can get,” Daniel remembered his father saying, and much to Daniel’s delight, he’d been allowed to accompany his father on the very next trip. He found it not as exciting as his twelve-year-old self had imagined. It was January, it was cold, and after sitting in the wagon with his father for two hours waiting for the fugitives they were supposed to transport to show themselves, he wanted nothing more than to be home in his warm bed sleeping as soundly as he knew six-year-old Josephine was.
In the dark, Daniel smiled at the memory. That had been six years ago. Since then, he’d grown up, spoken at rallies, finished the men’s program at Oberlin and learned that sitting in a cold wagon meant nothing when compared with the danger fugitives faced in the quest for freedom. He’d met fugitives and prominent abolitionists, and this summer would be able to shake hands with the great Mr. Douglass himself.
In those same six years, the country had grown increasingly divided over the issue of slavery. The Supreme Court’s 1858 decision in the Dred Scott case had caused an uproar. In deciding that Mr. Dred Scott was still subject to slavery, Justice Taney had also written that members of the race were so inferior in the eyes of the Constitution that “they had no rights which a White man was bound to respect.” It was pointed out quite loudly by Black and White newspapers all over the North that not only were the Southern majority justices wrongheaded in their decision, they’d distorted history in order to make their claim. In 1788, when the Constitution was initially adopted, the nation’s free Black population had many recognized rights, including those related to the buying and selling of property, and the ability to seek justice in the courts. When the Constitution was ratified, five of the thirteen states in the Union allowed their Black citizens to be active participants in the ratification of the document and to vote on the issue.
Now there were rumors of war. Many in abolitionist circles believed taking up arms to be the only way to end slavery once and for all. Daniel believed it, too; he saw no indications that slave owners were going to free their captives out of Christian kindness. In fact, Northern newspapers had been reporting on the schemes of some Southern slave owners to move their plantations and slaves to the remote jungles of Central and South America in order to escape the U.S. ban prohibiting further importation of human slaves. Such blatant arrogance infuriated abolitionists, Daniel included. John Brown of Osawatomie was reportedly massing an army now, and if that was true, Daniel planned on being among the first men in line.
Granted, his mother would undoubtedly throw a fit over the idea, but Daniel had always had a serious bent, even as a youngster. He’d preferred books to marbles, and found listening to speeches far more exciting than dipping girls’ pigtails into inkwells. His parents often teased him about taking life so seriously, saying he’d been born old, but in Daniel’s mind these were serious times. Three million souls were enslaved in various states across the nation, and those seeking freedom by escaping North were being hunted down like rabid animals by slave catchers armed with federal warrants. Yes, Daniel viewed life seriously; he was a Black male living in a country whose constitution counted him as three-fifths of a person. He couldn’t afford to be any other way.
Musing upon the slave catchers made him think back on Belle. He realized he didn’t know that much about her. He did know that she’d made him smile at the train station this afternoon, and touched a chord within him by relating the tragic story of her mother. If his mother had her way, Belle would live here forever and ever, amen, an arrangement he truly didn’t mind; Belle was nice and she seemed to be filling the role of the older sister Jojo had always wanted. But Daniel could still recall how soft she’d
In the dark, Daniel smiled at the memory. That had been six years ago. Since then, he’d grown up, spoken at rallies, finished the men’s program at Oberlin and learned that sitting in a cold wagon meant nothing when compared with the danger fugitives faced in the quest for freedom. He’d met fugitives and prominent abolitionists, and this summer would be able to shake hands with the great Mr. Douglass himself.
In those same six years, the country had grown increasingly divided over the issue of slavery. The Supreme Court’s 1858 decision in the Dred Scott case had caused an uproar. In deciding that Mr. Dred Scott was still subject to slavery, Justice Taney had also written that members of the race were so inferior in the eyes of the Constitution that “they had no rights which a White man was bound to respect.” It was pointed out quite loudly by Black and White newspapers all over the North that not only were the Southern majority justices wrongheaded in their decision, they’d distorted history in order to make their claim. In 1788, when the Constitution was initially adopted, the nation’s free Black population had many recognized rights, including those related to the buying and selling of property, and the ability to seek justice in the courts. When the Constitution was ratified, five of the thirteen states in the Union allowed their Black citizens to be active participants in the ratification of the document and to vote on the issue.
Now there were rumors of war. Many in abolitionist circles believed taking up arms to be the only way to end slavery once and for all. Daniel believed it, too; he saw no indications that slave owners were going to free their captives out of Christian kindness. In fact, Northern newspapers had been reporting on the schemes of some Southern slave owners to move their plantations and slaves to the remote jungles of Central and South America in order to escape the U.S. ban prohibiting further importation of human slaves. Such blatant arrogance infuriated abolitionists, Daniel included. John Brown of Osawatomie was reportedly massing an army now, and if that was true, Daniel planned on being among the first men in line.
Granted, his mother would undoubtedly throw a fit over the idea, but Daniel had always had a serious bent, even as a youngster. He’d preferred books to marbles, and found listening to speeches far more exciting than dipping girls’ pigtails into inkwells. His parents often teased him about taking life so seriously, saying he’d been born old, but in Daniel’s mind these were serious times. Three million souls were enslaved in various states across the nation, and those seeking freedom by escaping North were being hunted down like rabid animals by slave catchers armed with federal warrants. Yes, Daniel viewed life seriously; he was a Black male living in a country whose constitution counted him as three-fifths of a person. He couldn’t afford to be any other way.
Musing upon the slave catchers made him think back on Belle. He realized he didn’t know that much about her. He did know that she’d made him smile at the train station this afternoon, and touched a chord within him by relating the tragic story of her mother. If his mother had her way, Belle would live here forever and ever, amen, an arrangement he truly didn’t mind; Belle was nice and she seemed to be filling the role of the older sister Jojo had always wanted. But Daniel could still recall how soft she’d
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