Speaking at Gettysburg in November 1863, Abraham Lincoln, referring to "the great task remaining before us," challenged Americans of his generation to dedicate themselves to bringing about "a new birth of freedom." His words still resonate today. Even in our own time, that effort is far from completed. The Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia focuses on two key movements in that ongoing struggle for freedom and equality, and on the experiences of people from all walks of life in the generations leading up, during, and after the Civil War.

Paradoxically, though it was the cradle of American liberty, Philadelphia was also a stronghold of slavery even into the early decades of the nineteenth century. From 1790 to 1800, Philadelphia was the nation's capital and the site of the president's house, only a few hundred feet from Independence Hall. When President George Washington resided in that house, he brought with him several enslaved persons from his Virginia plantation. And not far from that location, at the corner of Front and Market Streets, slaves were auctioned off and families of enslaved Africans were broken up. Runaway slaves from Southern plantations were captured in Philadelphia and forcibly returned to bondage.

Yet resistance to slavery, though slow to arise, did take hold in Philadelphia. It justifiably can lay claim to being the birthplace of the American antislavery movement. In 1775, a group of Quakers and other opponents of slavery organized the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first abolitionist society in America. In December 1833, opponents of slavery from throughout the United States gathered in Philadelphia to form the American Anti-Slavery Society, which issued a famous "Declaration of Sentiments," written by William Lloyd Garrison. But even as these and other formal efforts to promote the abolition of slavery were underway, scores of people in Philadelphia and the surrounding region--both white and black--were working to help thousands of enslaved persons escape from bondage. Their efforts formed the stuff of legend then and now--a heroic story of risk-taking, collaboration, struggle and resistance known as the "Underground Railroad." The Philadelphia region is replete with staging points and shelters that were part of this elusive and clandestine campaign, and home to many individuals who participated in that ongoing struggle for freedom and resistance.

The Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia is committed to telling this story, fully and honestly. Back in the 1860s and 1870s, MOLLUS members involved in the effort to collect and preserve materials relating to the Civil War understood that the issue of slavery was central to the history of that tragic conflict. They donated items such as receipts for the purchases of slaves, memoirs and autobiographies of abolitionists and individuals involved in the antislavery movement, copies of "The Liberator," the leading antislavery newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison, and a first edition of William Still's classic History of the Underground Railroad, published in 1872. Though small in numbers, these materials represent a significant and vital component of our collections.

Today, reflecting our expanding mission, the Museum is redoubling its efforts to collect, preserve, and interpret artifacts, photographs, books, letters and manuscripts, and personal stories relating to slavery, the Underground Railroad, and the antislavery movement. Your donation will be welcomed; feel free to contact us at 215-735-8196.