Book review
'To die in battle with glory in my soul'
"But we
have no country: The 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania,
Resistance," by Ella Forbes, Ph.D., Cherry Hill, N.J., Africana
Homestead Legacy Publishers, 1998
By
Mumia Abu-Jamal
To the millions of us who pick up our bits and pieces of
history from TV or from poor public-school history classes, the
word "Christiana" evokes nothing in us; no flicker of
recognition, no glimpses into the splendor that lies locked
within the name.
In the years prior to the U.S. Civil War, "Christiana" was
as common as "O.J." is today. It began with President Millard
Fillmore's signing into law a bill amending the Fugitive Slave
Act. This law threatened the perilous "liberties" of both
escaped slaves--fugitives--and the so-called "free" Blacks,
living anywhere in U.S. territory.
Under the amended law, a person could be forced into slavery
"at any time, in any place and under all circumstances,"
according to Black nationalist Martin R. Delany, who wrote that
this could be done "upon the claim of any white person" and no
defense, no habeas corpus, no "due process" would be
allowed.
As a direct result of the law, thousands of anxious Africans
fled the U.S. for Canada, where they could enjoy privileges
under the law that would take a war and a century of racist
segregation to secure in the U.S.
Some stayed and fought
All did not run, however. Some, like those in Christiana,
Pa., fought, ran and returned in the time of war to fight
again.
In Forbes' stirring narrative, one learns of "the
Preacher"--escaped captive William Parker--who, having built a
home and raised a family in southeastern Pennsylvania, would
rather fight than simply submit to the damnable fugitive slave
law. Parker and others formed an organization "for mutual
protection against slaveholders and kidnappers, and had
resolved to prevent any of our brethren being taken back into
slavery, at the risk of our own lives."
On Sept. 11, 1851, a white Maryland slave owner, Edward
Gorsuch, arrived in Christiana with a posse of armed men
bearing a set of warrants for four "fugitives from labor," that
is, escaped slaves. Spies and snitches informed him that the
four were hiding in Parker's home. Gorsuch and his party
appeared, demanding his "property."
Parker and Gorsuch, both religious men, threw religious and
biblical injunctions at each other. Then, Forbes tells us,
Parker's group launched into a spiritual:
Leader, what do you say?
About the judgment day?
I will die in the field of battle
Die in the field of battle
With glory in my soul.
Gorsuch, who was standing with his head bowed, asked, "What
are you doing now?"
Samuel Thompson, whom Gorsuch had come to bring back into
slavery, replied with a jeer, "Preaching a sinner's funeral
sermon?"
The slaveholder expressed his determination to continue his
quest, stating, prophetically it turned out, "My property I
will have or I'll breakfast in hell. ..."
It was Thompson who wreaked venge ance on his former slave
owner. Parker said, "I ... found Samuel Thompson talking to old
Mr. Gorsuch, his master. They were both angry. `Old man, you
had better go home to Maryland,' said Samuel. `You had better
give up and come home with me,' said the old man. Thompson took
Pinckney's gun from him, struck Gorsuch, and brought him to his
knees. Gorsuch rose and signaled to his men. ..."
Shortly thereafter, when Gorsuch's group surrounded Parker's
house, Parker's wife Eliza blew a horn, summoning about 25
armed Black neighbors to the scene. Gorsuch's posse shot at
her, but she kept on blowing.
In the subsequent shootout, the elder Gorsuch was killed,
the younger Gorsuch wounded and the rest of the posse run off.
Some 38 Christiana residents were charged with treason against
the United States--only two were tried and they were acquitted.
Many fled to Canada rather than trust the U.S. slave law.
Frederick Douglass on resistance
Years later in 1881, Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass
lauded the Christiana resisters as key to checking the vile
fugitive slave law:
"But the thing which more than all else destroyed the
fugitive slave law was the resistance made to it by the
fugitives themselves. A decided check was given to the
execution of the law at Christiana, Pa. ... This affair ... and
the Jerry Rescue at Syracuse [N.Y.], inflicted fatal wounds on
the fugitive slave bill. It became thereafter almost a dead
letter, for slaveholders found that not only did it fail to put
them in possession of their slaves, but that the attempt to
enforce it brought down odium upon themselves and weakened the
slave system."
Christiana's powerful example of resistance to U.S. tyranny
should be known to millions of us and a secret to none.
It was an important and pivotal passage in the fight for
freedom from state repression and for slavery's death.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page