Farmington’s Role in the 19th-century Anti-slavery Movement

Farmington’s role in the 19th-century anti-slavery movement will be commemorated Saturday, April 16, with a poetry reading and a tour of historic sites.

At 1 p.m. in First Church of Christ, Janita Davis will read poetry she created in response to stories of the Underground Railroad and Farmington’s sheltering of the Amistad captives.  The church is at 75 Main St. and admission is free.

From 2 to 3:30 the Farmington Historical Society will offer walking tours of Underground Railroad and Amistad-related sites.  The tour will begin at the Barney Library, adjacent to the church, and end at Riverside Cemetery.  The cost is $5 for adults, $1 for students.

Farmington in the early 1840s was the temporary home of the Amistad captives, a group of Africans who had mutinied aboard a Spanish slave ship and forced it to change course, ultimately reaching Long Island Sound.  Seizure of the ship by the Navy resulted in a lengthy court case in which the captives were declared free by the U.S. Supreme Court.

More than 30 of the Africans were welcomed by Farmington, a center of anti-slavery sentiment.  They were housed in Farmington for several months while awaiting passage to their native country, which now is Sierra Leone.

Anti-slavery activity continued in Farmington through the Civil War period.  Various houses served as “stations” on the Underground Railroad, a network that helped escaped slaves from the South find their way to refuge in Canada.

Saturday’s events are co-sponsored by the International Festival of Arts and Ideas and the Farmington Historical Society.