Class Year
2014
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
10-18-2013
Department 1
Civil War Institute
Abstract
African-Americans have always been a part of Gettysburg’s community fabric. Slaves belonging to Samuel Gettys, the area’s first settler, arrived as early as 1762 to build one of the first local taverns. Samuel’s son James, who founded Gettysburg in 1786, also owned slaves, including Sydney O’Brien. After her owner’s death, O’Brien obtained her freedom, and in purchasing a small lot along South Washington Street helped establish the borough’s African-American neighborhood. The free black community continued to grow over the first decades of the nineteenth century as Pennsylvania’s policy of gradual emancipation effectively ended slavery in the state by the 1840s. And with uniquely promising economic, social, and educational opportunities, Gettysburg attracted black residents, free and enslaved, from a number of neighboring states. [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Brian D., "Calm Before the Storm: Gettysburg’s African-American Community Before the Battle" (2013). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 18.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/18
Comments
This blog post originally appeared in The Gettysburg Compiler and was created by students at Gettysburg College.