Although blacks lived throughout Pennsyvlania, there were communities comprised of free blacks. In Chester County there was Kennett, and Ercildoun. In Lancaster County communities of free blacks were located at Christiana, and in Columbia. Several of my line came into Pennsylvania from Maryland and Virgina. They were free blacks, and almost all were part of the Underground Railroad. The family names of MARTIN, GREEN, PARKER, HENSON, NOCHO, PAIGE, HILL, JOHNSON and PINN are documented in Notes and Documents of Free Persons of Color.
Henry Green distinguished himself as a participant in the Christiana
Resistance which took place on September 11, 1851.
The community of Christiana, on the border of Chester and Lancaster Counties,
was a well known hot bed of anti-slavery activity. It was also one of the
major stops on the Underground Railroad. William Parker, a free black from
Maryland, was a conductor, and his house was a safehouse where slaves headed
north were hidden.
A Maryland slave owner, Edward Gorsuch, accompanied by his son, a Federal Marshall, with a posse, ignited the incident. They confronted William Parker at his residence in Christiana. They demanded that he turn over two slaves who had escaped two years previously. As William Parker derided Gorsuch for claiming himself the owner of another human being, Castner Hanway, a white abolistionist, walked by. The Federal Marshall attempted to deputize him, and Hanaway refused, saying he would not assist anyone in enslaving a fellow human being. It was than that the Sheriff [Marshall?] realized they were surrounded. He looked around, and saw a sea of black faces. A shot rang out, and Edward Gorsuch fell dead. The posse scattered, as did Gorsuch's son. The son was set upon and beaten, but was saved by a resident of the community. The escaped slave was [slaves were?] sent to another safehouse, and transported to Canada.
Gorsuch had made the mistake of confronting an angry mob, at the site
of a Safe House for slaves escaping north.
The next day, thirty-seven men from the community were arrested, including
William Parker, Castner Hanaway, John and Benjamin Johnson, and my Great-Great
Grandfather Henry Green. The catalyst for the arrest was the Fugitive Slave
Act, a Federal Law requiring escaped slaves to be returned to their owners.
The participants were all acquitted for lack of evidence.
The story, as depicted in Notes and Documents of Free Persons of Color, has citations of documents, illustrations and transcriptions. Great-Great Grandfather Henry Green, and Benjamin Johnson, his cousin, also fought in the Civil War out of Lancaster County.
Another community of free blacks resided in Southern Chester County, at a community known as Hinsonville. That community was settled by Emory Hinson, a free black from Maryland. Hoseanna Church was the center of life in Hinsonville, and was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were some of the famous guests of the church. After the Civil War, Emory Hinson (Henson), moved to Canada, and deeded half of his land to the establishment of a Negro College, then called Ashmun, now called Lincoln University.
Robert and Elizabeth Jackson Pinn, left Fredericksburg Virginia, and settled in Columbia, Pennsylvania in 1853. Robert was active on the Underground Railroad in Fredericksburg, and in Columbia, Pennsylvania. Robert had ties along the Underground Railroad, from Virginia to Canada. Their son, Samuel Walter Pinn, joined the 54th Massachusetts, United States Colored Troop, Company D, out of Lancaster County. This was the unit depicted in the Movie, Glory.