1 October 1851
ResistanceBook sources
The Jerry Rescue defies the Fugitive Slave Act
Syracuse, New York
Black and white abolitionists freed William Henry, known as Jerry, from custody after his arrest under the Fugitive Slave Act. The rescue made collective resistance to federal rendition visible in an organized antislavery community.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
This was a rescue from enforcement of the law, not its repeal. The chapter’s compressed account does not establish every participant’s role or the later prosecutions.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 9, pp. 181; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- New York History: the Jerry Rescue ↗