CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

We Are Still Discovering the Tracks of the Underground Railroad

Gateway to Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad by Ed Dwight, Detroit. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

In a historic early nineteenth century building, in a bedroom on the second floor, you can find a large white dresser built into the wall. Opening the dresser’s heavy bottom drawer, there is a small hatch door in the bottom, leading into a narrow shaft with a steep, wooden ladder leading downward. The wax drippings of long-extinguished candles dot the confines of the dark shaft. Historians and conservationists have long known about this strange secret passage stretching down to the ground level. The building had been preserved for decades, but for other reasons. It is known today as the old Merchant’s House, just a few blocks east of Washington Square Park in Lower Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood. For almost a century, from 1835 to 1933, the Merchant’s House was the home of the Tredwell family, who made their fortune in the hardware business. It was built by a hatter named Joseph Brewster during the first two years of the 1830s.

The beautiful brick building is beloved by New York’s architecture buffs; the Federal and Greek Revival style mansion was, according to the museum that now occupies and administers the site, Manhattan’s first designated landmark, following the passage of 1965’s Landmarks Preservation Law. But what no one knew until this week is that the secret door and passage were a stop on the Underground Railroad that helped rescue an estimated 100,000 people from slavery (many historians say this estimate is much too low). The discovery is the first new Underground Railroad site found in Manhattan in over one hundred years.

For millions of Americans of all backgrounds and skin tones, the story of the Underground Railroad is among the most inspirational and emotionally resonant stories of our history as a country, one of true heroism in a life-or-death struggle for freedom. It is a story of America striving to become what it promised to be. This history and these sites are sacred to all Americans who love liberty and equality, and they’re more important than ever now,........

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