited them during her lectures. She also met personally with President Andrew Johnson
to petition for the release of former slaves still being held in Southern prisons for attempting years before to escape slavery.
While working at the Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., Haviland met and befriended Sojourner Truth
, who later recalled an incident that took place one day when they had gone into to town to get supplies. Haviland suggested they take a street car back to the hospital. Truth described what happened next as follows:
Haviland abandoned her work in Washington, D.C., to return to Michigan and help the children. She managed to collect enough donations to purchase the orphanage and began to manage it herself. By 1870, funds were extremely scarce. The situation became so dire that, at Haviland’s urging, the state took over the orphanage and it became the Michigan Orphan Asylum.
Laura Haviland died on April 20, 1898 in Grand Rapids, Michigan
, at the home of her brother, Samuel Smith. She is buried next to her husband in the Raisin Valley Cemetery in Adrian, Michigan.
Symbolically, at Haviland’s funeral, hymns were sung by a choir of white and African American singers, and then her casket was carried to the grave by a group white and African American pall-bearers.
In recognition of her efforts, the town of Haviland, Kansas
was named in her honor. A statue of Laura Haviland stands in front of the city hall in Adrian, Michigan. The inscription on the statue reads:
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
, and social reformer. She was an important figure in the history of the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
.
Early years and family
Laura Smith Haviland was born on December 20, 1808, in Kitley Township, OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to American parents, Daniel Smith and Asenath “Sene” Blancher, who had immigrated shortly before her birth. Haviland wrote that Daniel was ’’a man of ability and influence, of clear perceptions, and strong reasoning powers,’’ while her mother Sene was ’’of a gentler turn, …a quiet spirit, benevolent and kind to all, and much beloved by all who knew her.’’ The Smiths, farmers of modest means, were devout members of the Society of Friends, better known as Quakers. Haviland’s father was a minister in the Society and her mother was an Elder
Elder
Elder is a surname that means "older than you".* American Indian elder-In religion:* Elder , person valued for his wisdom who accordingly holds a particular position of responsibility in a Christian group** Elder...
.
Though the Quakers dressed plainly, and strictly forbade dancing, singing, and other pursuits they deemed frivolous, many of their views were progressive by the standards of the day. The Quakers encouraged the equal education of men and women, an extraordinarily forward-thinking position in an age when most individuals were illiterate, and providing a woman with a thorough education was largely viewed as unnecessary. They also allowed women to act as ministers. While most Quakers did not agitate vocally for abolition, the majority condemned slavery as brutal and unjust. It was in this atmosphere that Haviland was raised.
In 1815, her family left Canada and returned to the United States, settling in the remote and sparsely populated town of Cambria
Cambria, New York
Cambria is a town in Niagara County, New York, USA. The population was 5,839 at the 2010 census. Cambria is an early name for Wales.The Town of Cambria is in the center of Niagara County.New York State Route 93 passes through the town.- History :...
, in western New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. At the time there was no school near their home, and for the next six years Haviland’s education consisted of little more than "a spelling lesson" given to her daily by her mother. Haviland described herself as an inquisitive child, deeply interested in the workings of the world around her, who a young age began questioning her parents about everything from scripture to Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation. Once she had mastered spelling, Haviland supplemented her meager education by devouring every book she could borrow from friends, relatives, and neighbors, reading everything from religious material to serious historical studies.
At sixteen, Laura met Charles Haviland, Jr., a devout young Quaker, whose parents were both respected ministers. They were married on November 11, 1825, at Lockport, New York. According to Laura, Charles was a devoted husband and theirs was a happy marriage. They were the parents of eight children.
The Havilands spent the first four years of their marriage in Royalton Township, near Lockport, New York, before moving in September, 1829, to Raisin
Raisin Township, Michigan
Raisin Charter Township is a charter township of Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,507 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, Lenawee County
Lenawee County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 98,890 people, 35,930 households, and 26,049 families residing in the county. The population density was 132 people per square mile . There were 39,769 housing units at an average density of 53 per square mile...
in the Michigan Territory
Michigan Territory
The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan...
. They settled three miles (5 km) from the homestead her parents acquired four years earlier. Michigan was then a largely unsettled wilderness, but land was cheap, and there were a number of other Quakers in the vicinity.
Anti-slavery work and the Raisin Institute
Haviland vividly recalled seeing African Americans verbally abused, and even physically assaulted, in Lockport, New York, when she was a child. These experiences, combined with the horrific descriptions in John WoolmanJohn Woolman
John Woolman was an American itinerant Quaker preacher who traveled throughout the American colonies and in England, advocating against cruelty to animals, economic injustices and oppression, conscription, military taxation, and particularly slavery and the slave trade.- Origins and early life...
's history of the slave-trade, made an indelible impression.
- "The pictures of these crowded slave-ships, with the cruelties of the slave system after they were brought to our country, often affected me to tears...My sympathies became too deeply enlisted for the poor negroes who were thus enslaved for time to efface."
Haviland and other members of the Raisin community helped Elizabeth Margaret Chandler
Elizabeth Margaret Chandler
Elizabeth Margaret Chandler was a noted poet and writer of Pennsylvania and Michigan. She became the first woman writer in America to make the abolition of slavery her principal theme.-Early life:...
organize the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1832. It was the first anti-slavery organization in Michigan. Five years later, in 1837, Haviland and her husband founded a "manual labor school…designed for indigent children," which was later known as the Raisin Institute. Haviland instructed the girls in household chores, while her husband and one of her brothers, Harvey Smith, taught the boys to perform farm work. At the Havilands' insistence, the school was open to all children, “regardless of race, creed, or sex.” It was the first racially integrated school in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Some of Haviland's white students, upon learning they were to study with African Americans, threatened to leave. Most were persuaded to remain, however, and Laura wrote that once the students were together in the classroom their prejudices “soon melted away.”
In 1838, Harvey Smith sold his farm, and the proceeds were used to erect accommodations for fifty students. The Havilands expanded the school’s curriculum, operating it more closely along the lines of traditional elementary and secondary schools. They then hired a graduate of Oberlin College
Oberlin 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...
to serve as the school's principal. Due to their diligence, the Raisin Institute was soon recognized as one of the best schools in the Territory.
As the Havilands became more actively involved in anti-slavery work, tensions grew within the Quaker community. There was a split between the so-called “radical abolitionists,” like the Havilands, who wanted immediate emancipation, and the majority of Orthodox Quakers. Although the Quakers condemned slavery, most did not approve of active participation in abolitionist societies. By 1839, in order to continue with their abolitionist work, the Havilands, her parents, and fourteen other like-minded Quakers, felt compelled to resign their membership. They then joined a group of Methodists known as the Wesleyans, who were equally devoted to the abolitionist cause.
In the spring of 1845, an epidemic of erysipelas
Erysipelas
Erysipelas is an acute streptococcus bacterial infection of the deep epidermis with lymphatic spread.-Risk factors:...
killed six members of Haviland's family, including both of her parents, her husband, and her youngest child. Haviland also fell ill, but survived. At thirty-six, Haviland found herself a widow with seven children to support, a farm to run, the Raisin Institute to manage, and substantial debts to repay. Sadly, just two years later tragedy struck again, when her eldest son died. Due to lack of funds, Haviland was forced to close the Raisin Institute in 1849.
In spite of her personal losses, she continued with her abolitionist work, and in 1851, she helped organize the Refugee Home Society in Windsor, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
, Canada. Fugitive slaves were settled there, a church and school were erected for them, and each family was given twenty-five acres to farm. Laura remained on for several months as the settlement’s teacher. She then traveled to Ohio, where, with her daughter Anna, she founded schools for African American children in Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
and Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
.
By 1856, she had raised enough funds to reopen the Raisin Institute, and returned to Michigan. The new curriculum included having former slaves give lectures about the realities of life on a slave plantation. The Institute closed once again in 1864, after most of the staff, and some of the students, enlisted to fight during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Work for the Underground Railroad
During the 1830s, the Haviland family began hiding runaway slaves on their farm. Their home became the first Underground RailroadUnderground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
station established in Michigan. After her husband’s death, Haviland continued to shelter fugitive slaves in her home, in some cases, personally escorting them to Canada.
She also traveled to the South on multiple occasions to aid escaped slaves. Her first trip was made in 1846, in an effort to free the children of fugitive slaves, Willis and Elsie Hamilton. The children were still in the possession of their mother's former slave owner, John P. Chester, a tavern-keeper in Washington County, Tennessee.
Chester had learned of the Hamilton's whereabouts and sent slave-catchers after them. When that failed, Chester attempted to lure the Hamiltons to his plantation with the promise that they would be treated as freedmen and reunited with their children. Suspecting a trap, Haviland went to Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
in their place, accompanied by her son Daniel and a student from the Raisin Institute, James Martin, who posed as Willis Hamilton. Mr. Chester became irate once he realized Willis Hamilton was not with Mrs. Haviland. He held the trio at gunpoint, threatening to murder them, kidnap James Martin, and enslave him in Willis Hamilton’s stead. They managed to escape, but Mr. Chester did not forget Laura Haviland. His family would continue to haunt her for fifteen years, pursuing her legally in court and privately with slave catchers, while barraging her with derogatory letters. The following letter was sent by Chester’s son, Thomas K. Chester, in February 1847. It’s provides a good example of the tone which permeated the Chester family’s correspondence with Haviland:
- "...By your cunning villainies you have deprived us of our just rights, of our own property.... Thanks be to an all wise and provident God that, my father has more of that sable kind of busy fellows, greasy, slick, and fat; and they are not cheated to death out of their hard earnings by villainous and infernal abolitionists, whose philanthropy is interest, and whose only desire is to swindle the slave-holder out of his own property, and convert its labor to their own infernal aggrandizement...Who do you think would parley with a thief, a robber of man's just rights, recognized by the glorious Constitution of our Union! Such a condescension would damn an honest man, would put modesty to the blush. What! To engage in a contest with you? A rogue, a damnable thief, a Negro thief, an out-breaker, a criminal in the sight of all honest men; ... I would rather be caught with another man's sheep on my back than to engage in such a subject, and with such an individual as old Laura Haviland, a damned nigger-stealer...
- You can tell Elsie that since our return my father bought her eldest daughter; that she is now his property and the mother of a likely boy, that I call Daniel Haviland after your pretty son.... What do you think your portion will be at the great Day of Judgment? I think it will be the inner temple of hell."
Haviland responded, sarcastically thanking him for naming the child after her family and stating that she hoped "like Moses, may he become instrumental in leading his people away from a worse bondage than that of Egypt." Enraged by what he deemed her insolence, Thomas Chester placed a bounty on Haviland’s head. All throughout the South he circulated "hand-bills" (fliers) describing Mrs. Haviland, detailing her abolitionist work, naming her place of residence and offering $3000, a considerable sum at the time, to anyone willing to kidnap or murder her on his behalf.
Three years later, after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, the Chester family attempted to have Haviland tried under the new statute for “stealing” their slaves. Haviland not only ran the risk of being physically harmed by angry slave-owners, like the Chesters, or their slave-catchers, if found guilty of violating the Fugitive Slave Law she would also be subject to hefty fines and imprisonment. Still, Haviland was determined to continue with her work, no matter what the personal cost:
- "…I would not for my right hand become instrumental in returning one escaped slave to bondage. I firmly, believe in our Declaration of Independence, that all men are created free and equal, and that no human being has a right to make merchandise of others born in humbler stations, and place them on a level with horses, cattle, and sheep, knocking them off the auction-block to the highest bidder, sundering family ties, and outraging the purest and tenderest feelings of human nature."
Fortunately for Haviland, her case was brought before Judge Ross Wilkins, who sympathized with the abolitionists. The Chesters attempted to regain possession of the Hamiltons by force, but were prevented by Haviland and her neighbors. Judge Wilkins delayed her case, allowing Haviland to help the Hamiltons escape to Canada. In the end, Haviland evaded legal punishment.
In addition to another failed rescue attempt, detailed in her autobiography, Haviland later made other, more successful journeys south that went unmentioned in her memoirs. In the guise of a white cook, and once even posing as a fair skinned free person of color
Free people of color
A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
, she visited plantations and managed to help some slaves escape north.
Civil War and Reconstruction
In the spring of 1865, the commissioner of the newly created Freedmen’s Bureau, General Oliver O. Howard
Oliver O. Howard
Oliver Otis Howard was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War...
, named Haviland Inspector of Hospitals. Haviland’s actual duties consisted of far more than inspecting hospitals. She spent the next two years traveling through Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and 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....
, distributing supplies, reporting on the living conditions of Freedmen and indigent whites, organizing refugee camps, establishing schools, working as a teacher, volunteering as a nurse at Freedmen's hospitals, and giving public lectures. In an effort to help whites understand what the Freedmen had endured under slavery, she toured abandoned plantations and collected chains, irons, restraints, and other implements which had been used on slaves. Haviland transported these items north and exhibited them during her lectures. She also met personally with President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
to petition for the release of former slaves still being held in Southern prisons for attempting years before to escape slavery.
While working at the Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., Haviland met and befriended Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, she...
, who later recalled an incident that took place one day when they had gone into to town to get supplies. Haviland suggested they take a street car back to the hospital. Truth described what happened next as follows:
- "As Mrs. Haviland signaled the car, I stepped to one side as if to continue my walk and when it stopped I ran and jumped aboard. The conductor pushed me back, saying, ‘Get out of the way and let this lady come in.' I said ‘I am a lady, too.’ We went with no further opposition ‘til we were obliged to change cars. A man coming out as we were going into the next car asked if 'niggers were allowed to ride.' The conductor grabbed me by the shoulder and jerking me around, ordered me to get out. I told him I would not."
- "Mrs. Haviland took hold of my other arm and said, 'Don't put her out.' The conductor asked if I belonged to her. 'No,' replied Mrs. Haviland, 'She belongs to humanity.’’’
The Haviland Home orphanage
After the Civil War, the Freedmen's Aid Commission acquired the former Raisin Institute, renamed it the Haviland Home, and converted into an orphanage for African American children. Its first residents were seventy-five homeless children brought by Haviland from Kansas. As other children joined their ranks, and their numbers increased, many whites in Michigan became unnerved. They claimed that Haviland was burdening white taxpayers and demanded that Haviland Home be closed. Matters came to a head in 1867, when the orphanage was purchased by the American Missionary Association, who closed the orphanage, and literally threw the orphans out into the street.Haviland abandoned her work in Washington, D.C., to return to Michigan and help the children. She managed to collect enough donations to purchase the orphanage and began to manage it herself. By 1870, funds were extremely scarce. The situation became so dire that, at Haviland’s urging, the state took over the orphanage and it became the Michigan Orphan Asylum.
Later years
When the Reconstruction ended in 1877, many African Americans fled the South, where they were subject to attacks by racist individuals and groups such as the Ku Klux Clan. Thousands of African American men, women and children, crowded into makeshift refugee camps in Kansas. Determined to help, Haviland set out with her daughter Anna for Washington, D.C., where she testified about the appalling conditions at the camps, before traveling to Kansas with supplies for the refugees. Using her personal savings, Haviland purchased 240 acre (0.9712464 km²) in Kansas for the Freedmen at one of the refugee camps to live on and farm.Death and legacy
During her life, Laura Haviland not only combated slavery and worked to improve the living conditions of Freedmen, she was also actively involved in other social causes, advocating for women’s suffrage, and helping to organize the Women's Christian Temperance Union in Michigan.Laura Haviland died on April 20, 1898 in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
, at the home of her brother, Samuel Smith. She is buried next to her husband in the Raisin Valley Cemetery in Adrian, Michigan.
Symbolically, at Haviland’s funeral, hymns were sung by a choir of white and African American singers, and then her casket was carried to the grave by a group white and African American pall-bearers.
In recognition of her efforts, the town of Haviland, Kansas
Haviland, Kansas
Haviland is a city in Kiowa County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 701. Haviland is home of Barclay College....
was named in her honor. A statue of Laura Haviland stands in front of the city hall in Adrian, Michigan. The inscription on the statue reads:
- "A Tribute to a Life Consecrated to the Betterment of Humanity."
Further reading
- Haviland, Laura Smith. A Woman's Life-work: Labors and Experiences of Laura S. Haviland. Cincinnati:Waldon & Stowe, 1882.
- Danforth, Mildred E. A Quaker Pioneer: Laura Smith Haviland, Superintendent of the Underground. Exposition, 1961.
- Lindquist, Charles. The Antislavery-Underground Railroad Movement in Lenawee County, Michigan, 1830–1860. Lenawee County Historical Society, 1999.
- Berson, Robin Kadison. Marching to a Different Drummer: Unrecognized Heroes of American History. Greenwood Press, 1994.
External links
- "Lenawee County Michigan Monument #11: Dedicated to Laura Smith Haviland," http://www.geocities.com/lenaweemi/monu11.html (December 20, 2006).
- "Laura Smith Haviland: Wesleyan Pioneer," History's Women: The Unsung Heroines, http://www.historyswomen.com/womenoffaith/LauraSmithHaviland.htm (December 20, 2006).
- "Mrs. Laura (Smith) Haviland,” Havilands.com, http://www.havilands.org/HavilandsCom/Biographies/LauraSmithHaviland/index.html (February 14, 2007).
- Laura Smith Haviland’s Burial Site. Gravesite at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- Laura Smith Haviland. Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries. The Official State of Michigan Website. http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-15481_19271_19357-163242--,00.html