Two centuries of the Erie Canal’s long history include its role in slavery and the efforts to abolish it in New York. As the canal’s bicentennial approached, WAER News joined a recent walking tour highlighting African American experiences on and along the canal during its first few decades.
Elizabeth Farrell with the Erie Canal Museum started the two-hour tour along the path of the old canal on Erie Boulevard.
“There's a lot of history left to be uncovered. The canal was way more diverse than the way we see it in paintings,” she said.
ENSLAVEMENT, DIGGING, AND THE EARLY YEARS
The building of the canal and its early years of operation came as enslaved New Yorkers struggled for freedom. The Erie Canal was built from 1817 to 1825, but the state didn’t recognize the end of slavery until 1827. So, while the canal was being dug, enslavement was still legal in some form.
“For example, in 1810, one third of rural households in New York State have enslaved people in them. So it's a common practice until even the 1840s," Farrell explained. "And we often get the question here at the museum: ‘who dug the canal’, and we don't know exactly. And people will ask, 'did enslaved people dig the canal?' Again, we don't know exactly because the Erie Canal set the precedent for government contracting, so they would contract out sections of the canal to different construction companies who hired their own labor. So to this day, we don't have those records.”
The fact that slavery even existed in New York surprised some on the tour. Lisa Mills from New Jersey said she had visited other abolition and women’s suffrage sites across Upstate New York.
“I never thought about slavery this far north. I didn't realize there was so much slavery in New York," she said. "It was very surprising and enlightening to think about what the history books taught us or didn't teach us.”
Omar Kamara is originally from the Bronx but now works at the Chobani plant in Chenango County as a visiting engineering intern from Northwestern University. As the only African American on the walking tour, he said he, too, was surprised.
"Despite the fact that the north is usually portrayed as this bastion of abolitionism, there was still very strong forces, even in the north, even here in upstate New York, that opposed abolition," Kamara noted. "They didn't really care about ending slavery, and they're honestly fine with slavery continuing as an institution.”
As a self-described museum enthusiast, Kamara said he had some extra time and made a point to visit Syracuse to check it out.
“So online, I saw that the Erie Canal Museum had a walking tour about African American resistance,” he said, “So I said, 'that's cool. Learn about the city. Learn about Erie Canal, learn about African American history fused together.'”
THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT CLASHES WITH NEW YORK'S ABOLITION MOVEMENT
Farrell continued the tour (outside Syracuse’s City Hall) where the notices were posted announcing the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. It required everyone to uphold existing slave laws, even if they lived in an abolitionist state like New York.
“It basically made it a federal crime to assist a freedom seeker in obtaining their freedom,” Farrell explained. “And it also spurs many former freedom seekers who were living in the northeast in these free states to move into Canada where they can truly be free.”
One example was the Harris family from Pennsylvania. William and Caroline were formerly enslaved in South Carolina. But Farrell said with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, they decide to flee to Canada with their child. Their path took them to Albany, where they boarded a boat to Rochester before hopping on a steamboat to Ontario.
“The Erie Canal itself was not often used as a path for the Underground Railroad because firstly, it was relatively expensive," Farrell explained. "Secondly, it went right through the middle of cities. It was highly visible if you were committing a federal crime. It was not the best to do it right in the middle of cities, but also on a state-owned transportation route. But the Harrises were one of the examples of people who, in fact, did.”
Tragedy struck the family as they passed through Syracuse when the boat crew duped them into thinking their former enslaver was on the boat. Farrell said rather than return to enslavement, they attempted suicide by jumping into the canal. William and Caroline were rescued, but their child died. The parents were treated in Syracuse and ultimately fled to Canada. Farrell noted that it was one of few stories about the plight of freedom seekers to make the newspapers at the time.
Bob and Mary Honis of Onondaga Hill drew parallels between upholding slavery in the 1850’s and today’s round-up of undocumented immigrants. They’re self-described baby boomers and admit they're not fully informed about the canal's earliest days.
“I never really knew much about the connection between slavery and the canal, but it's pretty informative," Bob said.
“It's not surprising to me that there was a connection for sure," Mary chimed in. "I mean, it's such a crime that would happen then and now. In our age group, we didn't really hear or study that much about it in high school or in elementary school. It wasn't part of the curriculum.”
“Seems like there's a lot of things reoccurring now that happened back then, just on a different scale," Bob said. "People don't learn.”
“There's got to be a better way, and there are better ways because obviously people that stood up against these crimes against humanity were bold and they took their chances," Mary thought aloud. "And I think we still have those people with us today, hopefully.”
One example of that resistance became a watershed moment in Syracuse history.
GROWING RESISTANCE AND THE JERRY RESCUE
The group approaches a brick monument with a bronzed statue depicting the Jerry Rescue.
“This is a pretty well-known and beloved monument here in Syracuse,” Farrell said while stopped along the southwest corner of Clinton Square. “It's a bit different than some of our other stories because rather than resistance to the institution by fleeing, it's more of a story of civil disobedience."
The abolitionist movement in Syracuse was growing fast in the face of federal crackdowns in 1850. Farrell said a Vigilance Committee against slavery formed about two weeks after the Fugitive Slave Act passed. In defiance, U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster stopped in Syracuse the following spring to deliver a fiery speech from a balcony across from city hall. He threatened those who did not support the roundups. Farrell read an excerpt aloud.
“'It is treason, treason and nothing else. Depend on it, the law will be executed in its spirit and to the letter. It will be executed in all the great cities here in Syracuse, in the midst of the next anti-slavery convention. If the occasion should arise, then we shall see what becomes of their lives and their sacred honor,” Farrell recited.
The "Syracuse Speech" as it was called only strengthened the resolve of abolitionist Syracusans, because a few months later, one of the most well-known and defining moments in Syracuse history unfolded in Clinton Square: The Jerry Rescue, where large crowds freed William Henry, a respected furniture and barrel maker. He had escaped slavery in Missouri nearly a decade prior and arrived in Syracuse in the winter of 1849/1850. But, Farrell said he was taken into custody in the fall of 1851 under the new law. Standing in front of the monument, she recounted the final harrowing moments.
A crowd of 2,000 to 3,000 people showed up armed to free their neighbor, Farrell pointed to the weapons in the bronze figures’ hands “You can see this person with a crowbar, people bringing paving stones and lumber and just stuff that they have," Farrell said. "Jerry is being held on the second floor. The police are overwhelmed. One of them jumps out of a window and breaks his arm as he lands in the canal. But Jerry's shoved into the crowd. He's able to escape in the chaos.”
An intense search followed, but friends helped Jerry hide downtown until he was able to escape on a steamboat a few weeks later. He eventually made it to Ontario where he lived the rest of his life a free man. Farrell said eight people were initially arrested for the rescue, only one was convicted on the charge of impeding a police officer. No one was charged under the Fugitive Slave Act. She said that’s when the federal government stopped enforcing the law in the northeast.
THE CANAL AND THE CIVIL WAR
Within a decade, civil disobedience boiled over to a Civil War, and Farrell said the Erie Canal played a role in the first Black Regiment.
“Recruiting efforts for the 54th Massachusetts happened along the canal here in Syracuse. At least 18 canallers statewide were recruited," she said. "It shows that the canal was more diverse than we expect when we can find all of these black men who were recruited, who were boatmen. But it also shows us that Black individuals were willing to fight and die for the end of enslavement, for change to happen.”
She wrapped up the tour reflecting on the era. About 160 years later, slavery’s legacies remain in the form of racism, segregation, and poverty, among others…leaving future generations to tackle a new cycle of inequality.
The Erie Canal Museum holds its final summer walking tour this Saturday at 10:30.
