Lewis Hayden
© Courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society,
http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401coll32/id/10619
Lewis Hayden was born enslaved in 1811 but fled bondage and became one of Boston’s
leading abolitionists. After Calvin Fairbank helped the Hayden family escape slavery in
Kentucky, they fled to Canada. Determined to end slavery in America, Hayden moved to
Detroit but soon made Boston his permanent home. He owned and operated a clothing
store while aiding runaways and was an important figure in the now-famous rescues
of Ellen and William Craft, Shadrach Minkins, Thomas Sims and Anthony Burns.
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Lewis Hayden was born enslaved to Presbyterian minister Adam Runkin in 1811 in
Lexington, Kentucky. His father was owned by another man who eventually moved
away, effectively separating him from his wife and children. Hayden’s mother was
beaten and sent to prison for refusing a white man’s sexual advancements. She
developed mental issues, attempting suicide several times before being sold away.
When he was 10 years old Hayden watched all of his siblings be sold at auction just
before he himself was traded for a pair of horses. “I stood by and saw them sold.
When I was just going up on to the block, he swapped me off for a pair of carriagehorses” (Stowe 155). His new owner was a traveling clock salesman who took
Hayden with him on his sales. As they traveled throughout Kentucky, Hayden
learned a great deal about the politics and ideology of slavery from his master’s
conversations with politicians, slave owners, slave catchers and gamblers (Robboy
594). During these travels Hayden met Revolutionary War officer Marquis de
Lafayette and was forever changed by their encounter.
Lafayette was in a barouche drawn by four horses and as he passed
the people he bowed to them on both sides. When he passed me he
bowed to the fence I was on. I looked around and saw no one else on
the fence…Lafayette was the most famous man I had ever heard of,
and you can imagine how I felt, a slave boy to be favored with his
recognition…I date my hatred of slavery from that day, and I tell you
that after I allowed no moving thing on the face of the earth to stand
between me and my freedom. (Robboy 594)
Hayden was sold again for the last time in 1840. His new master beat him frequently
and worked him to death, but he found time to teach himself to read. By 1842 he
married his second wife, Harriet Bell; Hayden’s first wife and child had been sold
down the river (Runyon 114-115). Two years later Hayden, Harriet and their son
fled Kentucky. Working as a waiter, Hayden served noted abolitionist Calvin
Fairbank at the Brennan House. After a brief discussion, Fairbank agreed to help him
escape. On September 28, 1844 Calvin Fairbank and Vermont abolitionist Delia
Webster helped the Hayden family escape from Lexington to Ripley, Ohio (Fairbank
49). Hayden would later raise money on Fairbank’s behalf when he was on trial in
Kentucky. The Haydens traveled north to Canada but did not settle there long.
Hayden was determined to end American slavery and soon settled in Detroit. There
he became involved in the city’s abolitionist community and was a founding
member of the Colored Methodist Society (Renamed Bethel African Methodist
Episcopal Church in 1841). By July 1846 the Haydens were living in Boston,
Massachusetts, the center of the nation’s abolitionist movement (Robboy 597).
Hayden found work as a lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society and joined
the Vigilance Committee along with prominent abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison,
Theodore Parker and Wendell Phillips (Runyon 116). The 250-member committee
elected him to the executive board and used his home at 66 Phillips Street and his
clothing store as meetinghouses. Hayden’s home also served as a “station” on the
Underground Railroad. Lewis and Harriet Hayden sheltered hundreds of freedom2
seeking African Americans (Finkenbine). Hayden founded his clothing store in 1849
and used a portion of his profits to feed and clothe runaways (Robboy 598). Hayden
became well known for his involvement in four highly publicized fugitive slave
cases.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 brought a new set of challenges to the antislavery
cause. It meant that self-emancipated abolitionists like Lewis Hayden could be
legally captured and returned to slavery. Hayden strengthened his resolve in the
fight for freedom. In October 1850, fugitive couple William and Ellen Craft got word
that their master’s agent was looking for them. Hayden sheltered them in his home
and, armed with explosives, threatened to blow it up if a US Marshal attempted to
take them. English abolitionist George Thompson described what he saw at
Hayden’s home:
…there with windows barricaded and doors double locked and
barred—sat around a table covered with loaded weapons Lewis
Hayden, his young son and a band of brave colored men armed to the
teeth and ready for the impending death struggle with the United
States Marshal and his armed posse. (Robboy 601)
Hayden remained militant during the rescues of Shadrach Minkins, Thomas Sims
and Anthony Burns. After helping Minkins escape he was arrested and tried for
helping fugitives. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and the case was
dropped. Hayden later learned that two abolitionists served on the jury caused the
stalemate (Robboy 603). By 1857 Hayden befriended John Brown. Brown stayed
with the Haydens at 66 Phillps Street for some time while he solicited support for
his raid. In 1859 Hayden raised money and recruited men for John Brown’s raid at
Harpers Ferry. That same year he was appointed messenger to the Massachusetts
Secretary of State and served in that position for until his death (Robboy 609).
During the Civil War he served as a recruiter for the 54th Colored Infantry Regiment.
Lewis Hayden passed away in his home on April 7, 1889. Twelve hundred people
attended his funeral at Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church including
state officials and abolitionists like Frederick Douglass.
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Works Cited & Further Reading
Fairbank, Calvin. Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times: How He “Fought the
Good Fight” to Prepare “The Way”. Chicago: R. R. McCabe & Co. 1890.
Finkenbine, Roy. “Hayden, Lewis”. American National Biography Online. February
2000. Web. 2013.
Robboy, Stanley, J. and Anita W. Robboy. “Lewis Hayden: From Fugitive Slave to
Statesmen”. The New England Quarterly Vol. 46, No. 4 Dec., 1973. 591-613.
Runyon, Randolph Paul. Delia Webster and the Underground Railroad. Lexington:
The University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Boston: 1853. 154-155.
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