New York City, 1854 courtesy of NY Historical Society         Elizabeth Jennings and Sarah Adams just wanted to get to church on time, not start a civil rights case. Elizabeth was organist and head of the music program at First African Congregational Church in New York City.      Record breaking heat blanketed the city of around a half million. Horses, dogs, and hogs had died in greater numbers than usual from heatstroke.  As usual, the city was slow to remove animal carcasses from public streets. Too, two hundred tons of horse manure a day was deposited by the 22,000+ horses pulling wagons and carriages in the city.      Elizabeth and Sarah were running late July 16, 1854. A two mile walk through heat and what must have been an awful stench, was not appealing.  Wearing inch and half heel boots and "pages" --loops of rope sewn into and around their skirts us...

  In the North, freedom from slavery was traded for no rights as free men.     The Abolitionists movement did not start to spread until the 1830s. All through the Civil War, Abolitionists were viewed as a loud and often extreme minority.  While Abolitionists fought to free the enslaved, most still thought blacks were an inferior race and should not have all the privileges of whites.  A good modern analogy might be PETA -People for Ethical Treatment of Animals—movement. Most people agree in general animals should not be treated cruelly, but few people even in PETA believe goats, snails, chimpanzees or gorillas should be given the right to vote or testify in court.  Negroes in Indiana September 12, 1858 Rising Sun Visitor newspaper              In the Floyd Circuit Court, recently, the Judge decided the law forbidding the introduction of Negroes in this State unconstitutional. The Judge of the Circuit is ...