Dawn of Day: Stories from the Underground Railroad

Charles Leonhardt, Abolitionist

Charles Leonhardt, an abolitionist who fought beside John Brown during his abolitionist crusade in Territorial Kansas. Leonhardt was one of the leaders of the militant abolitionists in Kansas Territory and helped to form one the first Free State guerilla forces in Kansas Territory.

John J. Smith (1820 – 1906), abolitionist

John James Smith (1820 – 1906) was a barber shop owner, abolitionist, a three-term Massachusetts state representative, and one of the first African-American members of the Boston Common Council. A Republican, he served three terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was born in Richmond Virginia. He took part in the California Gold Rush. During the 1840s and 50s, Smith’s barbershop on the north slope of Beacon Hill was a center of abolitionist activity, and provided shelter to freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, Smith recruited soldiers for the black regiments of Massachusetts.

Joshua Smith, (1806- 1903), abolitionist
Captain William Mitchell who lived in Wabaunsee, Kansas

This is a cabinet card studio portrait of Captain William Mitchell who lived in Wabaunsee, Kansas. This photograph was taken in Washington, D.C. in 1889 when he and his wife Mary Ann Chamberlin Mitchell were attending the inauguration of President Benjamin Harrison. William M. Mitchell (c. 1826 – c. 1879) was an American writer, minister and abolitionist who worked on the Underground Railroad. He is said to be the only writer who wrote about the railroad while it was still illegal.

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Josephine Baker, legend

Born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, Josephine Baker (1906–1975) was an African-American dancer and singer who was “the most successful music hall performer ever to take the stage” (Ebony magazine). Josephine Baker was larger than life: She was the toast of Paris in the 1920s with her trademark banana skirt, a star of stage and […]

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The Untold Story of the Integration of Pro Football

(The Forgotten Four (clockwise from top left): Marion Motley, Bill Willis, Kenny Washington, Woody Strode) The story of how Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 is the stuff of legend. But there’s another story about the desegregation of a professional sport that hardly gets told. A year before Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, […]

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Untold Stories of Black Women in the Suffrage Movement

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