Elizabeth Blakeley
Elizabeth Blakeley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1835 |
| Died | March 31, 1919 |
Elizabeth "Betsey" Blakeley was a freedom seeker who escaped to Boston through the Underground Railroad.[1]
She was born enslaved in Wilmington, North Carolina and was mistreated by her enslaver, George W. Davis, British consul for Wilmington.[2] At fifteen years old, Blakeley was determined to escape. She hid on a boat to Boston in December 1849.[3] George W. Davis smoked out the vessel with tobacco and sulfur three times to force Elizabeth out of the ship but she refused to emerge.[4] Upon arrival after a four week journey, she shared her story with abolitionists at the 18th meeting of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in Faneuil Hall.[5] Blakeley's story was recorded in William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator.
She married a man named William Hudson in Boston in 1854, and the couple moved to New Haven, Connecticut in 1855.[4] The couple later relocated to St. John's Ward, Toronto with the help of William Cooper Nell.[6] The Blakeley family moved back to Chelsea, Massachusetts in the 1870s where Elizabeth died in 1919.
Legacy
[edit]On September 24, 2023, Blakeley's legacy was honored alongside Lewis Hayden in a set of choreopoems by Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola at Faneuil Hall.[7] In 2023, she was recognized as one of "Boston’s most admired, beloved, and successful Black Women leaders" by the Black Women Lead project.[8][9][10]
References
[edit]- ^ ""My Mind was Liberty or Death:" Elizabeth Blakeley's Escape to Freedom". National Park Service. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ "Boston's other underground railroad". The Bay State Banner. 2021-02-10. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ Du Bois, W. E. B. "The Brownies' Book". New York. p. 339. OCLC 1537486. Retrieved 2025-06-17 – via Library of Congress.
- ^ a b "Safe Harbor: Elisabeth Blakeley". National Park Service. 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ "Safe Harbor: The Maritime Underground Railroad in Boston". National Park Service. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ Bartlett, Irving (1830). Dr. Irving H. Bartlett collection, 1830-1880. Wilkens Library W. B. Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "National Park Service: 'Black in the Cradle of Liberty' Featured Unflinching Performances on Agency, Voice, and the Power of Place". Targeted News Service. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ "Black Women Lead". Greater Grove Hall Main Streets. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
- ^ Sullivan, Mike (2023-10-04). "Portraits along Blue Hill Avenue honor Boston's Black women leaders". CBS Boston. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
- ^ Gaskin, Ed (10 April 2025). Black Women Lead: Boston's Most Admired, Beloved, and Iconic Leaders, 1700 - Present. Independently published. ISBN 979-8317465209.
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