"You may rest assured that the time is not far distant when things will be changed with you. You had better comply with my request. If Loguen refused, Logue warned that she would arrange for his sale to a different enslaver, demanding $1,000 as compensation for her losses from his escape and the horse he took with him."
"Did you think to terrify me by presenting the alternative to give my money to you or give my body to slavery? Then let me say to you that I meet the proposition with unutterable scorn and contempt. I will not budge one hair's breadth. Loguen's defiant response rejected his former enslaver's extortion attempt entirely."
Reverend Jermain Wesley Loguen escaped slavery in Tennessee in 1834 and settled in Syracuse, New York. Twenty-six years later, his former enslaver Sarah Logue sent him a letter demanding $1,000 in compensation, threatening to sell him to another enslaver if he refused. Logue claimed Loguen's escape and theft of a horse forced her to sell two of his siblings and 12 acres of land. Loguen responded with a defiant letter expressing indignation and contempt for her demands. Known as the 'King of the Underground Railroad,' Loguen helped over 1,500 people escape slavery, openly conducting this dangerous work from his home despite risking arrest or re-enslavement.
#underground-railroad #slavery-and-resistance #jermain-wesley-loguen #fugitive-assistance #abolitionism
Read at Smithsonian Magazine
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