Salem Ohio
Underground Railroad
This is a house built in 1855 by John Street a Quaker Abolitionist. The house had a windowless basement with a secret entrance through a cabinet by the side entrance. There was originally a tunnel to a house across the street. There was an elaborate system of 14 houses to secretly transport and hide escaped slaves on their journey to freedom.
John Brown, a radical anti-slavery abolitionist visited and slept there many times. When I was in grade 5 and 6 I walked to school with a boy named Scott who's family owned and restored the house. I spent several nights sleeping over with Scott so I had an opportunity to crawl through the secret passages.
Scotts father was always measuring the house in search of hidden rooms, tunnels and secret entrances. His mother was angry when he broke down a wall of their bedroom and found a narrow hiding place that had since been plastered over.
Salem Ohio has only one Quaker Meeting House that I know of but there are several Friends Churches in the neighboring communities. The high school mascot was Quaker Sam and Salem is still perceived as a Quaker town.
The Salem area has over 30 churches of all denominations. Because of this Salem has a long history of human rights activism. The Ohio Women's Convention met in Salem on April 19, 1850. Salem was Ohio's center for the Woman's Suffrage movement. It was the third in a series of women's rights conventions that began with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. Salem was the first of these conventions to be organized on a statewide basis.
The Salem area abolitionists were much more fanatical about ending slavery. Boycotts, printing and distributing literature and making speeches were just not enough. They took a more active role risking financial loss, prison or worse. The Ku Klux Klan a secret military arm of the Democratic Party not only whipped and hung escaping slaves, they did the same to the abolitionists who helped them. They did this legally and illegally.
The Democrat controlled congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 this further inflamed the abolitionist passion.
Captain John Brown took a more radical approach to ending slavery. He wanted to arm slaves so they could over throw their slave masters. Harpers Ferry armory located 60 miles from Washington DC was the site of his infamous raid. It was a failed attempt but it sparked the spread of the abolitionist movement.
Edwin Coppock
This is a relative on my mother's side of the family. There were several who served as Quaker preachers. I'm not aware of any practicing Quakers in my family today. Edwin and other family members were influenced by Captain John Brown.
Edwin's passions for the liberty of his fellow man may have been foolhardy but this passion is not uncommon in the area where I grew up. A few of his brothers who were devout Quaker pacifists felt serving in the Union Army to fight against slavery more important. Edwin was executed for his involvement in the raid on December 16, 1859, he was 24 years old.
Growing up there I didn't know much about the rich history of Salem. I knew about Veterans, the Underground Railroad and the Quaker abolitionists. Like anything in your hometown you take it for granted.
On a visit I noticed a group on a guided tour, It was a black history tour but I'm not sure where it originated. Salem now has a tour trolly that offers year round tours.
In my generation there were other unspoken acts of kindness. As a young child my parents bought groceries at the A&P grocery store. They bought what we needed then an extra loaf of bread, butter, eggs and canned goods. On the way home they would drop them off by the junk yard where they stored the old retired trolly cars. It was a spooky place because you could see figures of people in the cars. The windows were dirty so they were just dark silhouettes.
My parents would not knock or wait, they just left the bag of groceries and drove away. One time I looked back and saw a man all dressed in heavy winter clothes with his face covered come out to pickup the bag. Kids or teenagers never bothered them, they knew to respected their privacy. There was probably more to the story but today there is no one to ask.
I did learn many of these men were WWI combat veterans and many were disfigured nerve and mustard gas victims. I witnessed for many years random people unceremoniously dropping things off to keep them fed and clothed. Once my dad dropped off a carton of cigarets. For some reason these thing were never talked about because it was just something people did. Believe it or not random acts of kindness were not invented by Oprah. My dad was a veteran of WWII as were many of the men his age. The American flag was held in reverence, as the flag passed by, everyone stood up, all hats came off, hands over hearts and veterans would salute.
My generation became indifferent, even disrespectful but I saw the look in those men's eyes as the flag passed by. Many had tears fueled by memories I did not understand.
I looked at my brother and other young men and women who served in Vietnam. They were there as soldiers to defend the South Vietnamese people from Communism. However their compassion and acts of kindness for the people in the midst of this war was not the image the media wanted to report. Instead they were portrayed as vicious baby killers.
Oliver Stone rewrote history with his propaganda movies. If he wanted to tell the truth about the mismanagement fine but he attacked the young men and women who served there. Even today combat veterans are portrayed as broken and damaged. Some are but this constant mischaracterization does nothing to heal them.The politicians may have had other goals but the soldiers were there for the people.
In Vietnam our government betrayed and abandoned the people who helped and befriended us. Another recent disgrace was our reckless withdrawal from Afghanistan, good people died and are still dying for a tough guy victory speech.
Bold promises were made by our politicians but our young soldiers were the ones ordered to look the people we were betraying in the eyes as we were abandoning them. Listening to these soldiers, I believe this was as traumatic if not more then any of the violence they witnessed.
World War II American soldier
Korean War American soldier
Vietnam American soldiers
Iraq War American soldier
Afganistan American soldier
These young people fighting thousands of miles from home and families were not motivated by bigotry and hatred. Their self sacrifice for strangers achieved more then any of our Ambassadors, Generals, our Secretary of State or our Presidents. They were in daily direct contact with the people.
Selective outrage, stirring racism, a blind eye to current slavery and a tolerance of the oppression of women throughout the world is also a disgrace. A steady flow of distorted history, emotional arguments and any overpaid so called expert with an opinion. All of these break my heart.
I don't know if it was in the water, influenced by the many churches or we were just idealistic and naive, but we have a sense of duty and honor. Don't get me wrong I don't claim everyone has the conviction of these men and women who put everything on the line, but this is one place where they came from.
Researching a little of my own history has helped me understand why my heart breaks today. The brave men and women and the people who helped them risked their lives for liberty and freedom. The bull shit slogans the press and politicians throw around today ring hollow in comparison.
In or out of the churches the community conscience included this basic principle.
John 3:12-13
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
We got a dose of hard work, responsibility, service, equality and a sense of duty to help the oppressed. Asking for help is difficult and being called a victim is an insult.
I'm not claiming the people from this area are better then others, but to label them as racist, stupid and unsophisticated shows a lack of any attempt to take an honest look at history.
I don't always completely follow through with my convictions but at least I have them. Sadly the things I have described will never register with the enlightened.
