as the closest location in which to find freedom, although other British possessions within the Caribbean and South America were potential sites, but not as easy to travel to. Harriet had travelled on her own two feet; being self-reliant, Harriet would want to take a route that she could walk the whole way if she had to, a route that allowed her many options in arriving at her goal. Canada seemed a good choice, not only because it was close and because it would be possible to walk to this destination, but also because of a series of laws and events within Canada that had given the impression that Canada truly welcomed slaves and would respect their rights to remain free under the law.
The first African to reach Canadian shores was a free black, Mathieu Da Costa, serving in the capacity of translator, and he arrived as early as 1604. The first slave arrived in 1628. So people of African descent had long been part of the fabric of what we now call Canada. While large-scale plantation use of African Canadians was not common, they did provide personal and domestic services for affluent and prominent individuals in all the major cities of the time. The black population grew slowly and steadily following the American War of Independence and the War of 1812, until certain events accelerated this rate.
Black men had been invited to join the ranks of the British forces by Lord Dunmore in 1775 to help to overcome the rebels in the American colony. Sir Henry Clinton invited all blacks, whether fighting men or infirm, women or children, to come to the British side by 1779, and they were promised they would receive the same treatment and rewards as white Loyalists for fighting the rebels. The Upper Canada Abolition Act of 1793 provided that any slave that came into what we now call the province of Ontario would be free, whether being brought in by a master or brought there by the force of the slave’s will to escape bondage. Any child born of a slave mother would be free by the age of twenty-five. William Osgoode, Chief Justice of Lower Canada, declared in 1803 that slavery was inconsistent with British Law. The Cochrane Proclamation aimed at the white and black refugees of the War of 1812 and invited Americans to become British citizens through residence in British Possessions which included Canada, the West Indies, and Bermuda. The British Imperial Act of 1833 abolished slavery throughout the Empire, including Canada. This act became effective August 1, 1834. And, at the North American Convention of Colored Freemen, held for the first time outside of the United States in Toronto in September 1851, it was decided by black peoples that Canada was the preferred choice for black emigration from the United States because free black people within Canada would be able to assist the fleeing former slave population. Canada seemed to be a safe haven for enslaved black people wanting their freedom and for free blacks desiring a more secure lifestyle because it seemed to be a place where the rights and privileges of the African population would be protected. It was close enough to walk to, the climate was similar to that of the northern United States, there were opportunities to become self-supporting, and Canadians spoke English, the language that most enslaved Africans had become familiar with during enslavement in the United States.
Beginning in the 1830s, free black people and other abolitionists often met at conventions. Initially these gatherings allowed people to share their concerns and to plan ways to end slavery. Interested black people would invite others to their city to have these meetings.
One of the most important of these meetings was the North American Convention of Colored Freemen held in St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto from September 11–13, 1851. It started a trend of discussing black nationalism and emigration of enslaved Africans to Canada. Called by many Ontario black residents such as Henry Bibb, editor of the Voice of the Fugitive, and James Theodore Holly, an American-born free black who was devoted to emigration, the convention concluded with the agreement that Canada was a preferred destination for freedom seekers. Other options, such as the West Indies or Africa, were too far from black abolitionist centres in the U.S., and Canada was a more convenient location from which to initiate the escapes of slaves or to assist in the establishing of African-Canadian settlements. Canada, in the eyes of the black community, was considered to be a “beacon of hope” to the enslaved.
When Harriet decided to make her fourth rescue to get her brother James Ross, his wife, children, and nine others, the trip was longer and more dangerous. After stopping at the home of black abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Rochester, Harriet likely made her way to St. Catharines, Ontario, in December 1851 with eleven fugitives.
Frederick Douglass was a self-freed former slave who hailed from Maryland like Harriet Tubman. Unlike Tubman, who suffered a disabling injury as a young woman, Douglass was secretly taught to read by his owner’s wife while a young man. In this way he came to learn about other abolitionist stances and about The Liberator, the paper of William Lloyd Garrison, a white anti-slavery worker. Ultimately making himself free through the use of a sailor’s uniform with “free papers,” Douglass married and began to give rousing public speeches, later to write about his experiences as an enslaved African. His autobiography, Narratives in the Life of Frederick Douglass, was a bestseller and reprinted several times. He would write a paper, The North Star, that would challenge the readership of the Garrison paper and became an advocate for women’s rights. Following the Civil War, he was appointed Consul General to Haiti.
However, for Harriet, Douglass also had some valuable contacts in many of the cities that became a part of Harriet Tubman’s routes to Canada. From his first steps as a free man, he was acquainted with David Ruggles in New York, initially staying at his safe house. From his women’s rights activities he knew the co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, James Mott, his wife Lucretia (Lucretia having relatives in Rochester), and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Other abolitionists or station masters would include John Hooper and Stephen Meyers in Albany (the Meyer home is being restored as an example of a black abolitionist abode) and Jermaine Loguen in Syracuse.
Some of Harriet’s helpers. From left to right: unidentified woman (possibly Eliza Wright Osborne’s daughter), Martha Coffin Wright, Eliza Wright Osborne (Martha’s daughter), and Lucretia Mott.
Courtesy Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
While some freedom seekers were comfortable in remaining in some of these northern cities, others opted to head all the way across the Canadian border. This would have them enter Canada at Niagara Falls. However, since it was so close to the border at Niagara Falls, a safer option was to go further inland to St. Catharines, Ontario. Harriet Tubman met with Douglass in Rochester and headed to St. Catharines because of a well-known contact, Reverend Hiram Wilson. Wilson had been working with refugees first in Dresden, Ontario, then in the Niagara area for several years.
In addition to the human landscape, there was the physical landscape that presented an excellent opportunity for Harriet Tubman and to anyone wishing to have a fairly direct route to the Niagara area. The canal system of New York State and in southern Ontario provided good secret highways for freedom seekers and the canal systems were fairly well established by the 1850s. Tubman could make her way to Troy, New York, and from there travel east along the route of the Erie Canal. This route would have her touch the tips of the Finger Lakes under the shroud of cover provided by the canal trench and the human connections. If her connections were able to respond to her request for assistance, that would further facilitate her journey. Ultimately crossing at Niagara, a freedom seeker could make their way without as much need for secrecy since crossing into Canada provided freedom under the law. However, should there have been a need to be extra cautious, freedom seekers could have also followed the Welland Canal north from Port Colborne into St. Catharines. With the construction going on for its second stage, the movement of new arrivals would scarcely have been noticed.
Many blacks had settled the Niagara Peninsula before 1840. As a group they were tolerated and accepted, primarily for the manual labour they provided at a low cost. At times, despite their hard work, thriftiness, and industriousness, they were in need of assistance or were in a position where they needed donated food, especially when they first arrived in Canada. At the time of the Mackenzie
