Westerville Organizers Revamp ‘Slave Auction’
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Mock Slave Sale
It's meant to be a historical lesson on Westerville during the early 1800s, so why do some people find it controversial?Published: October 2, 2009
Updated: October 2, 2009
WESTERVILLE, Ohio—Complaints have led organizers of an Underground Railroad reenactment to scrap a planned “slave auction” of people attending.
Westerville has a rich history of the Underground Railroad, including the name of one of its major roads.
There were at least six houses in Westerville where runaway slaves could find shelter in the 1800s.
Bishop William Hanby risked prison to allow slaves a chance at freedom.
Friday night’s Freedom Trail event in Westerville will involve actors leading groups by foot and horse-drawn wagon to simulate the experience of fleeing slaves. Some of the attendees were to be “sold” in one part of the program, but Westerville Recreation Superintendent Phyllis Self says actors will play those roles instead.
Self says critics felt the original plans for the slave auction threatened to make a mockery of the Underground Railroad and turn it into a social event.
Some posters on a Columbus entertainment blog said they’d felt “sickened” by the idea, while others defended the organizers.
“I think there may have been some things that we could have done differently when it came to the publicity, but I believe that the intent of the whole program is still exactly the same and that is to share Westerville’s history with the people who will be coming to the program,“ Self said.
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Underground railroad was created in the United States as a secret passage by black slaves. There’s more legacies of the Underground Railroad than one might think. Part of the legacy of the Underground Railroad is that people find tunnels beneath their houses or apartment buildings they didn’t know were there - and sometimes it’s discovered when century old floors give way. Either that or it ends up as a wine cellar and someone just didn’t know what they were looking at. If your house was a stop on the Underground Railroad or other historic landmark, it’s worth a quick payday loan or two to preserve it.
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