Tuesday, February 18, 2014

February 19, 1864---An Abolitionist Haven



FEBRUARY 19, 1864:         

Of all the States of the Union, Massachusetts was well-known to be the center of gravity of the Abolitionist Movement. President Lincoln, seeking a safe haven for the millions of slaves ultimately to be emancipated, wrote to the Governor of Massachusetts asking if the Bay State could set aside land --- in effect an African-American Reservation --- for the freed people. This plan, like Lincoln’s earlier suggestions for the colonization of Panama and a mass emigration to Liberia, went nowhere.