The Oneida Institute and The Galesburg Underground Railroad
Galesburg was greatly shaped by George Washington Gale’s experiences leading the Oneida Institute in New York. The Oneida Institute, which was the first manual labor school founded, accepted Black students, which was uncommon during the time.1 While both Knox College and the Oneida Institute were manual labor schools, their greatest commonality was as sites of anti-slavery sentiment. Knox College and the surrounding area of Galesburg had several anti-slavery soceties, including a local anti-slavery society and a youth chapter of the American Anti-Slavery Society.2 These organizations were inspired by the anti-slavery societies in New York, from where many of the founders and initial colonists hailed. In New York there was a Female Anti-Slavery Society, a Juvenile Anti-Slavery Society, a local Oneida Institute Anti-Slavery Society, and a larger New England Anti-Slavery Society. The founders continued their anti-slavery activism after their move to what we currently call Illinois. As the historian Hermann Muelder explains, “anti-slavery meetings in Illinois were to a considerable extent reunions of these men and other alumni of the Burned-Over District.”3 In addition, New York was home to abolitionist newspapers, a trend that continued to Illinois. The abolitionist newspaper in New York called the Emancipator was used to spread anti-slavery ideas and news.
Likewise, abolitionist newspapers in Illinois spread information about the Underground Railroad (see advertisement above). Galesburg was a stop on the Underground Railroad and had support from many of the founders of the College. Muelder explains “Gale, the founder; Kellogg, the first president; Blanchard, the second president of Knox Manual Labor College; and several of its trustees all helped in the harboring and transporting of its runaways.”4 A pastor's house “and the cupola of a church building” were stations on the Galesburg Underground Railroad.5 Enslavement was legal in neighboring Missouri, therefore “most of the fugitives passing through . . . [the Galesburg division] of the Underground Railroad had started their escape by crossing the Mississippi River in the vicinity of Quincy.”6 Once formerly enslaved people reached Galesburg, they would continue on their dangerous journey to escape to the “southwestern tip of Ontario.”7 Upon arrival there, “one of Gale’s former students at the Oneida Institute had prepared a haven in Ontario to receive the self-emancipated slave.”8
There are records of formerly enslaved people also starting new lives in Galesburg. One example is Susan, who was enslaved by Andrew Border.9 She was from Georgia and “in addition to Susan, at least one other fugitive is known to have become a resident of Galesburg.”10 It is important to recognize the work of Black abolitionists in Galesburg, as George Washington Gale is usually the most well-known Galesburgian abolitionist. For instance, “on the day of John Brown’s execution, December 2, 1859,” Black people in Galesburg “held a meeting in tribute to him.”11 Also, Black people in Galesburg organized an event to celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of enslaved people in the West Indies.12
Later, Gale and ten other founders faced legal repercussions for their abolitionist actions. Muelder states that a “grand jury indicted Cross, Gale, Nehemiah West, and Charles Gilbert for harboring fugitive slaves.”13 However, “Gale was discharged from the indictment.”14 The legal action did not stop the founders from continuing their work as abolitionists. Knox College has a vibrant abolitionist past which we should emulate today.
By Anna Neubauer
1 Hermann Muelder, Fighters for Freedom: A History of Anti-Slavery Activities of Men and Women Associated with Knox College (New York: Columbia University Press), 40.
2 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 41.
3 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 14.
4 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 194.
5 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 194.
6 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 195.
7 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 201.
8 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 202.
9 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 205.
10 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 218.
11 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 219.
12 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 219.
13 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 213.
14 Muelder, Fighters for Freedom, 213.
Liberty Line image: "Liberty Line: New Arrangement--Night and Day," 1844. The History of Negro Servitude in Illinois, and of the Slavery Agitation in That State, 1719-1864 Collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Huston Research and Reference Division, New York Public Library, New York.
Map image: Siebert, Wilbur, The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom, 1898. In Hermann Muelder, Fighters for Freedom: A History of Anti-Slavery Activities of Men and Women Associated with Knox College (New York: Columbia University Press), 193.