Messiah 2025 alum, JT Crocenzi, a long-time contributor to Harrisburg Historical, has published an important article exploring the case of resistance of Harrisburg’s African American community to slave catchers in August-September 1850.
Titled “Violence at the Jailhouse: A Fugitive Slave Case in Harrisburg,” the article tells the story of George Wilson, Samuel Brooks, and a man named Billy who were accused of escaping from slavery in Virginia and seeking refuge in Harrisburg. Here’s the lede to the story:
When a Virginia planter arrived in Harrisburg in 1850, he claimed two Black men were fugitive slaves who belonged to him. After having them arrested, he and several other whites carried out a brutal attempt to seize the prisoners in the Dauphin County jail’s vestibule, in full view of a largely African American crowd, sparking some in the crowd to resist.
Those who resisted included William M. Jones and Joseph Popel, two of the one hundred voices recently commemorated in the Commonwealth Monument on State Capitol grounds.
Check out the rest of JT Crocenzi’s story at “Violence at the Jailhouse: A Fugitive Slave Case in Harrisburg.”
Digital Harrisburg 