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3 unusual facts about Stephen and Harriet Myers House


Stephen and Harriet Myers House

Local historian Paul Stewart and his wife, Mary Liz, after researching Myers and his work, formed the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, hosting an annual conference on slavery with speakers from around the world starting in 2001.

Two years after moving into the new house, in 1849, Myers merged The Northern Star with another upstate abolitionist newspaper, The True American, published by Samuel Ringgold Ward in Cortland.

The 1850s were difficult times for anti-slavery activists, particularly those involved in running the Underground Railroad, due to the passage of a tougher Fugitive Slave Act which required law enforcement in all states to assist in the recapture of those escaping from slavery, and increased penalties against those who assisted escapees.



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