Display traces historical changes in race relations

By Hal Johnson
Herald Writer

Mercer County’s racial past has been a mix of pride and shame.

While Southern slaves were seeking refuge in Mercer County, minorities here were still held in slavery.

A Freedom Road Revisited display in the Mercer County courthouse rotunda traces the changes in race relations over the years.

Mercer County Anti-Discrimination Commission and the Mercer County Historical Society put the display of placards and reading material together. After another two weeks in the courthouse, the display will be available to rotate among local high schools, said William Philson, executive director of Mercer County Historical Society.

The Anti-Discrimination Commission was organized after the Ku Klux Klan targeted Mercer County for a rally in August 1998. The commission’s purpose was to keep communications open with the public and county government, said Commissioner Olivia M. Lazor.

“We promote information and education. We saw an opportunity with the Mercer County Historical Society to do this and to celebrate the (county) bicentennial along with Black History Month,” said DeWitt Boosel, vice chairman of the Anti-Discrimination Commission and director of Mercer County Housing Authority.

An 1830 census showed 32 slaves in Mercer County, Philson said. However, the county still was home to the Underground Railroad, Mrs. Lazor noted.

Known as Freedom Trail, property between Sandy Lake and Stoneboro became a refuge for runaway slaves until an 1850 law authorizing the government to seize land and slaves on the run, said Roland C. Barksdale-Hall, who helped put together the display.

The early abolitionist movement split local churches and families. Barksdale-Hall noted John Young Sr. was a slave owner, but John Young Jr. became an abolitionist. A 1780 state law put a gradual end to slavery in Pennsylvania. A slave born in 1780 or later could choose to become free at age 21, Barksdale-Hall said. The same law also required registration of slaves, so they could differentiate between freed African-Americans and slaves, he added.

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