Michigan Underground Railroad

Project Summary

The Michigan Underground Railroad was incredibly successful, ushering thousands of slaves to safe homesteads throughout the state and to freedom in Canada. The great success of the Underground in Michigan was partially a result of the willingness of an incredibly diverse group of individuals to work together, including white, African American, mulatto, Native American, Quaker, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Presbyterian. The collaboration of such diverse groups was antithetical to the times, but a common belief, that the institution of slavery was wrong, and a common goal—the emancipation of slaves—helped to form a bond that not even the barriers of race and religion could break.

Detroit was especially important in getting escaped slaves to freedom due to its proximity at many points to Canada, where slavery had been outlawed by the British Parliament’s Slavery Abolition Act in 1834. Key figures in the struggle against slavery, including Henry W. Bibb, Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass, Gerrit Smith, and John Brown, worked with local Detroit activists to develop and implement strategies to end slavery and assist fugitives to freedom. William Lloyd Garrison, Sojourner Truth, Wendell Philips, Parker Pillsbury, and Henry C. Wright traveled through the state often as well, giving speeches and offering support to local abolitionists.

Seven Underground Railroad routes have been identified in the state of Michigan:

Toledo-Detroit and across the Detroit River,

Toledo-Adrian-Morenci-Tecumseh-Clinton-Saline-Ypsilanti-Plymouth-Swartzburg-River Rouge-Detroit,

Old Sauk Road from Indiana: Niles-White Pigeon-Sturgis-Coldwater-Quincy-Jonesville-Somerset-Clinton-Saline-Ypsilanti-Plymouth-Swartzburg-River Rouge-Detroit,

Old Territorial Road from Indiana and Illinois: Niles-Cassopolis-Schoolcraft-Climax-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek-Marshall-Albion-Parma-Michigan Center-Jackson-Dexter-Leoni-Grass Lake-Ann Arbor-Giddes-Ypsilanti-Plymouth-Swartzburg-River Rouge-Detroit,

Grand River Trail from Indiana and Illinois: St. Joseph-Benton Harbor-South Haven-Holland-Grand Rapids-Lowell-Portland-Lansing-Williamston-Howell-Brighton-Farmington-Detroit,

Detroit-Lansing-Saginaw or Flint-Port Huron,

Chicago-Duluth-Mackinaw City, continuing on to Detroit or Port Huron via Saginaw, or to Canada through Sault Ste. Marie (“The Underground Railroad in Michigan”).

Because of the secretive nature of the Underground, it is difficult to prove the existence of its routes, stations, agents and supporters. It is mainly through personal accounts and the physical evidence of building architecture that one can be truly sure of Underground activity. The amount of information known today on Dr. Nathan Thomas is only available because of the memoirs written by his wife, Pamela Brown. The work of George McCoy is only known in detail due to an interview that was done with his daughter Anna at the beginning of twentieth century. There are a number of examples throughout the history of Michigan Underground activity, where information was collected after the fact for publication or inclusion in historical societies and archival collections.

For the Michigan Underground there is one other means of identifying agents and supporters of abolitionist activity, and that is through the Black Books. The Black Books include the constitution, bylaws, resolutions, treasurer-secretary reports, and minutes of the Michigan Anti-Slavery Society, from 1852-1857, as well as the Michigan Anti-Slavery Convention at Adrian in 1852. The documents were collected by Harriet deGarmo while she was a member of the executive committee of the Society—she served as Vice-President of the Society, 1853-1854, and recording secretary, 1856-unknown. The most important aspect of these documents is the detailed, itemized lists of donations, pledges and expenditures that include the name of the donor, their town of residence, and their relationship to the Society.

Over two hundred stops are thought to have existed, and this Website covers 62 stations, historical markers and monuments important to the Underground Railroad in the state of Michigan. The individuals, dates, events, current status and availability of the locations are discussed to the extent they are known, images are provided as the location allowed for travel, primary source materials have been scanned and provided digitally where they were in the public domain, and resources are listed for each location. As it applies, events and situations are related to the readings completed in this course. A general bibliography for the Michigan Underground Railroad is also supplied, broken down by type of source and listed alphabetically for ease of searching. The bibliography includes audio and video recordings, resources for educators, books, articles, image databases, dissertations, archival collections, abolitionist newspapers, legal documents, Websites for historical societies and Underground Railroad-related organizations, timelines, and travel guides for sites related to the Underground.

Works Cited

“The Underground Railroad in Michigan.” Margaret Garner. (18 June 2006). Detroit Opera House. 3 October 2007 <http://www.motopera.org/mg_ed/educational/UndergroundRR.html>.