Join The Gist of Freedom as we present The Black Abolitionists featured in Benjamin Quarles' book, Black Abolitionists.

 

In our first of 13 shows, Preston Washington and host Ty Gray-El will discuss chapter one; Anti-Slavery Movement Prior to The Revolution; Organizations, Churches, Colonization- John B. Vashon, Martin Delaney, Bishop Richard Allen.

Vashon paid the bounty for blacks held by slave catchers. Kidnappers received great rewards for kidnapping blacks in the North and enslaving them in the South.

 

This was especially true after the original Fugitive Slave Law of 1792, was revised, The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. The federal Government deputized vigilantes and paid bounties for the capture of alleged "Runaways".  In one instance, Vashon gave shelter and employment to a young man after purchasing his freedom. 

Vashon was a friend of the abolitionists Martin R. Delany and William Lloyd Garrison,  The Liberator, in Pittsburgh.