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MONMOUTH — Author Mark Leslie will talk about the Underground Railroad in Maine, with a focus on Monmouth, in a Zoom discussion hosted by Cumston Library.
Leslie’s talk is 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23.
To access the Zoom link for the event “like” the library’s Facebook page and complete the registration form there, or email cumstonpubliclibrary@gmail.com
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 demanded prison and fines for anyone caught harboring or helping escaping slaves, and yet at least four Monmouth families risked both.
Mainers from Kittery to Fort Fairfield formed a network of safe houses, hiding slaves from slave hunters and helping them get to Canada.
Leslie is the author of “True North: Tice’s Story.” He said that while while history books focus on the prominence of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Hannibal Hamlin, hundreds if not thousands of Maine residents were part of state’s Underground Railroad. This included houses on North Main Street, Main Street, Academy Street and Norris Hill Road.
“Reportedly half Maine’s population thought slavery was essential to the economy,” Leslie said, “while half reviled it as the vilest human institution.”
Maine’s Underground Railroad itself was “a marvel of secret connections from churches to hack stands, second-hand clothing stores and people’s homes,” Leslie said. “One route of escape was up the coast, while others went inland, including one through Monmouth, Augusta and eastward along the Boston Post Road to Bangor.”
