The Norwich and District Museum and Archives is sharing information about the Quakers who helped escaped slaves in the 1800's through the underground railroad.
OXFORD COUNTY - It is Black History Month.
Locally, the Oxford County Archives will be documenting black history in Oxford County throughout the month.
The Norwich and District Museum and Archives is also showcasing black history through the On This Spot app. Curator Matthew Lloyd says you will be able to learn about the Quakers in Norwich who helped escaped slaves in the 1800's through the underground railroad.
"Quakers as a religious community are focused on a spiritual relationship with God and believe in a radical equality amongst all people. They have been involved equality movements throughout history, including the emancipation of black people. The Norwich Quakers came to Oxford County in 1810 and bought a lot of land cheaply. From the beginning they were quite active in getting black people to move to Canada from the United States through the underground railroad."
Lloyd says there is no way of knowing how many people they helped settle into Canada.
"The nature of the underground railroad is that it often quite obscures the actual numbers connected of the people being helped into Canada. We know for sure the earliest registered black land owner was Samuel Jones in 1833, so this is pre-underground rail road and the decades following that, we know the population in the Otterville area, the black population was about 100 people, enough for them to have a school but the actual number of people who came through the underground railroad, we don't know."
The app will also showcase the history behind the African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in Otterville. You can learn more about local black history online here.
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