{"id":38314,"date":"2017-06-19T19:41:37","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T02:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soulofamerica.com\/?page_id=38314"},"modified":"2020-11-02T11:21:46","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T19:21:46","slug":"underground-railroad-grand-central-station","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.soulofamerica.com\/us-cities\/cincinnati\/underground-railroad-grand-central-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Underground Railroad’s Grand Central Station"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Underground

Underground Railroad’s Grand Central Station, Cincinnati<\/p><\/div>\n

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Underground Railroad’s Grand Central Station<\/h2>\n
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Geography matters. Cincinnati is the Underground Railroad’s Grand Central Station due to being one of three primary routes to freedom from the south. One ran along the east coast. A second along the Mississippi River. The most heavily traveled route was crossing the Ohio River from Northern Kentucky to Cincinnati, where it is estimated that some 30,000 people escaped slavery. <\/p>\n

Cincinnati was a favored destination because people who escaped slavery lessened their chances of being re-captured because the Ohio River formed a boundary that horses could not easily cross.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most compelling draw for escaped slaves, were the scores of Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky abolitionists who organized an expansive Underground Railroad. Those abolitionists included the great Levi Coffin, an Anglo-American who was said to be the President of the Underground Railroad because he helped over 3,000 enslaved people reach freedom. Another key key figure, John Rankin, an Anglo-American Presbyterian preacher and father of Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin. Those Anglo brothers, along with freed slaves like John Parker and James Brawley, provide irrefutable evidence that the forefront of the anti-slavery movement was Black and White.<\/p>\n

Although most African Americans traveled through Cincinnati and Ohio to points north, many stayed. In 1829, African-American citizens comprised 10% of city population. They lived in Bucktown district. In 1834, the \u201cGreat Lane Debates\u201d over slavery were held in Cincinnati at Lane Theological Seminary. Many historians regard these debates in Cincinnati as helping to shape President Abraham Lincoln’s position on slavery, ultimately leading to his signing the Emancipation Proclamation on 1 January 1863.<\/p>\n

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