Chatham Vigilance Committee
Canadian abolitionist organization
The Chatham Vigilance Committee was formulated before the American Civil War by black abolitionists in the Chatham, Ontario area to save people from being sold into slavery. Some of the members of the group were graduates of Oberlin College in Ohio. It is most well known for its rescue of Sylvanus Demarest, but the Committee rescued other people.
Background
The largest waves of African Americans seeking freedom in Canada began in 1841 and continued through to 1865. Thousands came to and through Chatham. Emancipation Day, enacted in 1833, was a day when people could celebrate their freedom. A deep community spirit, called "True Bands", meant that people would look after each other and build up schools, churches, and other resources to support one another. Chatham had become the center for black activism in Canada, partly due to The Provincial Freeman newspaper.
The group was founded following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it easier for former slaves living in Free states to be returned to slavery. As a result, as many as 20,000 blacks moved to Canada between 1850 and 1860, making a total of 60,000 black citizens in the country.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chatham Vigilance Committee” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.