‘Father of all U.S. abolitionists' honored; 250th birthday is Thursday

Chicago Tribune

a day ago

Charles Osborn, whom William Lloyd Garrison called 'the father of all U.S. abolitionists,' has a new marker on his grave at Quakerdom Cemetery in Jackson Township.
He now has his old gravestone, too, returned after a 64-year stay at the Porter County Museum.
'What we have here is the person who was one of the key national voices who said slavery must be abolished,' said Larry McClellan, professor emeritus at Governors State University and historian on freedom seekers in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana region.
'The guy who got us thinking in this country about the evils of slavery' needs to be recognized, he said.
The commemoration of Osborn's work to end slavery comes as President Donald Trump on Tuesday posted on Truth Social that the Smithsonian museums were 'OUT OF CONTROL' for emphasizing the negative parts of American history, including 'how bad slavery was,' according to the Associated Press.
The White House is ordering a wide-ranging review of the Smithsonian museums and exhibitions ahead of the country's 250th birthday, to align the institution's content with President Donald Trump's interpretation of American history, according to the Associated Press.
Osborn was born Aug. 21, 1775, in North Carolina at a time when the Colonists were upset with the king of England but had not yet drafted the Declaration of Independence, which includes the line, 'all men are created equal.'
Osborn died Dec. 29, 1850, after fathering 16 children – seven with his first wife and nine with his second – and spurring an abolition movement that ultimately resulted in the official end of slavery in the United States.
Jackson Township Trustee Jan Meyers, a member of the William Henry Harrison Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, led efforts to restore Osborn's grave and honor his memory.
'This Thursday, he will be 250 years old, which is why I thought we should have a birthday party,' she said at Sunday's presentation on Osborn at Westchester Public Library's Baugher Center in Chesterton.
Osborn's grave now shows the original marker, a plaque placed in 1958 and a new marker. The 1958 plaque, also placed by the DAR, originally stood on a boulder that replaced the original marker, which had been exiled to the museum. It was cleaned and refurbished before being reinstalled.
Kevin Pazour, the museum's executive director, carefully laid the heavy tombstone in the car to be transported to the cemetery, Meyers said. 'It was a quick trip compared to our horse and buggy days,' when Osborn was alive, she said. 'Hang in there, Charlie,' she told the tombstone.
'By getting the stone back and the plaque back, they're better together,' Meyers said.
McClellan put Osborn's life in perspective.
Osborn was 'one of the really great American heroes that nobody knows about,' McClellan said.
'How do we understand the brutal reality of slavery?' he asked. 'How do we understand people kidnapping other people and selling them into bondage?'
They were treated as property, not humans, listed in the same property records as cows, sheep and pigs, McClellan said.
About 12 million people from Africa were kidnapped and forced into slavery, most taken to Brazil, but about 400,000 into what is now the United States, he said.
'Those that were running for their freedom, we call them freedom seekers,' but in the 19th century, they were called fugitive slaves, a term now considered derogatory because it treats them as property rather than human beings, McClellan said.
McClennen talked about attitudes in the 19th century by noting that some rare minerals in cellphones come from workers in slave conditions. 'Yeah, slavery is bad, but are we doing anything? Probably not,' he said.
Similarly, the general consensus among Americans in the 19th century was that slavery was bad – in fact, it had already been abolished in the northern states – but taking action to protest slavery was a smaller subset of people. Americans who actually helped freedom seekers on their journey were an even smaller subset.
The Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 provided that any person offering food or shelter to a freedom seeker was subject to up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $1,000, which would be $20,000 in today's dollars.
Helping the freedom seekers was an enormous risk. 'A certain chunk of those people were Quakers, and Charles Osborn was involved in all of this,' McClellan said.
About 1,700 to 3,000 freedom seekers went through Northwest Indiana, with an estimated 2,500 to 4,500 going through northeast Illinois, he said.
McClellan is attempting to document stops along the underground railroad so they can receive historical recognition through the National Park Service.
Osborn lived in the Richmond, Indiana, area before moving to the eastern edge of Jackson Township.
In 1817, he founded 'The Philanthropist,' an anti-slavery publication, in Ohio. While living in the Richmond area, working with noted anti-abolitionists like Levi Coffin, Osborn traveled across the United States and Europe to promote the abolition of slavery.
In his final years, 1847 to 1850, he lived in Jackson Township, McClellan said.
'From time to time, we have folks from Indianapolis tell us nothing happened in Northwest Indiana,' McClellan said. 'They didn't understand this movement of folks.'
'Westville, in terms of the underground railroad, is really fascinating,' he said. Quaker Community and Union Church stood in the Porter County side of the Westville area.
'In 1843, things get really tricky because the Quakers are just not really sure what to do about slavery,' McClellan said. Different factions formed within the church.
Some suggested returning slaves to Africa. 'That was a very powerful movement,' he said. Some favored gradual emancipation.
Osborn sided with the remaining two factions, demanding immediate and unconditional emancipation and boycotting products from places that used slave labor.
In 1843, Osborn founded the Indiana Anti-Slavery Meeting. In Cass County, Michigan, he founded the Young's Prairie Anti-Slavery Meeting.
In 1847, when Osborn returned to Westville, he published a pamphlet espousing his views.
In 'The Rank of Charles Osborn,' addressing who really started this abolition movement, George W. Julian said Osborn 'was very influential in attacking this before anybody else did.'
Osborn's story is one that should be told, McClellan said. 'You are part of a very, very rich set of experiences in Northwest Indiana that almost nobody knows anything about.'
Freedom seekers follow historic routes.
'There are some great freedom seeker stories of people coming right through here,' McClellan said. 'The brave families that broke the law to help those' should be recognized, he said. McClellan is seeking help in fleshing out those stories.
A Portage woman who said she is a descendant of Osborn and his second wife, Hannah Swain, said Osborn helped found Economy, Indiana. 'I would be delighted to have you help out' with research, she said.