Stories of Black
people in general is unwritten in Canadian history, however, this claim is
particularly true for Black women. Our understanding of Black women and how
they came to Canada is lionized through names like Harriet Tubman, who took an
estimated 19 trips into slave territory and recused over three hundred slaves
from bondage. Her incredible life and deeds took a course that few women would
or could emulate, however, her courage and tenacity in the face of all odds was
certainly not unique in the history of African-Canadian women. The problem here
is that we rarely are taught about much more than Tubman herself, as her name
alone has come to symbolize in many ways the struggle for all African people working
toward freedom and justice.
Between 1815 and 1865, it is estimated that tens of
thousands of African-Americans sought refuge on Canadian soil. These settlers
were free Blacks migrating from northern free states & fugitive slaves, for
whom the road to freedom was made possible via The Underground Railroad (UGRR).
The UGRR took place during 1850 to 1860 as a response to the 1850 Fugitive
Slave Act, which made it legal to capture Black people, free or not, and return
them back into slavery. The Railroad was comprised of a series of secret routes
or ‘trains’ through northern states to ‘terminals’ in Canada. After reaching
non-slaveholding northern states, some Blacks received aid through organized
systems that spirited them to freedom, which involved ‘conductors’ who
personally transported ‘passengers’ from point A to B or ‘station-masters’ who
received and hid arrivals at transfer points (Ch. 2, 42). It is important to
mention that many of these freedom seekers actually received little or no aid,
resulting in the slave's’ own locomotion north and into Canada. The UGRR
undoubtedly saved many African-Americans, however the number of women who were
able to seek freedom to Canada was proportionality fewer than men.
Why? Deborah Gray Write gives insight into this female
fugitive phenomenon. Firstly, the age profile of the average fugitive was
16-18, the peak years for childbearing at the time. In a slave family, the
decision of who could escape was based on who could run without encumbrance; as
you could imagine, a pregnant mother or a mother travelling with a young infant
was much more difficult than running freely in full health. As Adrienne Shadd
puts it, “a fugitive mother simply did not have the same assurances that her
babies would be properly cared for if she became a fugitive” (Ch. 2, 43). And
the fact that more women were unable to take flight has its explanation in the
nature of female slavery itself.
William Still, a Black abolitionist from Philadelphia ran a
well-organized UGRR depot with his wife that aided hundreds of fugitives by
providing food, shelter, clothing, and free passage to destinations in the
North. It is through William Still’s dairies, that we are able to put Harriet
Tubman’s life in context as one of the untold thousands of previously unknown
women who endured similar risks and hardships and exhibited similar courage and
tenacity in the fight for themselves and their people.
I wanted to conclude with one case in particular that has
stuck with me. Margaret Garner, a woman who may not have had the same ability
to escape and save as many people as Tubman did, should be seen as a woman with
the same courage that Tubman had. Garner escaped from Kentucky with her
husband, in-laws, and four of her children. Sadly, she was captured in Ohio.
Knowing the horrors of slavery, she attempted to ‘save’ her children the only
way she knew how by grabbing a butcher knife and slitting their throats, with
the intention of finishing with her own. Although she was over-powered after
killing only one and sent back into bondage, along with her remaining three
children and the dead body of the fourth, her story is one that is important in
understanding the extents to which Black woman resisted slavery and attempted
to save those around them. Women who risked their lives in escaping freedom or
in helping others escape are much higher than you might expect; Harriet Tubman
was only one of many who fought for free life in Canada for themselves and
their families. The antislavery work and the struggle against racism was
particularly burdensome, yet, the vibrancy of the communities and Black women’s
push for self-improvement, courage, tenacity, and racial advancement was
exceptional.
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