The Sutliff Museum will present a virtual program on the 1788 kidnapping of freedom seeker John Davis at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13. Tom Milhollan, operations and development coordinator at the Washington County Historical Society in Pennsylvania, will present.
The program is the first of three virtual programs in the “Nurturing Pathways to Freedom” spring digital-lecture series. The event will be presented on Zoom. Click here to register.
Davis, who attained liberty in Pennsylvania, was kidnapped in 1788 in Washington County, Pa. and taken to further enslavement at a Virginia plantation.
The interstate dispute over the fates of Davis and his kidnappers eventually led to federal legislation in 1793 “respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters.” Although the incident and its aftermath have been studied by experts and historians, the program will present new research that might change the history of the case.
This year, the Black History theme is “Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity,” which explores the African diaspora, and the spread of Black families across the United States.
“At the Sutliff Museum, we aim to educate the public on the Underground Railroad and the people who helped freedom seekers escape to the northern states and to Canada. It consisted of many individuals – many whites but predominantly Black. This month, in conjunction with the theme for this year’s Black History Month, we bring to light the heroic stories of some of these African-American heroes who helped to move hundreds of freedom seekers, including families, northward,” said representatives from the Sutliff Museum. Stories will occur every Tuesday and Thursday on Facebook and Instagram.
The program was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Ohio History Fund in 2019.
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