INDIANA AND THE DILEMMA OF SLAVERY
The history of slavery in Indiana is
convoluted and confusing. As early as
1787, Article VI of the Articles of
Compact of the Northwest Ordinance
banned slavery in the Northwest
Territory, of which Indiana was a part.
The law was construed to mean that no
new slaves could be bought to or
enslaved in Indiana after the passage of
the article. The slaves already in the
Indiana Territory were unaffected
When the State of Indiana was settingup its state government in 1816,
lawmakers addressed the issue of
slavery stating that “the holding of any
part of the human creation in slavery or
involuntary servitude can only originate
in usurpation and tyranny, no alteration
of this Constitution shall ever take
place so as to introduce slavery or
involuntary servitude in this state
otherwise than for punishment of
crimes whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted.” The constitution
went into effect in July 1816.
In July of 1816 the Indiana Bill of
Rights took effect too. It addressed the
subject of slavery by affirming that
“there shall be neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude in this state,
otherwise than for the punishment of
crimes whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, nor shall any
indenture of any negro or mulatto
hereafter made and executed out of the
bounds of this state be of any validity
within the State.”
During the years leading up to the Civil
War people were polarized over the
issue of slavery. The right to freedom
for all in the state of Indiana would be
tested in the near future by the National
Fugitive Slave Law.
In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Law was
passed. This law it made it a crime to
give a fugitive slave any assistance. It
also went one step further and made it a
crime not to arrest or help arrest any
fugitive slave. The law presumed that
every African-American was a slave.
According to Underground Railroad
conductor George DeBaptiste, “the
effect of this law, designed to smother
the last spark liberty, was to kindle a
flame upon the alters of freedom.”
In 1850, Article XIII of the Indiana
Constitution was passed emphatically
saying, “No negro of mulatto shall
come into or settle in the state, after the
adoption of this Constitution.” It went
further stating that all contracts in
violation of Article XIII were void and
that harboring and employing African
Americans already in the State led to a
fine. Money from fines went to
colonizing African Americans already
in the state.
In accordance with this act, Article 13
of the Constitution, all county clerks in
the State of Indiana had to give notice
“requiring all negros who were
inhabitants of the State prior to Nov. 1,
1851 to appear before him for registry.”
Only once this step had been completed
were the African-Americans permitted
to stay in the State.
African Americans in Indiana did not
receive the right to testify in legal
situations until 1866. They did not
receive equal rights as citizens,
including the right to vote until
Indiana ratified the Fifteenth
Amendment in 1969.
Architectural Terms
Brackets are supporting members designed to carry
a projecting weight, for example a cornice or shelf.
They are shaped like an inverted "L".
A Cornice is the detail at the meeting of a structure’s
exterior wall and roof.
Dentils are small projections adorning the area under
the eaves. They are often compared to teeth.
An Eave is the overhanging lower edge of a roof.
Pitch is the slope or angle of the roof.
Commercial buildings are for business use, e.g., for
offices and stores.
Vernacular architecture is everyday architecture.
Residential buildings are houses rather than businesses.
Federal Style Architecture was popular from 1780-1820
nationally and until 1850 locally. It is often characterized
by decorative dentils under the cornice.
Greek Revival Style Architecture was popular from
1825-1860 nationally, to the Civil War locally. It is often
characterized by a cornice line decorated with a band to
represent a classical entablature.
Italianate Style Architecture was popular from 18401885. It is often characterized by decorative brackets
under the eave.
© Historic Madison Inc. 2008
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
THE GEORGETOWN NEIGHBORHOOD
Before the United States Civil War
(1861-1865), a system of slavery
existed in this country. Those
enslaved were mostly African
Americans. By the mid-19th century
slavery was mainly localized to the
American South, those states south
of the Ohio River. The North,
encompassing those states north of
the Ohio River, is often thought of
as a haven for free African Americans
and those escaping slavery. This is a
romantic notion. In the decades
leading up to the Civil War, the
North, especially areas bordering
the Ohio River, was anything but
hospitable to free African
Americans and fugitive slaves.
The resistance movement known as
the Underground Railroad
encompassed more than moving
fugitive slaves. Those living on the
northern border of the Ohio River
worked to create an environment
to, not only camouflage fugitive
slaves, but push the boundaries
instituted by state and federal
governments on the rights of free
African Americans living in the
North.
Those suffering under the yoke of
captivity often saw their burden as
Biblical, comparing it to the plight
of the Jews in Egypt. The Ohio
River was their River Jordan.
Unfortunately, there was no
Promised Land on the other bank,
for even though this was the land of
the free, that freedom was
contingent upon the color of
your skin.
The Ohio River was a deceptive
dividing line. It represented the
conflict, struggle, resistance, and
violence of the fight for freedom as
well as the “peculiar institution”. It
transported, as it way the
superhighway of the early 19th
century, thousands of African
American people to the South and a
life of bondage.
Madison had a front-row seat, with
her prominent position as one of
Indiana’s largest cities, it was a
destination for free African
Americans to settle. You see, far
more often than false-bottom
wagons, secret rooms, and
mysterious tunnels, people escaped
slavery by blending in with the
people around them. For fugitive
slaves to blend in there needed to be
a popular for them to disappear
into. They hiked, rode horses and
boarded trains. This was the
Underground Railroad.
The system of ushering Southern
slaves to freedom in the Northern
United States or Canada became
know as the Underground Railroad,
though people were rarely
conducted underground and never
on an underground train system.
The expression refers to the stealthy
way Freedom Seekers were moved
North without detection. It also
gave way to the terms we use to
describe those individuals who
worked on the Underground
Railroad; fugitives were passengers;
people who helped fugitives along
were conductors; people who
sheltered fugitives were stationmasters; and the homes of the
stationmasters were the stations or
depots.
Onward in the cause of right!
Upward in the truth of heaven!
Nor, let the soul that God has given;
sleep in the dark eternal night!
Fear not the fierce oppressor’s
angry ban, But, boldly struggle from
thy brother man; and when the
clouds of slavery dispel, the heart
shall feel it did its duty well!
Anti-Slavery Fair
Salem, Ohio 1853
Map of Georgetown in Madison, IN, ca. 1887
Life for the residents of
Georgetown was not easy. Free
African Americans were
persistently hassled. They
constantly dealt with discrimination
on every level of society and feared
kidnapping. Many people in and
around Madison, and throughout
the North, held a pro-slavery, racist
view of the world.
Even many people who considered
themselves anti-slavery did not
want to live side-by-side with free
African Americans. The American
Colonization Society, founded in
1816, pressured free African
Americans to go to a West African
county called Liberia to settle even
though most had little connection
with Africa and been in the United
States for generations.
According to census records, free
African Americans settled in
Madison’s Georgetown
neighborhood as early as the 1820’s
when 48 families are listed as
living in Madison. The number of
African American families
increased for the next three decades
to 298 in 1850. Many residents
came from the East, from places
like Virginia. Between 1850 and
1860 the number of African
Americans in Madison began to
decrease. By the late 1840’s the
neighborhood’s African American
population dwindled as pro-slavery
violence increased. By 1850 nearly
all the African American families
had left the Georgetown
neighborhood. At that point
German immigrants occupied the
neighborhood.
The exodus from the Georgetown
neighborhood was the direct result
of increased tension between free
African Americans, many involved
in the Underground Railroad
movement, and pro-slavery forces.
In Madison, friction between the
groups erupted in horrific violence
when a mob of pro-slavery citizens
took it upon themselves to search
the homes of free African
Americans for fugitive slaves and
weapons. Three African American
men were nearly killed in the
violence.
By the 1850’s the neighborhood
had grown to encompass Walnut
Street north of today’s US 421 and
south nearly to Main Street, west to
Jefferson Street and east to East
Street. Walnut Street, Georgetown’s
Main Street, was the location of
many African American homes,
businesses and churches.
According to the journal E.S. Abdy,
the importance of the church in the
early African American community
cannot be overstated. The church
was often the center of the African
American community. It served
more than a spiritual function, the
church served as the community
leader and as a support unit. Before
African Americans had the right to
attend public schools, the church
incorporated education.
The residents of this neighborhood
included George DeBaptiste,
William J. Anderson and Elijah
Anderson. All of these men were
deeply involved in helping African
Americans in the South escape the
bondage of slavery
GEORGETOWN HISTORIC INTERPRETIVE WALKING TOUR MAP
1 Georgetown State Historic Marker
NW Corner of Fifth and Jefferson Streets
Read about the unique history of Madison’s Georgetown neighborhood!
Georgetown is the first district recognized in the National Parks Service’s
National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, a program
that recognizes nationally significant Underground Railroad sites for their
history and availability.
2 William Douglass House
307 East Fifth Street
According to his autobiography, an African American resident of
Georgetown, William J. Anderson, helped purchase the property for the
Church in 1849 build the structure of the Church. He was also one of the
church’s early ministers.
4 Archibald Taylor Property
627 Walnut Street
Archibald Taylor purchased this building in 1848.
As was common, the African American Taylor
more than likely lived on the second floor
blacksmith shop occupied the main floor. Over the
years the building has been greatly altered.
This building is one of many early commercial
structures in the neighborhood. It serves illustrates
how Madison’s Walnut Street can be equated to
the African American community’s version of
Main Street with African American owned
commercial and residential structures standing side
by side.
His Federal style home, built circa 1840, could
have served as an early meeting place for the
congregation or an early parsonage.
309 East Fifth Street
Constructed in 1850, this building served as the
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church until
1926 when low numbers of congregates
necessitated the church close. The remaining
congregates joined St. Stephen A.M.E. Church in
Hanover, Indiana. The building was purchased by
the Pilgrim Holiness Church.
Originally constructed in the Greek Revival
architectural style, in the late 19th century a major
fire destroyed the building’s original roof. The roof
you see now is Victorian and has a steeper pitch
than the original.
625 Walnut Street
This Federal style structure, built circa 1825, was once
the home of George Hopkins. George, an African
American, along with his brother Charles lived here
during the Georgetown Era (1830 – 1855). In fact, it is
thought that “Georgetown” was named for George
Hopkins.
This structure, once two apartments, was acquired and rehabilitated by
Historic Madison, Inc. Today it houses a museum dedicated to telling the
story of Madison’s early African American population.
William Douglass, an African American, was a
minister early in the accounts of the African
Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Madison.
He led the congregation as late as 1847. Douglass
was also listed as a church trustee when the land
for the AME Church, 309 East Fifth Street, was
purchased in 1845. Douglass sold the home in
1850.
3 African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
7 George Hopkins House
Another account has Georgetown named after George
Short. Beginning in the 1820’s Short, an African
American, lived at the northern end of Walnut Street
where he was a wheelwright and also started a school. The northern end of
Walnut Street in Short’s time is today located on the other side of US Hwy 421.
8 Stepney Stafford House
619 Walnut Street
This very early structure, built circa 1825, was the
home of Stepney Stafford, and his and his wife, Polly.
Stafford was a whitewasher by trade. He was also one
of the first African Americans in Georgetown,
appearing in records as early as 1823. The home is
built in the Federal style.
5 Methodist Episcopal Church Site
711 Walnut Street
This charming shotgun house, built circa 1840,
was once the Methodist Episcopal (ME) Church,
the precursor to the AME Church on Fifth Street.
The progression started in 1840 when a group of
African American parishioners left the Wesley
Chapel Methodist Church, located on Main Street
in Madison, after they were requested to sit in the
gallery and then under the stairs. The group built
the building you see. William J. Anderson was one
of these parishioners. He helped built the ME
Church and preached there as well.
In the mid 1840’s the group split again when several members decided to
leave the church on Walnut Street and join the African Methodist Episcopal
religion. In 1850, the group that left built the church on AME Fifth Street.
The ME congregation continued to meet here even after the AME Church
was opened.
When the building was used as a ME Church it had an associated school. On
nice days school was taught in the front yard. The front section of the
building is a later, post Civil War, addition.
6
William J. Anderson House
9 Elijah Anderson House
624 Walnut Street
This Federal style townhouse, built circa 1845, was
the home of Elijah Anderson, though he did not live
there long, selling the property in 1847. Anderson,
an African American, was a local blacksmith and
conductor on the Underground Railroad. Anderson
left Madison for a time after mob violence against
Afrcian Americans erupted in the late 1840’s. He
returned and while visiting Kentucky he was
arrested, tried and convicted for his involvement in
Underground Railroad activity. He died mysteriously in prison in 1861.
Notice that this home is built on a grander scale than the William J. Anderson
Federal style rowhouse. The decorative brackets at the cornice of this home
were added later and are in the Italianate style.
10 David Lott House
626 Walnut Street
Next door to Elijah Anderson’s house is a Federal
style house owned by David Lott in 1847. Lott was an
African American and a relative of Anderson’s wife.
The Lott house, built circa 1840, is more vernacular in
style than Anderson’s home, located next door.
713 Walnut Street
William J.
Anderson came
to Madison as a
fugitive slave in
the summer of
1836 after
making a
daring escape
from a
steamboat
traveling on the
Ohio River. Once in Madison he
proceeded to help others searching for
freedom and safety through the
Underground Railroad.
Anderson obtained a job with a brick
mason and eventually learned the trade. He
and his wife, Sydney, built this house in
1846 and sold it in October of 1849. They
later built a larger home in the
neighborhood. That home no longer
stands.
Anderson was involved in the construction
of the AME Church on Fifth Street. He
also wrote his auto biography. It can be
accessed at through the University of
North Carolina at:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/andersonw/
menu.html.
Anderson’s townhouse is an example of
Federal-style architecture. Note the
distinguishing brick dentils under the
eaves.
Lott was thought to be active in the Underground
Railroad in Madison.
11 Robert Right Rea Stables
507-511 Walnut Street
Robert Right Rea, a white man, was a local sheriff.
He was also a noted slave catcher. Rea owned his
circa 1835 Federal style stables by 1837. According to
newspaper accounts, he still owned them in 1850. The
site was made famous by George DeBaptiste.
DeBaptiste, an African American, lived in Madison
from 1838 until 1846 and during this time DeBaptiste
was a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
According to an interview DeBaptiste gave later in
life, he used to come to these stables and “borrow” a horse to aid Freedom
Seekers on to their next stop at Ryker’s Ridge, Fairmount or Lancaster.
Occasionally he shod the horse’s hooves with carpet to muffle the noise.
If you look closely at this residential building you will see the shadows of
former openings.
12 John Carr House
512 Walnut Street
This Federal style, built circa 1840, structure was the
home of John Carr. Carr, a white man, bought the
property in 1891. He came from Ireland and, around
1840, settled on Ryker’s Ridge where he opened his
property to Freedom Seekers and became a station
master on the Underground Railroad. After the Civil
War, Carr’s home on Ryker’s Ridge burned and he
moved his family to Georgetown. He died in his home
in Georgetown in 1898.